Carbon land deal spur

North Queensland Register
17/01/2008 Page: 3

THE big-money future of carbon trading in rural Australia may be spelled out by the financial future of two of the smallest cattle stations in the Top End. Pastoralist Peter Camm has reportedly been offered $80 million for La Belle Downs and Welltree Stations on the coastal fringe of the Timor Sea, 120km south-west of Darwin. The adjoining properties cover a total of 916 square kilometres, and carry about 22,000 cattle.

The Murdoch-owned Northern Territory News has quoted Mr Camm, 58, as saying he had been offered $80 million for both stations, but that the sale had not yet gone through. The NT News reported its journalists had been told the stations were under offer at a premium price by an international investment company, with the 916 square kilometers to be used as carbon emission trade-offs for industrial projects.

Rumors circulating in Darwin's financial circles last week indicated that the likely buyer is the merchant bank, Babcock and Brown, which is already a player in the emerging carbon trading market. Mr Camm bought La Belle Downs from Territory cattle identity Henry Townsend in 2000 for $11 million, and the Camm family trust paid Wallco Cattle Company principle John Quintana $13.5 million for Welltree in 2005.

The NT News quoted cattle industry sources saying the two stations would normally sell for about $30 million, and that if the rumors are true, the carbon traders could distort the market if they are prepared to pay a $50 million premium for less than 1000sq km of cattle country. The news comes as merchant banks scrambled to acquire `green' property and investment portfolios to prepare for Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's plans to legislate new mandatory renewal energy targets within 400 days of the 2007 election, and develop a domestic carbon emissions trading scheme.

Last month, Transfield Services Infrastructure, which owns power stations, bought five wind farms from the Queensland Government for $470 million. Origin Energy has bought a 30 percent stake in a geothermal company in South Australia, and this month, Macquarie Bank joined forces with Germany company Epuron to build the largest wind farm in Australia at Broken Hill, NSW.

In talking to the NT News, Mr Camm emphasised that he had not sold his stations yet, and denied all knowledge of the carbon trade. "I don't even know what a carbon emission trade-off means," he said. In 2005, the NT Government compulsorily acquired land the build a road through La Belle Downs following confrontations between Mr Camm and people crossing his property.