ABC Country Hour

Tuesday, 31/03/2009

The National Party's Senate Leader has hit out at the Department of Climate Change over agriculture's role in an emissions trading scheme.

Speaking at a Senate hearing in Canberra, Senator Barnaby Joyce said he was concerned that not enough was known about the role agriculture would play under a scheme.

"I want to consider, or a lot of people want to consider, whether they buy a grazing property, they want to make that consideration on whether they should own it in 2015," he said.

"So how do we consider whether we should make that consideration, unless we've got the policy before us?"

The Federal Government says a decision will be made on whether agriculture will be included in a scheme in 2013.

It says it's important to establish the processes and measures before including the sector.