Australian Greens Senator Christine Milne tabled a case study of the devastating impact of Managed Investment Schemes (MIS) for plantations on communities in northwest Tasmania in the Senate today.

The Preolenna and Meunna Story was tabled alongside Senator Milne's dissenting report for the Senate Inquiry into the tax treatment of Carbon Sink Forests which warns of a host of environmental and social consequences should the tax concession go ahead and is supported by Liberal and National Senators Heffernan, Joyce, Nash and Boswell.

Senator Milne said "This extra tax break for polluters like coal generators and airlines would be bad for the environment and bad for regional communities. Prime agricultural land will be replaced by plantations unless the Senate disallows the regulations.

"People in rural and regional communities who have been devastated by MIS plantations should be warning other communities across regional Australia that MIS on steroids is heading their way if the Senate does not stop it.

"This report seeks to give a voice to a few of those people - the people of Preolenna and Meunna - to tell the story of the loss of family farming land, the loss of postal services and youth centres, greater fire risk, and the devastation of their communities.

"With personal stories and detailed evidence, the report shows just two clear examples of how MIS scheme have destroyed farms, families and whole communities.

"For almost a century, Preolenna and Meunna were ideal dairying, cattle grazing and potato land with 27 productive farms in 1985. In 2001, the last dairy farmer was left with no other choice than to sell his property to the plantation sector after the milk tanker told him it was no longer viable to undertake a daily collection run just for him.

"By giving tax incentives to plantations at the same time as exposing farmers to a deregulated market, the Howard Government set up an impossible competition for struggling rural communities. Land prices went through the roof and valuable farming land was sold to plantation companies at a time of global food shortages.

"The Carbon Sink Forests tax break would be even worse. Not only will it be socially devastating, but it is also environmentally irresponsible. It will encourage clearance of native vegetation and further interception of water, and it leaves all environmental regulation and enforcement up to the States, which is a recipe for disaster.

"The complete lack of targets - on hectares planted or carbon sequestered - shows that this legislation is clearly aimed at subsidising polluters for no quantifiable carbon benefit."