By Maeve Bannister and Andrew Brown in Canberra

FARMERS managing the effects of climate change must be considered in the upcoming federal budget, says an independent MP pushing for agricultural assistance. 

As the lower house debates the government’s changes to the safeguard mechanism, independent crossbencher Helen Haines proposed her plan for a network of 200 agricultural extension officers.

The officers would be funded by the government and provide educational outreach services on the technology, products and practices to help farmers lower their emissions.

Dr Haines said Australian farmers wanted to play their part in reducing emissions as the effects of climate change threatened their livelihood.

But she said farming communities in her regional Victorian electorate were concerned about the impact of the safeguard mechanism which had too much reliance on the agricultural sector to offset emissions in other sectors.

“Let’s not set our farmers up for failure. Let’s listen to their calls for support to navigate the risks and opportunities in the carbon market,” Dr Haines told parliament on Monday.

Proposed changes to the mechanism would apply to the 215 biggest emitters in the country and aim to reduce emissions by 205 million tonnes by 2030.

With the coalition opposing it, the government will need support from the Greens and two other votes in the Senate to pass its election promise to cut carbon emissions.

The Greens want the government to stop opening new coal and gas projects in exchange for their support.

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said while negotiations were continuing, she was optimistic of the safeguard’s success.

“We’ve been clear we want this legislation through, it’s critical to meeting our 43 per cent reductions target. It’s the policy that exists now,” she told ABC Radio.

“The Greens obviously want some other additional commitments and we’ll work through that over the fortnight.”

Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie said she largely supported the mechanism but still had concerns about the time frame for reducing emissions for manufacturing businesses.

“It will not be able to meet those targets, simply because the machinery they need has not been invented yet, so that is a real sticking point with us,” she told Sky News.

“Other than that, we’re pretty happy with the rest of the bill, so we’re just waiting for the Greens to stop playing their games.”

Senator Gallagher said the coalition had dealt itself out of negotiations.

However, opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan said more information was needed from the government.

“We want to see the modelling. We want to know what the impact will be on households, what the impact will be on cost of living,” he told Sky News.

Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott said the laws should be passed as soon as possible to provide policy certainty for businesses to decarbonise.