Archives for March 7, 2007

A couple of years ago I spoke at a breakfast in Queanbeyan, near Canberra, on GM food crops. I explained the benefits of the technology from an environmental perspective.

At the time, bans on the commercial production of GM food crops had just been introduced in most Australian states following campaigning by Greenpeace against GM canola.

Yes, it’s now illegal to grow GM crops in most parts of Australia, with GM cotton exempt on the basis it is grown primarily for fibre – not food.

Senator Bill Heffernan was in the audience when I spoke at that breakfast and he continually interjected, in particular, he claimed that GM technology was unproven and that GM canola would become a weed.

So, I was a little surprised to see the headline in today’s The Age newspaper: ‘Heffernan calls for a rethink on GM crops’.

It seems the Senator, himself, has had a rethink as part of his push for agricultural development in northern Australia and is now enthusiastic about GM food crops.

In the article, The Senator suggests some southern farmers would be prepared to move north and that our attitude to GM needs to change if “the water-drenched Top End” is to be developed as the nation’s “food bowl”.

But, agricultural development in the north doesn’t need southern farmers or the Senator and his federal government committees.

It needs less, not more, government interference and in particular:

1. A lifting of the bans on GM food crops in Western Australia,
2. A lifting of the ban on cotton growing in the Northern Territory (yes, it is illegal to grow any sort of cotton in the Northern Territory), and
3. Queensland legislation, in particular the Wild Rivers Act and Vegetation Management Act, needs to be changed so there is potential for some land development and some water infrastructure development in north Queensland.

There is always more information on breaking GM news at David Tribe’s blog at http://gmopundit.blogspot.com/.