GM CROPS

The Hon. C.V. SCHAEFER (15:34): Last month I had the pleasure of accompanying a group of farmers from South Australia and Western Australia on a trip to Victoria to visit and inspect on-farm Roundup Ready GM Canola crops. They were clearly and visibly better than the non-GM crops being grown alongside them. Because they are the newest hybrid varieties, they not only save on weedicide application but also have a shorter growing period and are much more drought tolerant.

The farmers growing these crops have to be accredited before they can access the seed, so that they are fully aware of the new technology, and they are very excited by their first year's results. All of the farmers I spoke to intend to sow more acreage next year. Last week the Stock Journal ran an article quoting a Kaniva farmer as saying his worst GM canola will be equal to his best non-GM canola crop this year.

Western Australian farmers are excited by the expectation that they too will soon be able to access this modern science. Only South Australia misses out. I am sure that by now all members here know that the states have jurisdiction only over marketing: they do not have legislative power over such matters as labelling, segregation or health. That is the responsibility of the commonwealth, and the commonwealth restrictions are some of the most stringent in the world. Yet in South Australia we continue to block this technology on the slim premise of marketing advantage. In particular, we are told that Japan will not trade with us if we embrace biotechnology in the form of genetic modification.

I want to share some facts with the chamber. There are now 23 biotech cropping companies in the world. Production increased by 12 per cent, or 12.3 million hectares, in the last recorded year, between 2006 and 2007. With regard to canola, 87 per cent of Canadian canola is now GM. They are predicted to produce 15 million tonnes by 2015, and one of their fastest-growing markets is Japan. Japanese imports of Canadian canola oil have increased from 50,000 tonnes to 400,000 tonnes in a very short space of time, and importation of Canadian canola oil into the European Union has risen at a similar percentage amount, while importation of Australian canola oil has remained static over the same period. There is no premium for non-GM canola. I would like also to dispel a few other myths circulated around, and I refer to a paper produced by the Producers Forum, but verified by scientific papers, as follows:

The scientific evidence from all the world's leading authorities on food, genetics and breeding is that GM food is safe. There have been no cases of illness attributed to GM foods. Foods produced by GM plants have been available for over 10 years. There have been no cases of illnesses attributed to GMOs in that time. In some cases the GM-derived food products are safer, for example, because BT corn resists insect infestation, it is less susceptible to moulds. When moulds infect seeds they produce myotoxins that can cause a range of serious illnesses in humans. BT corn has far less toxins than most GM varieties, especially when the non-GM varieties are grown by traditional or organic methods.

I am in favour, however, of those who wish to grow GM crops being able to do so, and I have been personally assured by the Australian Barley Board in this state that segregation is not only possible but is in place and working in Victoria. Choice is possible. However, it is not Roundup-ready canola that excites me but the technology that will allow us to grow drought and salt tolerant crops on low fertility soils with minimum use of pesticides and weedicides to feed the world sustainably. In the case of crop science, I am pro-choice and it distresses me to see South Australian farmers left behind their counterparts for no feasible reason.

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