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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-11-10 Daily Xml
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Treasury Wine Estates

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL (Mawson) (14:48): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Before the minister made the decision to reject applications by the Onkaparinga council to remain GM free, was he aware that Treasury Wine Estates had strict rules in place that growers must have a zero tolerance approach to GMOs in all aspects—

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order, sir.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: —of producing wine grapes?

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Mawson will resume his seat. The Minister for Energy and Mining, on a point of order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: If the member would like to introduce alleged fact, then he can seek leave to do so.

The SPEAKER: I uphold the point of order. I will give the member for Mawson the opportunity to rephrase the question and/or seek leave, should he wish.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Yes, I seek leave to explain.

Leave granted.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: Treasury Wine Estates (TWE) provided a letter which was tendered to the minister via the Onkaparinga city council where they pointed out that they would like to draw their attention to the following:

Membership to the National sustainability program, Sustainable Winegrowing Australia is a contractual requirement by TWE and as per our recent correspondence we strongly encourage our entire grower network to ensure they join or renew their Sustainable Winegrowing Australian membership. With the newly released Sustainable Winegrowing Australia logo, our marketing and sales teams are excited to be able to use this mark for the TWE portfolio.

Specific TWE Agro-chemical requirements:

Read 'What's New for 2020/21…This includes new products available to use, reminders on recent changes and a list of products no longer available.

There is a reminder that you can't use iprodione. The letter continues:

Herbicide Restrictions on Use—No herbicides are to be applied within 30 days of harvest and all herbicide applications must be recorded in Grapeweb.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, members on my right!

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: I can go on. I am happy to table the letter. But I think the minister is well aware of Treasury Wine Estates. I am pretty sure—

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: Point of order.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The Minister for Energy and Mining on a point of order.

The Hon. D.C. VAN HOLST PELLEKAAN: I believe the member has finished introducing alleged facts and he is moving into debate.

The SPEAKER: I think the member has finished his question. I think the member for Mawson has finished his question. The Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development.

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM (Finniss—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:51): I thank the member for Mawson for his question. This process has been very clearly defined under the Genetically Modified Crops Management Act 2004. That act was put in place under the Rann government. The objectives of that act are quite clear that any decision that is made around exemptions are applied to any particular region, and in this case we are talking about council applications that were provided under an amendment that was put earlier into this act this year.

That amendment was at the suggestion and request of those opposite. We agreed to put that amendment into the act to allow councils to make applications. But it's very clear under the act that those applications are limited to trade and marketing aspects which apply. As part of the act, it also requires that I must consult with the GM Crop Advisory Committee. That committee—

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: Point of order, Mr Speaker.

The SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. The member for Lee on a point of order.

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN: It has been attended to by the ever efficient Clerk, sir. There was no clock.

The SPEAKER: The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM: As I was saying, it's very clear under the act. The advisory committee was established under the act, and it's very clear that that committee must be consulted by the minister when making decisions. Interestingly, the members of that committee, all of them, all nine who are currently there, were appointed by the previous minister for agriculture back in 2016. I wonder who that person was back in 2016.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The minister has the call.

The Hon. D.K.B. BASHAM: So this committee has a very important process of actually going through these applications and assessing them against that trade and market activity that is required to be assessed. Their recommendation to me from assessing those was unanimous. All 11 councils did not meet the needs of the act. Therefore, it would be unwise of me as minister not to listen to that committee and to make the declaration that I have out in the media that I am not going to gazette any of the councils. So very much of this information has been provided to me. I have gone through that information. I agree with the committee's findings and stand by the decision.

The SPEAKER: The member for Narungga.

The Hon. L.W.K. BIGNELL: A supplementary, sir. I think it went one from there, one from here, one from—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Narungga has the call.

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