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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 07 Hansard (Thursday, 1 July 2004) . . Page.. 3214 ..

technology, this government and Australia generally have responsibilities to ensure that GMO is developed in a regulated, considered way.

Currently, the Commonwealth, territories and states have enacted a collaborative, nationally consistent, regulative system for gene technology, based on the assessment of risks to human health and the environment. The legislative mechanisms underpinning the system are the Commonwealth Gene Technology Act 2000 and mirroring territory and state legislation.

The ACT Gene Technology Act 2003 applies the Commonwealth laws as the ACT laws. The federated legislative mechanism establishes the Gene Technology Regulator, who is responsible for making decisions that will protect our community’s public health and the environment. Territories and states have retained the right to regulate gene technology on marketing grounds.

The ambit of the bill and the government’s strategy have been shaped by two major factors. Firstly, this legislation needs to be consistent with the Commonwealth legislation; secondly, it needs to be consistent with trading obligations under the World Trade Organisation Agreement on Technical Barriers to Trade, to which Australia is a signatory.

So, the proposal we have before us has the ACT take up its right to regulate gene technology with respect to the marketing impacts on the territory, and it honours the ACT government’s commitment of June 2003 to place a three-year moratorium on the commercial release of GM foods. The proposed legislation has a sunset clause of 17 June 2006.

The bill creates a legislative framework for the prohibition of the commercial production of certain GM food crops in the territory for a period of three years. The government is not opposed to GM crops but is prepared to intervene at this point to provide time for the community to evaluate the potential marketing impact of GM food crops on the territory’s non-GM food crop industry. We will use the three-year moratorium as an opportunity to consider the costs and benefits associated with GM food crops in this territory. It is important that the potential impact of GM food crops on the territory’s affected industries be considered carefully.

The bill confers authority on the minister to make regulations. Authority is given to prohibit the cultivation here of a specified GM food plant or class of food plants, on a case-by-case basis. It only applies to the cultivation of food crops. The legislation does not apply to non-food crops, such as ornamental flowers and medicinal products. It provides a mechanism for the minister to grant exemptions from prohibition. For example, exemptions may be granted for research trials or contained research involving GM crops that have been approved by the regulator.

The provision for such exemptions is critical to enable important research into GM food crops to continue in the ACT. The CSIRO has made comment on the bill and endorses the narrow and well-defined scope of the proposed exemption scheme, which assists biotechnology research organisations in the ACT. The bill also gives the minister the power to look for and investigate possible breaches of the legislation and the court to impose penalties where a breach has been proven.

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