A Bill to reaffirm the previous Parliament's legislation for a statewide moratorium on genetically modified crops in SA is set to be introduced by the Greens in State Parliament this afternoon.
The previous legislation banned GM crop cultivation until September 2025, with Greens MLC saying the Marshall Liberal Government found a "loophole" that allowed them to lift the ban prematurely.
"Knowing the intent of the Parliament in 2017 was to maintain the moratorium until 2025, the Marshall Liberal Government are showing disrespect for the Parliament by not allowing the Parliament to debate legislation to lift the moratorium on mainland SA," Mr Parnell said.
"Since they can't lift the moratorium entirely without passing legislation through both Houses, they are instead sneakily changing the area that the moratorium relates to through regulations, leaving only Kangaroo Island as GM-free.
RELATED READINGS:
"Although the Upper House can disallow these regulations, they may not be tabled in Parliament in time for us to do so before they come into effect on 1 December 2019."
Mr Parnell said that the moratorium could potentially be lifted on late this year, and then reimposed in early 2020, if the Upper House was to disallow regulations.
He said this would leave farmers in a "position of great uncertainty".
"(Farmers) could begin signing contracts and purchasing GM seed after December 1, only to find out a few months later that the ban is back in place," he said.
- Start the day with all the big news in agriculture. Click here to sign up to receive our daily Stock Journal newsletter.
