GMO Wars: Democracy or Düsseldorf for South Australia?

Summary

South Australia (SA) has a reputation as clean and green and natural. SA takes biosecurity very seriously, and natural barriers of desert facilitate keeping out fruit fly, cane toads and other unwanted intruders. There is a battle raging in South Australia for the integrity of its agricultural sector. SA is a world leader in organic agriculture. It accounts for 20% of the world’s certified organic agriculture hectares - SA is Australia’s leading state for organics. It capital, Adelaide, hosts the world’s largest organics certifier (NASAA). There are no genetically modified crops grown in SA. There has been a GMO (genetically modified organisms) Moratorium in SA for the past two decades (beginning in 2003). While Australia is a giant in organics (accounting for 51% of world certified organic hectares), it is a minnow in the world of GMOs (accounting for 0.4% of the world’s GMO hectares). Despite the natural advantages of SA for producing clean and green and natural food, the incumbent government appears ‘hell bent’ on dismantling the successful and popular SA GMO Moratorium. Most Australians (90%) do not regard GMOs as “safe”, and they may be right. But, whether they are right or wrong, or just right to be cautious, in the market place consumers will vote with their dollars. Globally, consumers avoid purchasing GMOs. The SA GMO Moratorium is in place due to an Act of Parliament. There are two ways to dismantle it, by Regulation or by an Act of Parliament. Regulations can be interposed to subvert the intention of the Act. This can be regarded as shoddy governance since there is no mandatory Parliamentary oversight nor debate (Gazetted Regulations are only debated if there is a disallowance motion tabled). Alternatively, an Act can be changed by Parliament. The incumbent Liberal (i.e. conservative) government of SA, led by Steven Marshall, appears to have a very tenuous grasp on the concept of ‘democracy’. There is no mandate to dismantle the SA GMO Moratorium, but that is what they are trying for. There was a review of the GMO Moratorium and the majority (78%) of submissions supported the continuance of the Moratorium.