Eric Hutchinson (Lyons, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week I have written to the Minister for Justice, Michael Keenan, on behalf of Tasmanian farmers who have been trying to get a diversified industrial hemp industry up and running in my home state for at least a decade, led ably by Mr Phil Reader from my electorate of Lyons. Tasmania's cool climate and good soils make it an ideal location for this crop at a time when farmers, particularly those in my electorate, are searching for new opportunities to boost the economic viability of their businesses. But their hopes were again dashed last month when the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation resolved at its meeting in New Zealand to reject a variation to regulations that would allow hemp to be grown for human consumption. The Tasmanian government supported it, the New Zealand government supported it.

Forum members have again expressed concern about law enforcement issues, particularly from a policing perspective in relation to roadside testing. This body has been supplied with all the information that it has asked for, and much more, over many years, including strong evidence that industrial hemp grown for human consumption does not have high levels of the THC content found in cannabis. Many countries around the world have been growing hemp as food for many years and have had no problems. And the tragic irony is that you can buy imported food products from those countries here in Australia. It looks like bureaucratic bloody mindedness at best; it looks like obstructionist behaviour at worst. It is a very risk averse society we live in, and I would love to see it changed.