Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (4) on sheet 5247:

(4)    Schedule 1, item 10, page 12 (after line 12), after section 72E, insert:

72F Guidelines for emergency response

                 The Minister must, by legislative instrument, issue guidelines for emergency responses under the Gene Technology Act 2000 and the Gene Technology Agreement.

The guidelines for emergency response have been tabled, as we know. These guidelines from the ministerial council came up during the Senate committee hearings; they had been developed to give some clarification to how these provisions would be implemented. The Greens believe that these should be stronger than guidelines, that they should be a legislative instrument. That is why we are moving this amendment—to in fact require the guidelines to be developed further because we are a little concerned that they do not provide some of the information that we believe is needed. We would like to see these guidelines become a legislative instrument for emergency response under the Gene Technology Act. They need to be beyond guidance; they would be requirements to be met when the emergency dealing provisions are in fact invoked.