Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday during question time Senator Brown asked:

Can the minister inform the Senate as to the amount of taxpayers’ money which has gone into the genetic modification program which has led to the eucalyptus nitens producing the added flow-off of toxin?

And:

... will the minister concede that flow-off from genetically altered and enhanced plantations cannot be described as natural?

I am advised there is no genetic modification program for Eucalyptus nitens approved in Australia by the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator. Further, I am also advised that these trees were not genetically modified but rather were bred from naturally-grown trees in Victoria to improve growth rates and tree form.