Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This motion is about supporting the right of Western Australian farmers to make their own decisions about farming practices. With one in three WA farmers having planted GM canola it is high time to remove the former Labor state government's out-of-date regulations. GM canola has been grown in WA since 2010 when the state government granted an exemption to allow commercial cultivation of GM canola. Since then WA has had the most rapid uptake of Roundup Ready canola of all states which allow biotech canola to be grown. WA's Roundup Ready canola plantings made up 74 per cent of the total 348,200 hectare GM canola crop planted in Australia last year. The shrill ideological opponents of GM have failed to provide any scientific evidence to prove that GM crops are unsafe or pose an economic risk for non-GM growers. All WA farmers are asking is for the right to make their own decisions and choices and have the same opportunity as eastern states farmers.