Sean Edwards (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about an issue that is going on in my home state of South Australia. South Australia is presently suffering from one of the worst outbreaks of beet western yellow virus that our farmers have ever seen. Across 10,000 hectares in the lower north, mid-north and the lower Mallee the green paddocks are now brown because there are no longer plants in those areas. It looks like somebody has randomly plucked those plants out all over. What used to be one of the most marvellous spectacles at this time of year in South Australia is no longer in the mid-north. When I drive to my home town of Clare there is usually a carpet of green and yellow. Despairingly, across 10,000 hectares in the lower north, mid-north and the lower Mallee the green paddocks are now, as I said, brown. Jenny Davidson from the South Australian Research and Development Institute said she has never before seen this level of damage from any virus in crops. She said:

It's the magnitude of what we're dealing with that is totally un-expected.

This has blindsided South Australian cereal croppers.

The transference of this virus is made possible by the flight of the aphid bug. Aphids have piercing and sucking mouthparts which feed from the cells that transport plant nutrients. Under the right conditions their numbers build rapidly until the plant can no longer support their number and then the aphids produce winged morphs that disperse with the wind onto other crops. Most of these individuals find a suitable host crop and so aphid numbers build unhindered. Asexual reproduction and the fact females give birth to live young in which embryos of the next generation are already developing mean aphid populations expand rapidly. And so does the beet western yellow virus.

Some growers have lost between 10 and 15 per cent of their canola crops to the virus. Primary Industries and Regions SA believes farmers will plan for a significant reduction in canola crops next year if the virus continues. What makes this situation even worse is that the aphids spreading on South Australian crops are found to be resistant to the three major groups of chemicals used to control them. The chemical Transform, which is a registered mark, is the only remaining insecticide to control the bug; however, we are seeing the aphids grow resistance to this pesticide too. This is an incredibly concerning prospect, as canola accounts for 40 to 50 per cent of the cropping rotation in the Lower Eyre Peninsula. Should the aphids develop further resistance to Transform the outcome would be devastating as yields would reduce, affecting South Australia's nearly 415,000 tonnes of canola for export.

The question then becomes: how do we solve this problem? I suggest the solution lies with the further development of plant science in Australia, particularly in the area of genetically modified organisms. According to the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator, 12 of 36 active trial sites are seeking to develop GM canola with desirable traits. These include herbicide tolerance, altered oil content, drought resistance and other characteristics that will help yield numbers into the future. Other trial crops include wheat, maize, sugarcane, cotton and even fruits. It is there that we may find a solution to this debilitating problem caused by aphids that carry this disease that is causing so much crop loss.

Genetically modified organisms was once a dirty word, but I can happily inform you, Mr President, that we no longer have anything to be afraid of when trialling new GM products on our shores. In its infancy, an environmentalist by the name of Mark Lynas spent a considerable amount of time and energy developing the powerful anti-GM movement. What he did not spend time on though was the actual science, and he acknowledged this some 20 years later. At a conference of academics at Oxford last year, he accepted that he:

… assisted in demonising an important technological option which can be used to benefit the environment.

Dr Cathleen Enright, Executive Director of the Council for Biotechnology Information in Washington, DC, said:

We hope that the tremendous reaction to the speech by Mark Lynas serves as evidence that honest consideration of the science will change minds about agricultural biotechnology.

One person who has not heeded Lynas' words is the South Australian Minister for Tourism and now also the minister responsible for primary industries—a recent appointment I must say—Mr Leon Bignell. When reimposing the moratorium on GM products in South Australia he said:

Non-GM crops attract greater market prices …

…   …   …

Our GM-free status gives primary producers and food and wine manufacturers a competitive edge in the global marketplace …

You would think that such assertions would proudly display the supporting evidence that they are based on. However, when you speak with the department responsible for publishing these words, no-one is able to tell you how these claims are substantiated.

I am a big supporter of South Australia's premium food and wine industry. Having produced wine for as many years as I have, I know firsthand the quality produce being exported from the state of South Australia. However, South Australia will fall behind if it continues with this moratorium. Western Australia grows about 40 per cent of Australia's canola and lifted its moratorium on GM production in 2010. Since then production has grown 46 per cent, with an enormous increase in GM canola and little decrease in non-GM. Minister Bignell's policies disregard science for scare campaigns. I worry that this cavalier attitude will lead to the destruction of more crops.

I will supply this contribution to the minister in an effort to evoke a response to my continual question of him: why do you claim that there is a competitive advantage for South Australian farmers to maintain GM-free status?

Why it is that he thinks that the markets which South Australians are selling to actually are able to identify South Australia outside of Australia for GM products and GM-free production. I am also very keen to understand how it is that he can talk about the economic benefit of being GM free when he is unable to table any kind of evidence that would show that South Australian farmers benefit economically, when I have contrary evidence to that.

I know that South Australia, with its crippling debt, is somewhat challenged. But the one thing that we do and we do well is food and food technology. South Australia is the base for the Australian genomic centre based at the Adelaide University. We do wonderful work all around the world and it all happens in Adelaide in South Australia. We are respected and in some cases revered for our work in genomics around this country. And yet Minister Bignell isolates us from taking on those advantages. It is my hope one day that South Australia can embrace the genetic modification phenomena.