Genetically Modified Organisms—Community Management

2. JEANETTE FITZSIMONS (Co-Leader—Green) to the Minister for the Environment: Has she received a copy of the report “Community Management of GMOs” and what advice, if any, has she received on its contents?

Hon MARIAN HOBBS: (Minister for the Environment): Yes, my office has received a copy of the report. I have been advised that appendix 1, the interim opinion of Dr Roydon Somerville QC, does not differ materially from the Crown Law advice to the Government.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: When she was quoted by Morning Report this morning as warning that councils wanting to use the Resource Management Act to create GE-free zones may face an expensive legal battle, was she threatening councils with a legal challenge to their plans and rules by central government agencies, or was she merely warning them that the international GE industry has very deep pockets, and might bankrupt their ratepayers?

Hon MARIAN HOBBS: No, I have never issued a threat. I have never said that local authorities cannot exercise their Resource Management Act powers to regulate GMOs locally. However, the legal advice is clear that there are high hurdles for councils doing so, which might expose them and their communities to legal expense.

David Parker: Is the Minister aware of any reports indicating local government attitudes to local control of GMOs?
Hon MARIAN HOBBS: Today, Morning Report reported that many councils appeared satisfied with leaving central government to make the hard decisions, rather than see local authorities take a piecemeal approach. Local Government New Zealand has yet to consider the matter.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: Why is it straightforward under the Resource Management Act for councils to prohibit the growing of pine trees in certain areas as a land-use control, but not GE crops?

Hon MARIAN HOBBS: That is interesting, because one can take the hypothetical example that should the Environmental Risk Management Authority give approval for a Crown research institute to grow genetically modified pine trees in Northland under certain conditions, and the Northland Regional Council attempts to oppose controls under the Resource Management Act, the council’s controls will have to be science-based and effects-based, just like those of the Environmental Risk Management Authority, and the Crown research institute will probably take them to task if they are not.

Jeanette Fitzsimons: Is she aware of a report to the European Parliament last year that stated: “The GMO-free region of upper Austria has become a magnet for seed firms and has attracted foreign investment, because strict business rules can be complied with here. In such a situation, retaining GMO-free status may represent the most economic and effective measure for co-existence.”, and does she support the right of New Zealand councils to exploit such economic potential for their regions?

Hon MARIAN HOBBS:  No, I am not aware of that Austrian report.

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