FOR the fourth time in seven months the upper house of State Parliament is set to dismiss a State Government push to lift the ban on cultivating genetically modified (GM) crops.

A back-and-forth political tussle between the State Government and a Labor, Greens and SA-BEST coalition in the Legislative Council has resulted in growing uncertainty for farmers, as the status of GM crops continually changes.

In December, the State Government published a new regulation lifting the GM moratorium in the last edition of the Government Gazzette, but Greens, led by Legislative Council member Mark Parnell, vowed to block the move once parliament returned for 2020.

Last Wednesday, the Greens’ leader in the Legislative Council promise was realised, when he moved a disallowance motion which quashed the regulation, with the support of Labor and SA-BEST.

The same day, the State Government announced another set of regulations lifting the ban, with Mr Parnell subsequently expected to introduce another disallowance motion in the upper house to strike them out again.

Speaking in parliament, Mr Parnell called the State Government’s approach as “belligerent”.

“The minister (primary industries minister Tim Whetstone) seems to say that by continually reintroducing the same regulations he is somehow providing confidence to invest in South Australia,” he said.

“That is absolute rubbish, because even Grain Producers SA, who support lifting the moratorium, are smart enough to advise their members that planting GM crops in reliance of these regulations and before the issue is properly resolved in parliament is fraught with danger.

“So far from providing certainty and confidence, the minister's belligerent approach in continuing to try to do this through regulations is adding to the uncertainty that farmers are facing.”

SA-BEST – which has claimed to support lifting the ban, but opposes the State Government’s approach – introduced its own legislation to end the moratorium three weeks ago.

This bill is expected to be rejected by the State Government.

Primary industries minister Tim Whetstone said it “will stand firm” with grain growers and continue to enact new regulations if they are continually blocked in the upper house.

“We will negotiate with Labor and willing cross-bench MPs to seek agreement to pass our GM legislation and provide long-term certainty for the industry,” he said.

“Until our legislation is passed, the Marshall Liberal Government will continue to re-introduce regulations for as long as is needed to provide the entire supply chain confidence to invest in South Australia.

“The independent review of the GM moratorium found it had cost the state’s grain growers $33 million since 2004 and would cost industry a further $5 million if extended to 2025.”