Western Australian Greens Senator Rachel Siewert is calling for a national “contamination insurance scheme” to help protect farmers who choose not to plant genetically modified (GM) crops.
Senator Siewert announced she would be tabling a motion in the federal Senate, aimed at protecting non-GM and organic farmers like Steve Marsh.
Mr Marsh lost a high profile case in the WA Supreme Court last year when the judge comprehensively rejected his attempts to sue his GM canola-growing neighbour Michael Baxter.
That original decision is now being appealed by Mr Marsh and his legal representatives, Slater & Gordon lawyers, with a hearing scheduled to be held March 23 to 25 in the Court of Appeal for the WA Supreme Court.
Senator Siewert said, “The proposed scheme would be funded through GM crop levies.
“Farmers should be able to farm in the way that they want to – it is time to make coexistence sustainable in WA.”
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GM ‘safe’: CropLife
CropLife Australia CEO Matthew Cossey said Justice Martin’s judgment was clear that the decertification of the organic farmer’s property by the National Association for Sustainable Agriculture was wrong.
Mr Cossey said coexistence in farming already existed and creating conflict where there is none does not help the nation’s farmers or Australian agriculture more broadly.
He said Senator Siewert’s motion seemed to be based on a “narrow political agenda to create unnecessary conflict between farmers rather than support the longstanding principles of coexistence in agriculture”.
Read full original article: Senator pushes anti-GM motion
