Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for tabling the guidelines—it was very helpful. I am seeking some further clarification around certain issues that relate to the amendments that I am moving. I want to go to the issue of threat again. I am trying to seek some clarification around the definition of threat—imminence, severity and scale. Let me use an example. In the guidelines they use the example of an oil spill. We have had many oil spills in Australia, and I would hate to think that a genetically modified organism would have been released in relation to any of these oil spills. I have a level of nervousness, as do I think a number of people, around what you would define as an imminent threat in relation to an oil spill or an industrial spillage, and I seek some guidance around those issues. It is not contained in the guidelines and, while the guidelines clarify some detail, they do not clarify that level of detail.