Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McLucas for making the point far more eloquently than I could. It is ultimately a balance. Senator Siewert was right to raise the concern, because it is a concern that is reflected right back to the review process in 2005-06. In the end it is a balance, and governments have to make decisions about when they should take difficult action. You may say it is risky, but we tried to minimise risk through the highly prescriptive process. I accept that it is a power that we hope we will never have to use. Secondly, in relation to the environment—and we are recanvassing some of those issues—I understand your point about wishing to limit this to simply human health. But, if there is an oil spill, I think it is incumbent on all of us, particularly someone from the Greens party, to use GMOs if necessary to clean up an oil spill—an environmental disaster. It is a balance, but I think this bill is about as close as we will get to finding that balance.