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

Can I just adopt Senator McLucas’s comments in terms of the process. Senator Siewert, you raise perhaps a legitimate issue about genetically modified food, but the problem again is—and I raised this last night in the debate—that amending this bill would not in fact have the outcome that you desire. It would take a change in the food standard, to be enforced at the state jurisdictional level, before any effect would be had with respect to genetically modified food. I understand what policy you wish to achieve, but that policy would not be achieved by what you seek to do here. So the government opposes this amendment.