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

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes the recent escape of the glycophosphate-resistant genetically-engineered (GE) grass, known as creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera) in Oregon, United States of America;

(b)

notes that this Roundup-resistant grass, which was developed for golf courses and suburban lawns, has now demonstrated an ability to spread rapidly by seed and to hybridise with other grass strains;

(c)

recognises that this makes the grass a potentially serious threat to both Australia’s agriculture and its environment, if it were to be introduced into Australia; and

(d)

urges governments to:

(i)

implement mechanisms to prevent the importation of GE creeping bentgrass and other exotic herbicide-resistant GE grasses that could make our shocking weed problem worse, and

(ii)

introduce stronger measures to ensure that GE plants released in Australian field trials do not contaminate the environment and become problem weeds.

Question put.