Say no to GMO

More than a thousand protesters marched on the West Australian Parliament today demanding the new government extend the moratorium on the production of genetically modified crops.

Front and centre of the march was renowned gardening guru Peter Cundall, who described the push for GM food as dangerous, arguing it would harm Western Australia’s export image as a “clean, green state”.

The fiesty octogenarian, who recently stepped down as host of the long running television series Gardening Australia, said the push for GM crops was being driven by greed and he would never retire from fighting greed and corruption. (He is also an outspoken opponent of a pulp mill in Tasmania’s Tamar Valley, where he lives.)

A passionate advocate for organic gardening, Peter used an area fondly known as Pete’s Vegie Patch at the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens to show gardeners how they could use crop rotation to grow the best quality fruit and vegetables in the own backyard. The corner has become a huge tourist attraction.

Anti-GM protesters in Western Australia are concerned that the new Liberal-National Government will lift the moratorium on genetically modified crops in the state. In the lead-up to the September poll, Colin Barnett told voters if elected his government would allow GM cotton crops to go ahead on the Ord River in the state’s north and commercial trials of GM canola in the state’s south from next year.

“To simply say that we are going to ban GM means that WA farmers could fall behind in their profitability, even their viability might suffer,” he said at the time.

The then premier, Alan Carpenter, maintained his strong opposition to the introduction of GM crops, saying there was strong demand for GM-free crops in key markets such as Japan and Europe.

More than 27,000 signed a petition, Say No to GMO, to present to new Agriculture Minister Terry Redman. The petition says the moratorium must be extended beyond 2008 to protect WA’s status as a GM-free producer.