The Gillard government's "rethink" on free trade is long overdue and the focus needs to shift in the short term to the government's headlong rush into the US-backed Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, Australian Greens Deputy Leader Christine Milne said today.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist, Elizabeth Farrelly recently hit the nail on the head when asking why we are happy to play gastronomic Russian Roulette by eating without question any morsel offered us on a plate. She was questioning why many of us blissfully indulge in healthy looking meals without any thought for the chemistry set that lies within, and was dismayed that a recent government-commissioned review of food labelling was happy for this to continue unabated.
The Australian Greens today outlined their vision for Australia in the new century ahead of the opening of the Balance-of-Power Senate.
Australian Greens Leader, Senator Bob Brown, said a record 1.17 million people voted Greens at the last election, and the five Greens Senators were ready to work constructively with all parties to respond to the challenges of the new century.
"Pollution, poverty, discrimination and the destruction of Australia's forests and precious environments are the legacy of the last century and decades of greed and inaction."
Australian Greens biosecurity spokesperson, Senator Christine Milne, today congratulated South Australian Premier Mike Rann for extending indefinitely South Australia's moratorium against the growing of genetically modified food crops (GMO).
Senator Milne said Tasmania's arm should be strengthened by the actions of Western Australia, and now South Australia, in shunning GMOs.
Christine Milne made a submission to the Tasmanian Government's Joint Select Committee into Gene Technology.
The Australian Greens support a moratorium on the release of genetically modified material into the environment until there is a deeper scientific understanding of their long term impact on environmental and human health.
In Tasmania, an island state dependent on a clean, green, natural brand, the current ban on GM organisms (GMOs) has worked to the State's economic advantage.