South Australian govt under fire over legalization of genetically modified crops

CANBERRA -- A ban on genetically modified (GM) crops in South Australia (SA) will be lifted from the start of 2020.

The state government on Thursday introduced new regulations that will legalize the planting of GM crops from Jan. 1, 2020 everywhere except Kangaroo Island, more than a third of which is a protected nature reserve.

The government was forced to legalize the practice via regulations rather than legislation after the state's parliament twice voted against lifting the ban.

The parliament could again vote to overturn the regulations but will have to wait until the first sitting week of 2020 in February.

Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development Tim Whetstone accused opponents in the parliament of playing politics over the issue.

"When we first introduced regulations, the Labor Party and SA Best made the petty excuse that they didn't agree with the process and that legislation should be introduced," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

"The state government did exactly that and inexplicably the Labor-SA Best alliance voted against the legislation to again show they are not the farmers' friend."

The news has been cautiously welcomed by growers but Greens Member of Parliament (MP) Mark Parnell told the ABC that the ban will likely be reinstated in February.

"Parliament twice in the last couple of months has said to the Government 'we don't want the moratorium lifted'," he said.

"For the Government to come back with exactly the same model that was defeated twice before just strikes me as stupid in the extreme."