Good article. Worth reading in full.

NOTE: The Institute of Public Affairs is a controversial far right lobby group with Monsanto amongst its funders.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=259

For more on Rick Roush.
http://www.lobbywatch.org/profile1.asp?PrId=112

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Now for the hard sell on modified foods
William Birnbauer
The Age, May 20 2007
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/the-gm-hard-sell-begins/2007/05/19/1179497342307.html

The GM hard sell begins

The public aren't that keen, but Victoria has money on its mind

[image caption: Geoffrey Carracher is concerned about the integrity of his GM-free canola crop after the contamination of his canola seeds two years ago while Andrew Weidemann (right) hopes to fill his silos with grains grown from genetically modified seed should a four-year ban on GM crops be lifted.

Photo: Craig Sillitoe]

Three years ago Labor backbencher Luke Donnellan voted for a four-year ban on genetically modified crops in Victoria. Last week Mr Donnellan invited his Labor colleagues to attend a pro-GM meeting at Parliament House sponsored by the Institute of Public Affairs, an outfit not highly regarded in Labor circles.

With the State Government's ban on genetically modified canola expiring in February, supporters and opponents are beginning their lobbying campaigns. The outcome will depend on whether Labor has shifted ground on the controversial technology.

ALP insiders say that senior ministers, especially Treasurer John Brumby and Premier Steve Bracks, regard the ban as running counter to the aim of making Victoria an international hub for biotechnology. "They wouldn't be in Boston (for Bio 2007) saying, 'We're going to extend the moratorium', would they?" asks one Labor MP.

Mr Donnellan told The Sunday Age he was generally supportive of genetically modified food. In his email invitation to MPs, he said: "I believe the technology has the potential to assist us to deal with food and water shortages both here and overseas."

Mr Donnellan was one of three MPs - the others are from the Liberal and National parties - who were enlisted by the Institute of Public Affairs to invite guests to hear pro-GM speakers over drinks and finger food in the Legislative Council committee room.

The Labor Party is split over whether to continue the moratorium and is headed for a potentially divisive debate. Already, Tammy Lobato, MP for Gembrook, is gearing up a big campaign. "I urge the people of Victoria to participate in this public debate and consider the evidence," she said. "Going down the GM road is an irreversible path and Victorians need to assess whether this is the right way to go for our farmers, our communities, our environment and our health." She did not believe it was.

One clue to the Government's attitude is the language it uses in its press releases. In 2004, the former agriculture minister Bob Cameron said the commercial release of GM canola "would represent a point of no return for Victoria. The Government believes the risks to export markets outweighs any perceived benefits at this time."

Last week, Agriculture Minister Joe Helper was not convinced about the risk to exports. "In Victoria, the focus will be on what impact the use of this technology would have on our trade markets if the moratorium was lifted," he said.

The institute expects 50 to 70 MPs to attend the meeting. They will hear from Rick Roush, the dean of land and food resources at Melbourne University, Jennifer Marohasy, an IPA fellow, and Chris Kelly, a Mallee grain grower.

The meeting follows a front-page report in The Sunday Age last week that the State Government is set to lift its ban on GM crops. The report prompted a large number of letters from readers opposed to GM foods.

Anti-GM campaigners such as Bob Phelps from Gene Ethics and Julie Newman from the Network of Concerned Farmers, are firing their first shots in the new debate. They claim that biotechnology giants Monsanto, Bayer CropScience and Nufarm are funding pro-GM farm lobby groups and the IPA.

The Sunday Age has confirmed that the institute receives total funding of about $1.5 million a year, of which $4000 comes from the global agricultural biotechnology company Monsanto.

Mr Kelly, who is to address Tuesday's seminar, is the Victorian convener of the pro-GM Producers Forum and a director of the Birchip Cropping Group. The group's internet site lists its diamond sponsors as including Bayer CropScience and crop protection company Nufarm Limited.

Bayer CropScience in 2003 won approval from the federal Gene Technology Regulator for the commercial release of herbicide-tolerant InVigor hybrid canola in Australia. Last September, Nufarm paid Monsanto $10 million for the licence to Roundup Ready canola, which also has been approved by the gene regulator.

The biotechnology giants spent tens of millions of dollars developing these seeds. Moratoriums by state governments halted release of both manipulated canola varieties.

In 2003, Professor Roush and his scientific collaborators received $20,000 from Bayer and Monsanto for research into canola pollen. He said it was the only funding he had received from those companies in 30 years of research.

Julie Newman, of the anti-GM Network of Concerned Farmers, points at a group called Agrifood Awareness, which she said was the main policy adviser for farm groups lobbying in favour of genetically manipulated crops.

She claimed the Grains Research and Development Corporation, which imposes a levy of 1 per cent of gross sales on farmers, contributed $100,000 a year to Agrifood Awareness. She said the levy was supposed to pay for grain research.

Agrifood Awareness executive director Paula Fitzgerald said the money was also used for workshops in gene technology run with the CSIRO.

Ms Fitzgerald said moratoriums in Vict