Since the 1980s New Zealand and Australia have used genetic engineering for different purposes, including the production of food. Each country has faced controversy in this area and used a variety of legal measures to allay concerns and move toward the safe implementation of the technology. As of 2024 many issues requiring ongoing review remain in Oceania, in line with European data that showed "questions of consumer confidence and trust" and negative perceptions of genetically modified food as unhealthy and the technology as a process likely to damage the environment. Australian and New Zealand both require labeling so consumers can exercise choice between foods that have genetically modified, conventional, or organic origins.
Australia Genetic engineering in Australia was originally (since 1987) overseen by the Genetic Manipulation Advisory Committee, before the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) and Food Standards Australia New Zealand took over in 2001. The OTGR is a Commonwealth Government Authority within the Department of Health and Ageing and reports directly to Parliament through a Ministerial Council on Gene Technology and has legislative powers. It was established as part of the Gene Technology Act 2003 and operates according to the Gene Technology Regulations 2001. The OGTR reports directly to Parliament through a Ministerial Council on Gene Technology and has legislative powers. The OGTR decides on license applications for the release of all genetically modified organisms, while regulation is provided by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for GM medicines or Food Standards Australia New Zealand for GM food. The individual state governments are then able to assess the impact of release on markets and trade and apply further legislation to control approved genetically modified products.
Genetically modified cotton, canola, and carnations are grown in Australia. Genetically modified cotton has been grown commercially in New South Wales and Queensland since 1996.Information Paper on Genetically Modified Canola A report by the Ministerial GMO Industry Reference Group Chaired by the Hon Kim Chance MLC. May 2009 GM canola was approved in 2003 and was first grown in 2008 and was first approved in Western Australia in 2010.
In 2011 genetically modified plants were grown in all states except South Australia and Tasmania, who have extended their moratoriums until 2019 and 2014.Crothers, Lindy (29 June 2011) Australia, Agricultural Biotechnology Annual, 2011 USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Global Agricultural Information Network Report Number AS 1120, Retrieved 29 September 2011. The Queensland and Northern Territory Governments have not implemented any further legislation beyond the national level, but several other states placed bans on planting certain GM crops. In 2007 the New South Wales government extended a blanket moratorium on GM food crops until 2011, but allowed groups to apply for exemptions. New South Wales approved GM Canola for commercial cultivation in 2008, while the Victorian government let the moratorium on GM Canola expire in 2007. Western Australia passed the Genetically Modified Crops Free Areas Act in 2003 and was declared a GM free area in 2004. In 2008 an exception was made for the commercial cultivation of GM cotton in the Ord River Irrigation Areas. Trials of GM canola were carried out in 2003 and in 2010 the Western Australian government allowed the commercialisation of GM canola.
New Zealand Early management By the early 1980s technologies involving recombinant bacteria were being applied in laboratories in New Zealand mostly for biological and medical research. There had already been a move at a governmental level to manage genetic modification in the country and in 1978 the government placed a moratorium on field releases and established the Advisory Committee on Novel Genetic Techniques (ACNGT). The setting up of this body reflected concerns at the time of some scientists and the community of New Zealand "about the possible ecological and public health consequences of release of a GMO into the environment...[being concerned with]...laboratory experiments involving novel genetic techniques and [giving] advice to researchers on contained laboratory and glasshouse experiments." Research in this field advanced rapidly and by 1986 when there was more demand for field trials, the New Zealand government setup the Field Release Working Party (FRWP) to monitor the regulation of field testing and release of GMOs. In 1987, the FRWP recommended the establishment of a committee to assess all proposals to field test or release GMOs and the Minister for the Environment established the GMO Interim Assessment Group (IAG) under Section 33 of the Environment Act 1986 and at this point, the moratorium on field release was lifted. Researchers, funded either by the private sector or the Government, were required to submit proposals to the IAG for assessment and after meeting the required guidelines, these were publicly posted in several New Zealand newspapers and the public had thirty days to make submissions.
Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (1996) Neither the IAG or ACNGT had any legislative authority and as the public became more aware of field testing of genetically modified organisms, there was a call for legislation to monitor the process. The Environmental Minister at the time, Simon Upton who was also Minister for Crown Research Institutes, sponsored what was to become the Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Act (HSNO Act) which was passed on 16 April 1996. Upton saw the debate about genetically modified crops as significant as the controversy when New Zealand became nuclear-free in the 1980s. The Act defined genetically modified organism as "any organism in which any of the genes or other genetic material have been modified by in vitro techniques; or are inherited or otherwise derived, through any number of replications, from any genes or other genetic material which has been modified by in vitro techniques". It also noted that regulations could be made "(a) specifying the procedures and methods for assessing the probability that an adverse effect will occur from genetic modification of an organism: (b) specifying the probability that adverse effects will occur from specified development procedures:(c) specifying the circumstances in which genetic modification of an organism is a low risk genetic modification". Other sections covered assessments of projects for low risk genetic modification, and for the importation of genetically modified organisms with "any person importing any organism to declare, by statutory declaration, that the organism is not a genetically modified organism". Under the HSNO Act the Environmental Risk Management (ERMA) was also established as the body responsible for the management of the development or importation of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into New Zealand.
Growing public concerns By the late 1990s, the potential risks of GE technology emerged as an issue of public concern in New Zealand "fuelled by ethical concerns and health risks from inserting human genes into cattle, international concerns about the health effects of GM foods, and the potential environmental impacts of GM crops and other field uses." Greenpeace called for a moratorium on the release of GE organisms into the environment in 1996 and in 1997 established a consumer network that urged supermarkets not to sell GE foods. The government responded by setting up the Independent Biotechnology Advisory Group (IBAC) to focus on the human biotechnology and "provide independent advice to Government on its environmental, economic, ethical, social and health implications".
Royal Commission into Genetic Modification (2000) The New Zealand Government was made fully aware of the concerns about genetic modification when in October 1999, a petition, signed by 92,000 New Zealanders, was presented to Parliament by the Green Party. Accordingly, on 21 December 1999, the government announced in its Speech from the Throne Opening of Parliament:It is recognised that one area of research and development has led to significant public concerns. That is the area of genetic modification. A Royal Commission into Genetic Modification will be established. Until it has reported, a moratorium will be imposed on the commercial planting of genetically modified crops. Very strict conditions will apply to the consideration of any application for field trials until such time as the Commission reports on the wider issues.
Australian science broadcaster and writer Pete Pockley claimed that while the New Zealand Prime Minister at the time Helen Clark was justified in saying the "scope and processes [of the Commission] had been unique", some of the Commission's recommendations would require further resourcing, [to] "consolidate the commission’s good work [and] the New Zealand government will need to legislate with determination". Pockley further commented on some of the key recommendations of the Commission concluding that while the government was not bound by these, Helen Clarke and the environmental minister Marian Hobbs welcomed the commission and set a deadline for when plans would be in place to enact recommendations. A conclusion of the Commission was that while New Zealand should not rule out genetic modification, it recommended proceeding very cautiously.
Response to the Commission's Report Government The report of the Royal Commission into Genetic Modification made forty nine recommendations to the New Zealand Government. Marian Hobbs, the Minister for the Environment, noted that she was delighted the commission had [inquired] "into and report on the strategic options available to enable New Zealand to address genetic modification now and in the future...[and]...the concerns of New Zealanders [were] heard and evaluated". The same press release contained an overview and summary of the Commission's report including details of the recommendations and a timeline for the government to respond. The main conclusion of the Commission's report was that New Zealand should keep its options open with regard to genetic engineering and proceed carefully in order to minimise and manage any risks. [adopting] "a strategy of preserving opportunities and proceeding to use genetic modification selectively and with appropriate care...[rejecting]...the idea of a New Zealand free of all genetically modified material at one extreme and the option of unrestricted use of genetic modification at the other". In this formal acknowledgement of the Commission's Report in October 2001, the New Zealand Government committed to responding to the recommendations within three months. It noted the Commission's expectation that the food industry "must be subject to rigorous standards, properly enforced and carefully managed", with better publicity about the rules and a suggested introduction of a voluntary labelling scheme to allow identification of foods that are "free of genetically modified content or processes". The government confirmed on 31 October 2001 that it would legislate to stop genetically modified organisms being released into the country for the next two years, but it would lift a 16-month ban on field trials of the organisms which Helen Clark said "would go hand-in-hand with new rules to ensure materials used in the research were later destroyed or locked away". The Prime Minister stated in the same press release that there was not unanimous support for the policy from all members of her centre-left Labour Party, including some Māori MPs who "objected to genetic modification for religious and cultural reasons".