TASMANIAN independent MP for Denison Andrew Wilkie has renewed his call for Australian and New Zealand health ministers to approve the use of industrial hemp as a food.
The Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation meets in Hobart tomorrow, where members will consider lifting the ban on industrial hemp.
Mr Wilkie said it was time to allow the production of industrial hemp for human consumption in Australia.
"It is a political decision not to have approved it by now,’’ Mr Wilkie said.
"There’s not a single good reason for holding off approving it for human consumption.
"It’s a healthy oil, it's a safe plant to grow and it will be very, very lucrative for farmers, particularly here in Tasmania."
Legislation to free up Tasmania’s industrial hemp industry could be introduced to the State Parliament later this year.
Primary Industries Minister Jeremy Rockliff told parliament specific purpose legislation was now being drafted, in collaboration with key industry stakeholders.
“The Bill will establish a sensible and appropriate regulatory framework based on a licensing scheme to be administered by the Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment (DPIPWE),” he said.
Tasmanian Industrial Hemp Association president Phil Reader said the legislation was currently on its third draft.
“Government officials are getting the wording right, for that special purpose legislation,” Mr Reader said.
“It should make it a lot easier for growing of crop here, it will streamline five different government departments.
“We are hopeful the legislation will go through both houses so we have got it in place, before planting, around November,” Mr Reader said.
“There’s been a lot of interest in the last couple of months, I, personally, have had a lot more phone calls and emails, from people wanting to grow crops.”
Mr Wilkie said the only thing missing at the moment was the political will to explain to the community that hemp was safe, lucrative and healthy.
Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) recommended the approval of industrial hemp for human consumption in 2012.
Australia and New Zealand were the only two countries in the western world still restricting the market.
Mr Wilkie said in January, the Forum failed to approve the use of hemp for food and continued to delay - using the excuses of law enforcement, roadside drug testing and marketing concerns.
Last year Mr Wilkie introduced a motion in Federal Parliament calling on the Federal Government to change the Food Standards Code to open up the lucrative market.