Gene Technology Bill: Oral Presentations

Includes links to the video recordings of the sessions.

May 23, 2025

This article serves as an introduction to the oral presentations. It sets the stage for further posts on some of the actual presentations—the good and the bad.

The first part of this post deals with the injustice and harms associated with the Health Select Committee’s decision NOT to hear approximately 500 of the submitters who wanted to speak on their submissions.

Was this because of government pressure? After all, government pressure appears to be a reason why an extension was not given to the period open to written submissions, even though much of the allotted time coincided with the summer holidays.

In the following clip, Steve Abel (Health Select Committee Attendee/Green Party MP), asks Dr Shane Reti (Minister of Science, Innovation and Technology) why the rush to push this bill through without proper consultations.

Listen to Shane Reti’s reply. He gives three lame, irrelevant reasons why he opposes any extensions. He then says, at the end of the day it’s up to the committee to make that decision; however, he made it quite clear that the government wants this bill to progress.

How many committee members were consulted on this issue? How many, if any, opposed such an extension—an extension needed for a very good reason—so farmers could be consulted?

The clip is from the Select Committee Hearing on the 5th March, 2025. More on this later.

The second part of this article lists and links to the video recordings of the hearings. In general, the standard of information and insights of those opposed to the bill is extremely high.

Injustice & the Unheard

The Health Committee only listened to around 400 of the 900 people who wanted to speak on their submissions. Everyone has a right to be heard, especially under the rushed circumstances associated with this Bill and especially on such an important subject—the deregulation of many aspects of gene technology in NZ has the potential to create a devastating effect on our health and environment.

By their NOT listening to around 500 people, the committee will NOT be properly informed as some of those people may have had valuable information that could've added to the Select Committee's knowledge, widened their understanding; and therefore, could’ve had an impact on their upcoming report.

There are many reasons why everyone should have been heard. Here are just a few.

Some people are much better at speaking than writing; therefore, they depended upon the opportunity to speak to get all their points across.
As much of the submission period was over the Summer Holidays, many people did not have adequate time to write a detailed submission. Considering the time constraints, how many people had to rush their submission to get it in in time, but nevertheless expected they could elaborate on their written submission during an oral presentation at a later date.
Most people I spoke with did not know anything about the Gene Technology Bill. It has not had much publicity if any—a well functioning democracy depends on an independent fourth estate and not one compromised by conflicts of interest. Those people who found out about the bill at the last minute had no choice but to write a quick, short submission.

To add insult to injury, the Health Select Committee divided into two groups, a group of four and a group of five members to get through the presentations more quickly or as they say to get through more presentations.

Who chose the ridiculously short time frame for such an important subject? If this bill progresses into law, it will represent an ‘accident’ about to happen—the possibilities of harm are very real as previously witnessed but NOT reported on in legacy media. For instance, see here for cover-ups of the Genetic, Covid 19 Vaccine harms, and here for costly GE failures in NZ and here for one of the many environmental releases of GMOs gone wrong.

If the reporting on GE was unbiased, no sane person would be willing to go down that path. And if you look beyond industry propaganda and misleading statements, you will find no sane reason to do so.

Here are the lists of those on the Health Select Subcommittees.

Subcommittee A: Sam Uffindell (Chair, National, Tauranga), Dr Carlos Cheung (National, Mt Roskill), Ingrid Leary (Labour, Taieri), Hūhana Lyndon (Green Party, List).

Subcommittee B: Dr Hamish Campbell (Chair, National, Ilam), Cameron Luxton (ACT, List), Jenny Marcroft (NZ First, List), Debbie Ngarewa-Packer (Maori party, Te Tai Hauauru), Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall (Labour, List).

Therefore, no member of the select committee had the opportunity to hear or question all the presenters. And since the smaller parties only had one MP on the committee, their representatives only got to hear about 200 of the 900 who requested a hearing.

During the hearings, there were some substitutes/absentees. Steve Abel appeared to fill in for Hūhana Lyndon.

Read what NZ author Mary Hobbs says on this issue here: https://nzdsos.com/2025/03/09/parliament-pushes-to-pass-the-gene-technology-bill/

From her article:

Surely it is a democratic right to be heard — particularly on such a vital Bill. A Bill that proposes to sweep aside Human Rights, allow all of nature (and humans) to be potentially irreversibly, artificially altered with no meaningful responsibility for ‘accidents’, no traceability, no labelling, no compensation for anyone’s land that is contaminated by others — instead the person who owns the land that has been contaminated has to pay for any clean-up. And, of course, no Precautionary Principle. Instead, there is full protection for the architects of the Bill and their staff....
So, when 900 New Zealanders have devoted their time to prepare objections to this Bill and asked to be heard, this must surely —at the least —be respected. Everyone has a RIGHT to be heard. EVERYONE. Or is the process of “being heard” little more than theatre? If hearing everyone interferes with the timetable of those trying to ram this legislation through that is irrelevant. They are out of order...

Links to the Video Recordings

The committee held hearings on the Gene Technology Bill on the 5th, 10th, 14th, and 17th March; and not mentioned in the press release, 2nd April, 2025.

Here’s the general link to the Health Committee’s Video Channel: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257.

You can download the videos if you wish.

If you want to listen to someone in particular, just type in their name in the Health Committee’s search box above any video—this will lead you to the relevant video recording.

And then, below each video, if you click on the words Show more, you will see a list of presenters in their order of appearance.

If you want to view the written submission of a particular presenter, you can type in Gene Technology Bill and the presenter’s name in the search box on the parliament website. See here. https://www.parliament.nz/en/

To view all of the written submissions, click here.

Hearings: 5th March, 2025

https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257?video=1062548868. The Video is labelled as Part 2. [Part 1 is not applicable as it is on an unrelated Bill.]

Hearings on the 5th March were heard by the Health Select Committee and NOT by just a subcommittee. In general, apart from two presenters, including Prof. Jack Heinemann, they were all in favour of the bill or in favour with some amendments.

These presenters were heard by the Health Select Committee as a whole and NOT by just a subcommittee?

Most, if not all, of the so-called past and predicted benefits of GE raised by those generally in favour of the bill can be debunked.

GE hornless cattle was considered an achievement by one submitter—however, the hornless cattle turned out to be a potentially dangerous failure. An unintended outcome was the discovery of antibiotic resistant genes. See here. Under deregulation, how would such potential harms even be identified?

The ‘Impossible Burger was another so-called GE success story mentioned. However, the burger contains known carcinogens. It only became a sensation because of its huge multi-million dollar advertising campaign. In my opinion, it is an ultra-processed, disease-promoting ‘food’ NOT fit to eat. See here.

And if the Gene Technology Bill gets passed, we will find a growing avalanche of unnatural, disease-promoting ‘foods’, falsely labelled as natural, on our supermarket shelves. The word natural will become a synonym for GE.

And do we need low-methane producing cows? What’s the benefit? NONE. We do not have a cow-farting problem. But we do have an ultra-processed food problem. See here.

As far as plants go, the presenters in general suggested nothing that nature and other non-GE methods cannot do more effectively, more sustainably, and without the risks.

So why did the committee give so much time to these groups?

And why did the committee give NO time at all to so many of those who wanted a hearing—is that because there was an avalanche of submissions opposed to this bill, which the government wants to ram through?

Hearings: 10th March, 2025

Subcommittee A (10-3-25)

Part 1: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1058047991
Part 2: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1064118865

Subcommittee B (10-3-25)

Part 1: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1058045632
[BTW Dr Guy Hatchard gave a stunning oral submission. He debunked three major government claims. You can also read about it here. https://hatchardreport.media/oral-presentation-gene-technology-bill/]
Part 2: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1064120298
Part 3: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1064136575

Hearings: 14th March, 2025

Subcommittee A (14-3-25)

https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1064136822

Subcommittee B (14-3-25)

Part 1: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1064143594
Part 2: https://vimeo.com/showcase/10758257/video/1065682799

Hearings: 17th March, 2025

Asides

Gary Moller: A World Championship Win, Thanks to Staying 20 Years Ahead of Disease. See https://www.garymoller.com/post/a-world-championship-win
I am in my 70's and still getting faster. How could that be? The stopwatch doesn't lie.
Read about his new initiative: Living, racing and healing the Freeranger way. This includes respecting our natural genetic blueprint—by nourishing it rather than interfering with its function.
No genetic tampering, no silver bullets - no mRNA drugs. Just daily discipline in food, movement, recovery, and purpose.
Americans are ditching GMOs. They have embraced MAHA (Make America Healthy Again). What a silly time for New Zealand to jump on the GM bandwagon, when others are jumping off in search of a healthier way forward.
See here: https://t.me/rcr_nz/3257:
NZ’s clean green edge is our golden ticket, but only if we don’t blow it!
Hamish de Lautour sees massive opportunity in the chaos. Americans are desperate for health, and we’ve got what they want… GMO-free, pasture-fed, organic brilliance! But just as the door opens, the Gene Technology Bill could slam it shut.
We have a short window of time to speak up. Be heard - or be silenced by default.
Watch here: https://rcr.media/view/417783
Action Alert Reminder: Petition to Halt the Gene Technology Bill and to set up a Commission of Inquiry. If you haven’t already signed, your signature is needed. Closes 17th June. See here and for a direct link here.
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