Although the Maori Party has reached an agreement with the National Party to support the remaining stages of the Resource Legislation Amendment Bill (RLAB), it is unclear yet what conclusions it may reach in regards to protecting regions' GM-free status.
On Thursday last week, the Maori Party announced it was confident that the changes advocated for in the RMA amendments would lead to better balanced development and kaitiakitanga.
There was no mention, however, of what the implications were for the s360D clause which had Hawke's Bay growers and local leaders concerned about the powers that could be conferred on the Minister for the Environment to prevent regions' from declaring themselves GM-free.
In their statement last week, Maori Party co-leaders Te Ururoa Flavell and Marama Fox made no mention of the clause, but a spokesperson from the Maori Party office said yesterday that nothing was set in stone yet.
"We won't be able to talk about this until the bill gets to the committee stage before the third reading, but we will continue to advocate for stringent constraints on ministerial powers in the next couple of weeks."
The Maori Party's hand was forced last week when the Act and United Future parties stepped in with another offer to support the RMA changes, which would produce a bill with no new iwi bureaucracy, recognition of property rights, and less government overreach.
ACT leader David Seymour said National Party supporters would be incensed to see how Environment Minister Nick Smith's deal with the Maori Party granted iwi new rights to interfere with resource consent applications.
As for s360D, he said in terms of GM-free regions ACT was in favour of being able to use genetically modified technology, which the science showed had massive potential to improve people's welfare.
"The downside to this has not been substantiated.
"Being GE free is a marketing exercise that is unlikely to be properly enforced anyway.
"You have to ask about property rights - what would farmers do who don't share the same views?"
Green Party Tukituki electorate candidate Chris Perley said the region's hopes now rested on the Maori Party recognising how important local democracy was and the importance of the Hawke's Bay region's GM position.
"This is a fundamental strategic issue for Hawke's Bay to go for quality, long value chains that are better for employment and the environment, and where the people of Hawke's Bay are making decisions for the people of Hawke's Bay."
Heading away from this quality focus, and accepting GM would work in favour for short value commodity chains, he said.
"World commodity prices for agricultural produce have gone down over the last 60 years. The only ones that benefit from a position of GM are the mega-corporates that are not locally owned. Such a position is a recipe for economic and environmental disaster."