“The Government’s failure to endorse the Report and its self-imposed three month timeframe for making decisions on its recommendations make it clear the Government is now looking for a way out, presumably to appease the Greens.”

“The failure to take a clear stand - either for or against the Royal Commission’s Report - is the worst possible outcome.”

“No-one now knows what the eventual outcome will be, and New Zealand is left in a state of peculiar limbo.”

“Yet the Government’s failure to take a stand, despite having months of warning on the timing of the Report, and its range of possible conclusions, make it clear the Government today is less than committed to what the Royal Commission has recommended.”

“Even a clear statement now of the Government’s disappointment at the Royal Commission’s findings would be preferable to its current non-committal response.”

“The Government’s reaction to the Royal Commission on Genetic Modification’s Report has too much of eerie feel of the Royal Commission on Social Policy for my liking,” Mr Dunne says.

ENDS