Hemp Seed Food Debate in Oz

"The politics of pot continue to cloud the debate about

hemp seed food in Australia despite the national food standards authority finding the product is safe to eat and a health food.

It is the second green light hemp seed food has received from

Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) in a decade but state and Commonwealth food ministers have again baulked at legalising what is already widely consumed elsewhere in the world.
Last month the Council of Australian Governments' National Forum on Food Regulation deferred a decision until at least next January."
Hemp seed food debate: Government urged to back lucrative industry

The company I work for actually distribute the pictured hemp foods you see in this post of mine, in fact, these are foods that I regularly consume myself.

The problem is that in Australia it is legal to grow and distribute these food products as long as you don't tell people to consume them.

So, instead of finding food recipes on the packet, you will find instructions on how to make body cream, or anything else that doesn't involve the contents of the packet sliding down the back of the tongue.

I better not tell you how good this oil tastes on pasta then ... let's just pretend it's good for rubbing on joints ... not those joints either ... I'm referring to those aching knees and elbow joints from getting down on them and pleading to stupid politicians who are still living in the times of Randolf Hurst and his timber/newspaper empire he feared hemp would destroy.

And look at the name of the town these hemp products are made in ... Bangalow.
Now, where have I heard that name before on this blog? 

Funny thing too is that a few years ago I bought the first CD made with a hemp plastic CD tray to be made anywhere in the world and the guy that made it was Paul Benhaim, the same guy who now runs the hemp food company from Bangalow that sells hemp products to my company to distribute to retail shops around Australia.
Does that make me a pusher I wonder?-)

I'd like to stay and discuss this issue a bit more, but I've got the munchies now, so I'm off the eat some hemp seeds and rub those sore joints of mine with the good oil.

http://www.hempfoods.com.au/

Paul Benhaim

ABC LANDLINE PROGRAM Paul Benhaim of Hemp Foods Australia talks about Australian Hemp

Why The Hell Aren’t We Using Hemp?

Nimbin MardiGrass 2012

Update: 12th August, 2014

I bought some hemp milk soap from work and while there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek about these products not being for consumption, with the soap I'm afraid they're not joking around on this one ... hic!-)
Stay Myrtle?

Artworks at the 2014 Byron Bay Writers Festival

Woman, or alien?

???

Here are some pictures of the artwork scattered around the festival grounds this year.

This piece of art above was my favorite though, called ATM  
(Always Taking Machine?).
People were actually paying $2 per transaction to view this artwork and it seemed a rather popular piece with the festival goers too, for some reason?-)

My Highlight of the Byron Bay Writers Festival 2014

My Highlight of the Byron Bay Writers Festival 2014  
(among many ... more posts to come)  
would have to be getting ex-Prime-minister of Australia,
Malcolm Fraser to sign my copy of 
Mungo MacCallum's book The Whitlam Mob:-)

I had this brainstorm to see if Malcolm would be a sport and sign the chapter about him in Mungo's book, if I had bought a copy of Malcolm's book, also.

Which he did sign.
But while I didn't hide the fact from him that it was Mungo's book he was signing, I don't think Malcolm paid much attention when he was signing it.
After signing a copy of his book for me he then signed the open book where his name appeared without even checking to see the front cover of the book he was signing for me.

The ex-Prime-minister of Australia,
Malcolm Fraser at the BBWF 2014

Malcolm Fraser in the signing
tent next to Richard Clapton.

I then took my signed copy of The Whitlam Mob over to Mungo to sign,  just before his book launch with Kerry O'Brien, near the bar area of the Writers Festival.

Kerry O'Brien and Mungo MacCallum
  at the BBWF 2014

Kerry had just done the interview with Malcolm Fraser beforehand and when I showed Kerry Malcolm's signature in Mungo's book he cracked up laughing.
Definitely the high-light of my great weekend at the Writers Festival and there will be more posts about my weekend to follow soon, in the next few days.

For those outside Australia who don't know too much about Australian politics, 
Malcolm Fraser was the man who took over the leadership of Australia 
when the Whitlam government was sacked by the 
Queen of England's Governor General.
So much for a democratic government by the people.
Malcolm Fraser: in conversation with Kerry O’Brien at the BBWF 2014