27 May 2026
CropLife Australia welcomes the announcement today by the Assistant Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator the Hon Anthony Chisholm, that the Australian Government intends to provide a permanent annual contribution to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority from the 2027-28 financial year.
CropLife Australia, the national peak industry organisation for the plant science sector, said the commitment to provide a minimum annual government contribution of $3.2 million is an important and overdue recognition that the APVMA performs public-good functions that should not be funded solely by industry fees and levies.
The announcement forms part of the government’s proposed new sustainable funding policy for the APVMA, which also includes significant changes to the regulator’s fees and levies model from 2027-28.
CropLife Australia Chief Executive Officer Matthew Cossey said the announcement was a welcome step but warned the proposed cost recovery changes risk creating serious unintended consequences for Australian farmers, registrants and the agricultural innovation pipeline.
“The plant science sector welcomes the government’s decision to provide permanent annual funding to the APVMA. This is an important recognition that the regulator performs essential public-good functions that support farmers, the community and the national interest,” Mr Cossey said.
“However, $3.2 million annually is not enough. The APVMA requires a substantially higher and properly structured annual government contribution to fund the real cost of its public-good functions, including compliance, enforcement, chemical review, emergency permits and minor-use access. Even that higher level of government funding would have the APVMA still receiving significantly less from government than most of its overseas equivalents.
“Australia’s plant science sector already contributes tens of millions of dollars through APVMA fees and levies. Farmers ultimately bear the cost of an inefficient or poorly designed regulatory funding system through higher input costs, reduced competition and delayed access to new technology.
“Permanent government funding is welcome, but it must be sufficient to fix the structural problem, not simply soften the edges of a flawed cost recovery model.”
Mr Cossey said CropLife supports the government’s stated objective of ensuring all users of the Australian regulatory system make an appropriate contribution to its costs. However, the proposed model, which would recover the full cost of registrations upfront while reducing levies on product sales, would have massive and unintended consequences on current supply chains, investment decisions and the innovation pipeline if implemented without proper staging over an extended period of time.
“The government is right to address circumstances where APVMA registrations are obtained primarily to support access to overseas markets, while little or no product is sold in Australia and little or no levy is paid into the Australian system,” Mr Cossey said.
However, the proposed solution risks going much further than what the problem requires. As drafted, it would impose a dramatic increase in upfront costs that could make Australia a less attractive market for the registration of new crop protection products, particularly for smaller crops, niche uses and newer technologies.
“That would be a bad outcome for Australian farmers. It risks reducing competition, discouraging innovation, weakening supply chain resilience and delaying access to the very tools farmers need to remain productive, profitable and sustainable.
“A sustainable funding model cannot simply shift costs around the system and hope there are no consequences. It must support a strong, efficient and independent regulator while also ensuring Australian farmers continue to have timely access to safe and effective crop protection products.” he said.
Mr Cossey said CropLife has already put forward alternative options to better achieve the government’s objective without creating unnecessary market disruption. “CropLife has proposed more targeted and workable approaches that would ensure companies using the Australian regulatory system contribute fairly, while avoiding unnecessary damage to legitimate registrants, product holders and Australian farmers.” Mr Cossey said.
“The final model must encourage innovation, maintain secure supply chains, support minor and emergency uses, and ensure the registration system remains internationally competitive.
“I commend Minister Julie Collins and Assistant Minister Chisholm for the leadership they have shown on this issue. CropLife looks forward to working with the government in establishing a world-leading sustainable funding model for the APVMA, and its implementation through a CRIS process.
“The objective must be a genuine, modern and world-leading sustainable funding policy for the APVMA, not a funding model that solves one problem by creating several new ones for Australian agriculture.”
ENDS