6 September 2019
CropLife Australia and our members welcome the announcement of an independent review of Australia’s agricultural and veterinary chemical regulation framework.
This review should be beneficial in streamlining important agricultural chemical regulatory activities, thereby enabling the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) to become a next generation regulator.
The APVMA plays a crucial role in ensuring Australian farmers have access to safe, effective and modern crop protection products that assist them to farm more productively and sustainably. These products are also crucial for our nation’s environmental land managers combatting threats to our natural environment.
Following a tumultuous few years relocating the APVMA to Armidale, reviewing Australia’s regulatory framework for agvet chemicals provides an opportunity to streamline the regulatory operations of the APVMA, deliver genuine efficiency gains and ensure Australia keeps a world-class scientifically and technically competent regulator.
CropLife welcomes the appointment of Mr Ken Matthews AO as the Chair of the expert review panel. Mr Matthews has significant experience in agvet chemical regulation as a former Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Mr Matthews remains a person of high standing in Australia’s agricultural sector.
We also welcome the expertise of Dr Craig Suann, Dr Mary Corbett and Dr Anne Astin PSM on the review panel.
The plant science industry directly underpins more than $20 billion a year of Australian agricultural production. Any reform process must deliver benefits and be done in a measured way that doesn’t cause unnecessary disruption.
The plant science industry will constructively participate in this review process and is hopeful it will deliver much‑needed regulatory improvements, unlike some previous reform agendas.
The expert review panel is due to report to the Minister for Agriculture by February 2021.