Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) Share this | Hansard source

The Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment (Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority Board and Other Improvements) Bill 2019 improves agvet chemical legislation. It streamlines legislated processes to reduce regulatory burden. It also strengthens the vital protections for the health and safety of humans, animals, plants and the environment.

Given its vital role, the APVMA requires robust governance arrangements that reflect modern practices. The bill supports this by establishing the APVMA board and ceasing the advisory board. The bill includes measures that will support the administrative efficiency of the APVMA and help improve the handling time for applications. These measures will enable the use of new, simpler processes for assessments based on risk and will increase the APVMA's flexibility to deal with errors in applications. These measures promote quicker access to safe and effective chemical products.

The bill will also enable the APVMA to choose, where appropriate, to use computerised decision-making as part of its processes. This can increase efficiency while maintaining the appropriate checks and balances. The bill provides for incentives for registration holders to include, on product labels, certain uses of chemical products that they would not ordinarily register. This will significantly benefit Australian farmers. The bill also streamlines industry reporting, reducing costs for industry without compromising the availability of information. Importantly, the bill also strengthens the integrity of the regulatory framework. The APVMA must rely on information provided to it by applicants. The bill provides the APVMA with a broader suite of sanctions that will allow it to proportionately respond to any faults or misleading information it receives. This includes both administrative sanctions and civil pecuniary penalties.

The bill further bolsters the integrity of the agvet chemical regulatory system by ensuring that all holders and applicants must inform the APVMA if they become aware of new information about their chemical. This includes information that suggests that the substance may no longer meet the statutory safety requirements for humans, plants, animals or the environment. The bill also includes measures to improve the integrity and transparency of voluntary recalls of agvet chemicals. This will ensure that reporting obligations are clear for persons recalling these chemicals.

Notably, the bill also introduces a five-person skills based governance board for the APVMA. Currently all responsibility for the APVMA's strategic leadership, governance and day-to-day operations rests with the chief executive officer. This places an unreasonable management burden on the position of CEO. The board will be the accountable authority under the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013. It will ensure the proper, efficient and effective performance of the APVMA's functions and determine the policies, objectives and strategies that the APVMA follows.

The APVMA will continue to deliver independent and evidence based decisions. The board will oversee how the APVMA does its job by establishing and monitoring the framework under which it operates. Day to-day administration and decision-making, such as registering individual chemical products and undertaking compliance and enforcement activities, will remain the responsibility of the CEO.

The bill also requires that, when determining the objectives, strategies and policies to be followed by the APVMA, the board must have regard to how the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Code is implemented. This includes recognising that the health and safety of humans, animals and the environment is the first priority; the APVMA should take a science based approach to risk assessment and management; and regulatory effort should be balanced against risk.

The board model chosen by the government is comparable with other corporate Commonwealth entities and with private sector companies. Its proposed size, composition, role, functions, duties and powers conform to Commonwealth policy, as well as modern best practice guidance, on corporate governance. The bill additionally requires a review of the operation of the board after four years to assess its effectiveness and efficiency.

Separately, the bill ceases the APVMA advisory board, which had no legislative powers to direct any action and has not operated since 2015. The APVMA already has the ability to consult with stakeholders without the advisory board, including through committees established under the new board. Collectively, the measures in the bill will make agvet chemical legislation more flexible and efficient, incentivise the registration of new product uses and strengthen the integrity of Australia's agvet chemicals regulation framework. In addition, replacing the advisory board with a governance board will position the APVMA to become a more modern and sustainable regulator. The board will bring an expanded range of governance skills to the APVMA and deliver a more effective and efficient organisation. I commend the bill to the House.

Question negatived.

Original question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

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