Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to have this opportunity to speak on the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Amendment Bill 2007. This bill is supported by Labor, as it will improve the management structure of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority. It will bring the authority’s arrangements into line with management arrangements for other government statutory entities. It draws on the recommendations of the Uhrig report, which reviewed the corporate governance of statutory authorities and office holders. The review’s key task was to develop templates to ensure best practice governance principles would assist the establishment of effective governance arrangements for statutory authorities.

Under the bill before us, the assets and liabilities of the authority will become assets and liabilities of the Commonwealth. However, the authority will continue to be a statutory authority of the Commonwealth constituted under the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Administration) Act.

I understand the authority will be able to continue business as usual in the way it contracts and acquires property, appoints agents and seeks legal advice. The bill will also prevent conflict of interest, with staff of the authority now employed under the provisions of the Public Service Act rather than the administration act. In addition, the authority will now be managed by a chief executive officer. Under previous arrangements the authority was managed by a governing board.

I understand that an advisory board will be appointed by the minister, and that board will advise the chief executive officer. I take this opportunity to remind the minister that the Uhrig report recommended the minister must be well supported in making the appointments to statutory bodies, and I urge the minister to ensure that he seeks all relevant advice in making decisions on these important appointments.

The authority is an important body which administers the assessment and registration of pesticides and veterinary medicines and provides for their regulation up to and including the point of sale. The authority administers the National Registration Scheme for Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals in partnership with the states and territories. Its role is to independently evaluate the safety and performance of chemical products to ensure that the health and safety of people and the environment are protected.

It is interesting to look at the history of the authority. It dates back to the former Labor government. In the late 1980s, the Labor government understood and embraced the need for an ongoing program of reform of the regulation of agricultural and veterinary chemicals. Initially the Commonwealth’s involvement in the agricultural and veterinary chemical and pesticides clearance process was informal. But the Labor government of the day recognised the need to formalise arrangements and from 1 July 1989 the arrangements were put on a legislative basis, with the enactment of the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Act 1988.

From 1967, the intergovernmental arrangements for the clearance and registration of agricultural and veterinary chemicals were devolved to the states and territories. This led in July 1991 to the Labor Commonwealth government taking the lead and seeking agreement from the states and territories, which at the time were governed by both the coalition and Labor, to a nationalised approach. They agreed to replace the existing eight state and territory registration bodies with a single national scheme to register agricultural and veterinary chemicals.

This established the Australian Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Council to undertake clearance activities. In July 1991, the Commonwealth, states and territories agreed to establish the National Registration Scheme—the NRS—for agricultural and veterinary chemicals. This important initiative enabled the development of the NRS and sought to place under one national umbrella the assessment and registration of all agricultural and veterinary chemical products. This had previously been undertaken independently by the Commonwealth and each of the states and territories.

Furthermore, in 1992 the Commonwealth announced it would establish the National Registration Authority for Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals to undertake the registration activities, with associated policy issues being the responsibility of the Department of Primary Industries and Energy. The establishment of the national registration authority in 1992 was a very significant step in the development of the national registration scheme for agricultural and veterinary chemicals. It was a clear indication of the commitment of the Labor government of the day to an ongoing program of microeconomic reform of these regulatory arrangements.

The reform led to a much better system which could work more effectively to ensure national standards in this most important area of regulation. In 2003 the national registration authority changed its name to the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, and, of course, it is the structure of that body that is going to be amended under this legislation.

In conclusion, Labor welcomes these amendments, which will improve the governance arrangements of this essential and vital organisation which works to protect the health and safety of the community.

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