Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor acknowledges that the new concerns over the use of glyphosate in Australia highlight the crucial importance of an effective and independent chemicals regulator. The regulator in Australia is the APVMA. Its job is to protect our health and safety. Unfortunately, public confidence in the APVMA is already in decline because of the Turnbull government's decision to forcibly relocate it from Canberra to Armidale. Labor sees no merit in further undermining the community's confidence in the APVMA by challenging its independence. That's Labor's problem with this motion and it's why we can't support it in its current form. That doesn't mean we do not share the concerns raised in the motion. We do. The best way to keep our community safe is to maintain the regulator's independence and to rebuild its capacity to do its work in the most effective and timely manner. There are a number of things that the Turnbull government can do. Firstly, it should respond to community concern and provide some reassurance. Its silence has been deafening. Secondly, it should reverse the damaging relocation of the APVMA.