Leyonhjelm: industry views surpass the minister’s on APVMA relocation

Senator Leyonhjelm says he can understand both sides of the vexed political argument over decentralisation and uprooting the APVMA from Canberra and moving it to Armidale.

But on balance he’s against the national farm chemical regulator being shifted into Mr Joyce’s home electorate in northern NSW, to create an agricultural centre of excellence, at the University of New England.

Senator Leyonhjelm said the central point governing his position was that taxpayers don’t fund the APVMA which instead was fully funded by industry levies and charges, “so we’re not talking about saving taxpayer money here”.

“If industry thinks relocation of the APVMA is not a good idea, because it will adversely impact their interests and they’re the ones who pay for it, my view is they should be listened to very carefully,” he said.

“I’d vote against it if there was a vote - but there’s not going to be one.

“I do accept there are arguments both ways but on balance I’d be opposed to it.

“Industry should be listened to closely if industry funds the APVMA - it’s not funded by taxpayers - and industry’s view should be more important than the minister’s.”

Senator Leyonhjelm is well-placed to comment on the controversial APVMA decentralisation plan, given his pre-political career as a veterinarian and agribusiness consultant.

Senator Leyonhjelm said the view that the APVMA would lose important skills because most staff - especially those with specific technical expertise - won’t be relocating to regional NSW is, “probably well-founded and not to be discounted”.

He said on the other hand, in the modern work-force, many tasks can still be performed remotely by employees based outside of the agency’s head office; especially technical assessments.

“The APVMA does need some skilled staff that understand the technical assessments and interpret the results and can also manage the technical experts and their advice, so the loss of those staff may well be an issue,” he said.

“But many of the data reviews and assessments are done by external people anyway, who are not necessarily based in Canberra.

“It’s a legitimate argument that the APVMA will probably go through a period of six to 12-months of disruption to its processes which wouldn’t occur if it wasn’t required to relocate.

“And industry will argue, legitimately, that disruptions mean delays and delays cost money and also denies farmers access to the latest chemical products so there is a valid argument based on that view.

“But on the other hand, in the long run, relocating government bodies into regional areas is cheaper because the costs are lower for the premises and people in regional areas are often working for lower salaries because their living costs aren’t as high and so in the long run it can be more economical.”

Despite staunch opposition by farm industry groups and repeated accusations of political pork barrelling by the opposition, against the Nationals leader, the relocation is moving ahead, at an estimated cost of about $23 million.

A cost-benefit analysis of the APVMA relocation commissioned by the federal government has also provided mixed results on its potential economic impacts, for both locations.

It says the ACT would lose 189 direct jobs in the first year of the move while Armidale gained 189 - but the impact in each of the local economies was different.

“For example, in year three, the impact of a loss of 189 direct jobs in the ACT is 365 total jobs - direct and indirect - a $101.88 million loss in output and $55.38m loss in value add,” the report said.

“Whereas in Armidale the gain is 350 direct and indirect jobs, $77.54m in additional output and $41.73m in value add.”

Last week, the APVMA's latest performance statistics were also released showing only 50 per cent or 78 of the 156 pesticide products finalised in the December quarter 2016 were overdue and exceeding the statutory timeframe.

That was down from 82pc in the September quarter 2016.

Of the 524 pesticide product applications in progress at the end of the December quarter 2016, 31pc (or 162) of the pesticide product applications in progress were already overdue and exceeding the statutory timeframe.

The statistics also showed that only 180 pesticide product applications commenced in the December quarter 2016, down by 32pc on the previous quarter - down by 28pc from the same 2015 quarter.

On the long-running criticism of the APVMA’s regulatory performance, Senator Leyonhjelm said he struggled to see how being located in Armidale would aid any reform or improvements.

“That’s a management issue and a systems and methodology issue, as much as anything,” he said.

“There are all sorts of reasons for complaints about the APVMA – the delays in the bureaucracy and insistence on generating local data and reluctance to accept international data (for chemical product regulations).

“The APVMA tends to impose its own standards on data; instead of accepting generally accepted international standards or those from other countries as being sufficient.

“They also allow their reviewers a significant amount of discretion and they can be inconsistent.

“One reviewer will come to one conclusion and another reviewer will reach another conclusion and that makes it difficult for applicants.

“But I don’t see how relocating the APVMA will make those sorts of complaints any different - the only difference will be, if they lose skills and talent and experienced staff, the delays will be aggravated.”

Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said the National Farmers' Federation and leading agriculture industry groups continued to warn that the APVMA relocation would “severely adversely” impact the sector.

He said this week's Senate public hearing into the “poorly thought out” policy order and adverse impact on the APVMA relocation would demonstrate “what a bad idea Barnaby Joyce's pork barrel is”.

“Surely then the Prime Minister will intervene before millions of tax payer dollars are wasted and the damage to the agriculture sector and possibly human health impacts are irreversible,” he said.