The House Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources has begun an inquiry into regulatory reforms undertaken by the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).

This inquiry was initiated following the release of the Auditor-General’s Report no. 56 (2016-17), Pesticide and Veterinary Medicine Regulatory Reform.

The audit found that the implementation of a range of legislative reforms, designed to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the APVMA’s regulatory activities, had been ‘mixed’.

“While key legislative reforms were implemented by the legislated timeframe of July 2014, the full scope of the reform program is yet to be implemented more than four years since the legislative amendments were developed”.

Committee Chair, Mr Rick Wilson MP said that the Committee will focus its inquiry on the APVMA’s progress since the audit took place.

“The ANAO made four recommendations in June last year and given the importance of these reforms to Australia’s agricultural sector, it is vital that the APVMA acts quickly on those recommendations.”

The Committee will be accepting submissions to the inquiry until 28 February 2018 and will hold public hearings to receive evidence.