Australia: New agrichemicals legislation will add costs, cut access
Chief Advocate Rachel Mackenzie said that the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Legislation Amendment Bill had been strongly criticised by Growcom and other agricultural industry groups but that the industry’s protests had so far fallen on deaf ears.
“Our major concern is that this legislation will either add significantly to the cost of agricultural chemicals in the store or will see farmers lose access to chemicals vital to agricultural production,” said Ms Mackenzie.
“The central issue is that the new legislation requires a mandatory re-registration (‘continuation’) component for all chemicals,” said Ms Mackenzie.
“This could see the agricultural chemicals industry and the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) bogged down in an unnecessary, extensive and expensive review process.
“While the cost of the review process will largely be borne by the chemical companies who must provide the data for re-registration, it can be expected that these costs will be passed on to the farmer in the form of increased costs for mainstream agricultural chemical products.
“The mandatory review process may also act as a major disincentive on chemical companies supplying chemicals into the small Australian market. It may simply be cheaper not to supply them. This has already happened in Europe where a number of chemicals have not been re-registered even though they are known to be low risk.
“Moreover, the new legislation could be expected to triple the workload of the APVMA but there has been no corresponding increase in their budget. The APVMA struggles to find the resources to process the reviews it already has in a timely manner.
“A mandatory review process for all chemicals also means there will be fewer resources to review properly those chemicals which are of genuine concern.
“The legislation may have the unanticipated result of restricting Australia’s access to new softer and more environmentally friendly chemistry because of the additional costs to be borne by the chemical companies in reviewing existing products.
“The frameworks for implementation have not yet been written and are unlikely to be written before the Act comes into being on 1 July, so other issues may also arise.
“Growcom calls on the Senate to strongly consider the implications and potential ramifications of the issue and defeat the Bill in the Upper House.”
For comment please contact Chief Advocate Rachel Mackenzie on 0408 796 199. Issued by Chris Walker, Communications Manager on 07 3620 3864 or 0408 014 843.
For more information:
Chris Walker
Growcom
Tel: +61 (0)7 3620 3844
Mob: +61 (0)408 014 843