Barnaby Joyce remains determined to move the Australian Pesticides & Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) from Canberra to Armidale in his electorate.
It’s a mad move which will produce serious adverse outcomes for farmers as scientists and other professional APVMA staff chose to seek a job elsewhere.
Labor welcomed Malcolm Turnbull’s intervention in the matter when he announced Barnaby Joyce must subject the proposal to a cost-benefit risk analysis, even though a kindergarten student could provide the answer.
But now we learn that Barnaby Joyce is seeking stakeholder comment on what the terms-of-reference for the analysis might look like.
In other words, Barnaby Joyce wants to drag the process out beyond the election.
Pork-barrelling is bad enough, but when the inevitable outcome is bad for the Minister’s own sector it becomes a case of Barnaby Joyce putting his own political interest ahead of Australian farmers.
WEDNESDAY, 30 MARCH 2016
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