This week Minister Littleproud embraced the hand of bi-partisanship in agriculture that Barnaby Joyce rejected four years ago.
The cleaning up of Barnaby Joyce’s mess – authorised by Malcolm Turnbull - has begun.
Working together, we now have a chance of meeting community expectations on animal welfare without causing unnecessary harm to our farmers. We shall see.
The next project must be the review of the forced relocation of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA).
If the Minister can order a review of decisions of his Department on Barnaby Joyce’s watch in the live export sector, he can also demonstrate leadership by ordering a review of Joyce’s APVMA pork barrelling exercise. He certainly cannot rely on the advice of Barnaby Joyce’s hand-picked APVMA CEO who is clearly still operating under the riding instructions of the former Minister.
I appreciate the difficult political position David Littleproud finds himself in, but agriculture needs a Minister who understands the importance of ensuring the APVMA has the capability to do its important job.
I am prepared to work with the Minister on this matter. The first step is to provide greater transparency so that the Opposition and those affected can better assess the extent of the relocation’s costs and failures and their impact on the agriculture sector.
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