Dear Dr Bleaney,
I’m responding, on behalf of Minister Green, to your email of 10 June 2012 concerning agricultural pesticides. I note you also sent that email to Minister Michelle O’Byrne, and that I am therefore copying this response to her senior adviser, Ms Lesley French.
It is true that the proposed changes to the Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals (Control of Use) Regulations 1996 did not come into effect on 1 April this year as previously anticipated, and that the existing regulatory settings remain in place. The current settings essentially comprise the Regulations, the codes of practice (CoPs) for aerial and ground spraying respectively, and a series of orders that support the CoPs and otherwise clarify requirements for agricultural chemical users. Note that if you search the Tasmanian law website, you will see the existing Regulations are dated 2012, rather than 1996. This is because the existing Regulations needed to pass through the regulation-making process to avoid expiry (in which case there would have been no Regulations in force).
This situation has come about because, subsequent to the consultation undertaken by the DPIPWE, the Minister received further representations from industry stakeholders at the beginning of the year which raised some questions about potential impacts of the proposed Regulations on the agricultural and forestry sectors. In addition, and as you may be aware, those concerns were also expressed to the Legislative Council, which accordingly chose not to pass an enabling Bill that would have facilitated the proposed changes to the Regulations.
Consequently, the Minister elected to put the proposed Regulations on hold while the DPIPWE develops additional advice on the industry concerns. He will consider this advice in deciding how to move forward. The Minister has not specified a timeframe for this, but considers it a priority and remains committed to achieving a workable balance between industry needs and concerns about human health and the environment.
I hope that goes some way to clarifying the situation. Please contact me if you would like any additional explanation
Kind regards,
Cindy Hanson, Adviser
Office of the Hon Bryan Green MP
Deputy Premier
Level 10, Executive Building, 15 Murray Street, HOBART, TASMANIA
GPO 123 HOBART, TASMANIA, 7001, AUSTRALIA
Dear Cindy,
Thank you for your reply and I trust that we will hear soon how the Ministers propose to protect human and environmental health as much as possible from the short and long term effects of the adverse effects of pesticides, whilst allowing for sustainable agricultural and forestry industries.
Sincerely
Dr Alison Bleaney
