THE FEDERAL agriculture minister Barnaby Joyce is being forced to defend once again the Government’s controversial decision to move the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) from Canberra to Armidale, NSW, in Mr Joyce’s home electorate.
Mr Joyce has come under fire for not releasing the cost benefit analysis of the proposed move, which has been mooted as part of a decentralisation scheme which has seen the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) move to Wagga Wagga.
He is being hotly pursued by the Opposition over the $24.1 million move of the chemical regulator, with Shadow agriculture minister Joel Fitzgibbon claiming many of the staff at the APVMA did not wish to relocate.
There has also been criticism from some within the agriculture sector who have said it will be difficult to get to meetings with the APVMA in Armidale as opposed to Canberra with its good transport connections.
Around 175 staff will be impacted by the move.
There is still some doubt about the move, although Mr Joyce told ABC TV on the weekend the decision had been made.
Mr Fitzgibbon accused Mr Joyce of pork-barrelling and putting his role as a local MP above the agricultural sector as a whole, a claim Mr Joyce rejected.
Mr Fitzgibbon said at the very least the $272,000 cost-benefit analysis should be made public.
The Greens have backed Mr Fitzgibbon.
"Unless the Acting Prime Minister releases a positive cost-benefit analysis, we can only assume that moving these families over 700km to his own electorate is pork barrelling at its most blatant,” said Greens agriculture spokesperson Janet Rice.
