Page 1283 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 29 March 2017
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The report also goes into quite some detail about the loss of technical expertise and notes the relocation will cause delays in the approval of new chemicals, stating that this delay will have serious negative consequences for the industry as a whole. The report warns that some chemical companies might pack up and leave Australia altogether as a result of these negative impacts. Maybe you do not trust Ernst & Young. Not everyone trusts accountants, and we most definitely do not always trust economists.
But what about the National Farmers Federation? You could hardly accuse them of being biased towards a Labor agenda. They are not an organisation historically prone to defending Canberra or its workforce either. Even they have had to speak out against this relocation. The Farmers Federation’s members have voted against the relocation of the APVMA, citing their concerns on the impact on the industry. Even they can see that this relocation makes no sense.
So we have both Ernst &Young and the Farmers Federation coming out against this move, along with the workers themselves. So who is it exactly that we have in favour? It is just one person, and that is Barnaby Joyce—the local member—pushing his own agenda.
The Ernst & Young report goes into some detail about the economic impact to Canberra. Some 365 jobs are expected to be lost, and it will rip out about $157 million from our economy. These impacts are real and they are significant. But I think sometimes we have a tendency to look at these aggregate numbers and we lose sight of what they really mean.
Let us consider what the Liberals are asking the staff of APVMA to do. They are asking them to move some 750 kilometres away from their home in Canberra, away from their families, away from their friends. Partners of the people working at the APMVA are being asked to find new jobs in Armidale. They are asking parents to take their children from their local school and asking the children to leave behind their friends, all on the whim of one minister. It is disruptive, it is unfair, and it ultimately makes no sense.
The ridiculousness of this situation was truly amplified when reports emerged last month that APVMA public servants were forced to work out of a makeshift office at the local McDonald’s. It would be comical if the situation was not so sad. In both design and function, Canberra is uniquely able to meet the needs of Australian public service departments. No other city or town has the infrastructure in place to adequately support our public service. Having a centralised public service working in close correlation with government and industry stakeholders is essential to the efficiency and productivity of the public service.
Moving the APVMA to Barnaby Joyce’s own electorate of New England is not beneficial to stakeholders or the broader Australian public. This forced move serves no-one but Barnaby Joyce. That is why today I join my colleagues in calling on the federal Liberal government to support a strong Australian public service in Canberra.
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