The APVMA Board is committed to providing a regular communique for our external stakeholders, and this will be published after every meeting.
Since its establishment in March 2022, the Board of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) has met on 5 occasions (10 May 2022, 7 July 2022, 7 September 2022, 18 October 2022 and 15 December 2022).
2022 was a busy period of understanding the agvet regulatory framework, and the needs of our stakeholders and staff to ensure the Board fulfils its role effectively. Through 2022, the APVMA developed a draft APVMA Strategy, which was released for public and staff consultation in November 2022. The Strategy will inform the APVMA’s detailed Strategic Plan which is currently under development. We welcomed submissions on the Strategic Plan from stakeholders.
On 15 December 2022, the Board approved the APVMA Security Policy and received an update on the progress of the APVMA Culture Pulse Check project and subsequent roadmap. The Board acknowledges and understands that there is more to do to on culture – and expressed its support in measures being taken to strengthen the APVMA’s workplace and workforce culture.
On 18 October 2022, the Board discussed the final report of the Independent Review of the Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Regulatory System in Australia and the APVMA’s input to the Australian Government response. The Board also considered the APVMA results from the Australian Public Service Employee Census 2022 and received an update on the APVMA People Strategy 2022–25.
On 7 September 2022, the Board approved the APVMA Annual Report 2021–22 and endorsed the draft APVMA Strategy for stakeholder consultation.
The Board was pleased to receive feedback from the Audit Committee about the high standard of work undertaken by staff in preparing APVMA’s financial and performance statements and how effectively staff worked with the Committee and internal and external auditors throughout this process.
The Board reviewed and approved the APVMA’s Risk Management Policy Statement, Risk Management Framework and Risk Appetite and Tolerance Statement.
In 2022, the Board also finalised the APVMA Board Charter, contributed to the APVMA Audit and Risk Framework, received a presentation on the final report on the Independent Review of Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Regulatory System in Australia and held meetings with key external stakeholders.
Dr Carmel Hillyard AM
Chair