Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Colbeck for his answer, but a report just yesterday from BBC News in London by Matt McGrath, their environment correspondent, talked about neonicotinoid pesticides causing significant damage. It referred to a number of reports and said:

Researchers, who have carried out a four-year review of the literature, say the evidence of damage is now "conclusive".

In the context of this recent report—and I am not sure if Senator Colbeck is familiar with it and I do not blame him if he is not; it only just came out overnight—will this regulatory regime mean that action on neonicotinoids and their impact on bee populations will be slowed down? Will it take longer? We heard Senator Siewert's assertion that sometimes review processes can take up to 10 years.