Dennis Jensen (Tangney, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am extremely disturbed by the conduct of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority in pursuing a chemical company controlled by one of my constituents. Imtrade Australia has been hounded by the APVMA to the extent that it all but had to suspend trading. The company was guilty of an administrative offence, and this it openly conceded. The response of the APVMA was totally over the top, and the Federal Court has now vindicated Imtrade by declaring the agency’s conduct in this case unlawful.

In May this year, the APVMA used Australian Federal Police teams to simultaneously raid Imtrade’s offices and plant and the home of its managing director. The raids reportedly took place at dawn and involved up to 30 officers, 10 at each location. We are not talking about dangerous criminals here—just a business which did not complete some paperwork. Such conduct smacks of a police state and is abhorrent to Australians. There was never any suggestion that there was anything wrong with Imtrade’s agricultural products, but the APVMA withdrew approval and recalled them just the same, and then dragged its heels on approving any more products from the company.

I applaud the Federal Court decision clearing the way for Imtrade to get back to business and rightfully putting the APVMA in its place. But this situation should never have escalated so far. Federal agencies should be fostering the development of innovative young companies like Imtrade, not hindering them in some vindictive power play—and certainly not using the bullying tactics we have seen in this case. For a federal agency’s conduct to be branded unlawful by the courts is a disgrace and should be a cause of great shame to the government.

Finally, we must question the expense of this futile exercise in power. It is the Australian people who must foot the bill for the rogue bureaucrats persecuting this company. And there could be more to come, if Imtrade seeks damages to recover the millions of dollars it says the case has cost it in expenses and lost revenue. This is money from all of our pockets which could have been much more effectively spent elsewhere.