The acting chief executive officer of the newly Armidale-based Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority Lisa Croft has been officially appointed to the CEO's role.
Ms Croft replaces Dr Chris Parker, who returned to the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment in August, leaving her to take the helm.
She had previously been deputy CEO, a job she took on in February 2018 which included playing a lead role in moving the regulatory authority's head office from Canberra.
APVMA is the independent statutory authority responsible for assessing and registering pesticides and veterinary medicines proposed for supply in Australia.
Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said Ms Croft would be leading the agency at a critical time, and congratulated her for taking on the important role.
"Lisa has a strong public sector background spanning policy and program delivery in central, policy and program delivery agencies for over 10 years," he said.
"Ms Croft has successfully navigated and co-led a significant change program for the APVMA, and significantly improved the performance and efficiency of the agency.
"Under Lisa's leadership the APVMA continues to deliver efficient, effective, timely, and science-based agvet chemical regulation."
Mr Littleproud also thanked former boss Dr Parker.
His leadership and efforts, in collaboration with Ms Croft's, had been instrumental in the substantial improvement in the APVMA's performance and the successful relocation of the agency to Armidale.
Any agricultural veterinary or chemical product manufactured, imported, supplied, sold or used in Australia must be authorised by the APVMA, unless it has specific exemption from by the Agvet Code.
The registration process involves scientifically evaluating the safety and efficacy (effectiveness) of a product in order to protect the health and safety of people, animals, plants and the environment and manage risks to trade.
The peak body representing the livestock health industry, Animal Medicines Australia, also welcomed Ms Croft's appointment.
"Following a period of significant upheaval and staff turnover at the APVMA, we have recently seen a pleasing improvement and stabilisation in the APVMA's timeframe performance," said executive director, Ben Stapley.
"Ms Croft's experience and leadership in the organisation puts her in a good position to continue to improve the performance of the regulator.
"Our members look forward to continuing to work with Ms Croft and the APVMA to bring veterinary medicines to the Australian market,"
He said the authority played a critical part in ensuring the right veterinary products were available to protect the health of pets and Australia's essential livestock industries.
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Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
