EPA remains committed to deliver improved outcomes

Not surprisingly, in being appointed chair I was given a very clear understanding of Environment Minister Penny Simmonds' expectations for improvements in the EPA's hazardous substance application performance, something that I and my Board are absolutely committed to achieving.

New Zealand's environment is the cornerstone of our economy, cultural heritage, and unique biodiversity. And while our environmental integrity also supports horticulture and agriculture to grow and prosper.

I want to acknowledge up front that due primarily to a lack of resources and Covid-19, we haven't delivered sufficiently in assessing new agrichemicals for the primary sector. A recent report by Sapere compared our performance with other international regulators and found that while our performance was comparable our funding was significantly lower, including low levels of cost recovery.

Since receiving the Sapere report we have made significant changes, and I am starting to see real improvements in processing applications. The time for staff to assess new substances has begun to reduce and will go down even further when a new applications team is fully up to speed. Thirteen new roles have been created this year through reprioritising existing funding, and we have made a commitment to the Minister to reduce the applications queue by 30%.

Arising from the Ministerial Regulatory review the Government is progressing an Omnibus Bill, and once in place this will make a range of changes that will potentially enable us to eliminate the queue. One of the proposed changes will enable the EPA to issue time-limited conditional approvals, which will mean new products can be made available to growers and farmers while a full assessment is being completed. The EPA is also currently consulting on how we can prioritise applications that have the most benefit to New Zealand.

In Budget 2025 we received $10 million to update outdated risk assessment models, much needed funding, and the updated models will be available to industry, who can then use the information to improve their applications.

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I deeply understand the cost and impact of delays, as both a kiwifruit grower and former veterinarian, but increased speed cannot come at the expense of scientific integrity. The consequences of making the wrong decision can have far-reaching consequences for the environment and New Zealand's economy and trade reputation. And in New Zealand, unlike other countries, once a product is approved, it doesn't have a time limit associated with that approval. The only way that the EPA can change how the product is used is to undertake a reassessment, a long and costly process and often not welcome by industry when products are still being used.

The board and management have focused on connecting with industry, to both understand issues and provide greater visibility of the work we are doing to improve timeframes. This is why it's so disappointing to see some members of industry continue to question our commitment to improvement or raise examples which misrepresent the progress the EPA is making.

I have personally been contacting industry leaders to seek a better understanding of any gaps in their agrichemical toolbox. I have also met with the Animal and Plant Health NZ board twice to hear their concerns and reiterate that we want to work with industry to achieve the outcomes we both want, quality decisions delivered in acceptable timeframes.

I appreciate industry's impatience to see meaningful results, especially for new actives, and I'm also impatient to see the changes pay off. But please don't question the commitment of the EPA, its board and its staff to deliver improved outcomes for New Zealand, improvement which are already becoming visible.

Barry O'Neil is chair of the Environmental Protection Authority.