ACT Division President’s Report March 2024

04 Mar 2024

ACT Advocacy on Medicine, Poisons, & Therapeutic Goods legislation

Over the past few years, the AVA has been advocating on several concerns with the ACT Medicines, Poisons, and Therapeutic Goods (MPTG) legislation and regulation. The AVA has recently meet and have upcoming scheduled meetings with the ACT Chief Pharmacist and the ACT Veterinary Practitioners Board to address these concerns and seek resolution within the MPTG. These include but are not limited to:

Following further consultations and as part of AVA’s commitment to transparency and member engagement, an advocacy outcome report will be provided to AVA ACT members. This report will outline the progress made, the resolutions achieved, and the steps forward as we continue to advocate for MPTG legislation that better serves the veterinary community and the wellbeing of animals in the ACT.

 

Meeting with ACT Health Protectorate (HPS) re Regulatory Accountability Framework

Tuesday 6 February - AVA was represented by Drs John Asley Davis and Michael Hayward (Dr Debbie Neutze, President, ACT Veterinary Practitioner’s Board, was also present).

The meeting was requested by the Senior Director, Health Regulatory Systems Reform and attended by representatives of the restaurant and catering industry, those involved with skin penetration, (tattoo and piercings), some environmental agencies, and vets. An earlier meeting had been held for all the sectors of human health care. The Health Protectorate are developing a Regulatory Accountability Framework which is essentially a publicly visible document expressing their Vision, Mission, and method and aspirations for dealing with all the community groups they regulate.

ACT Health manages 26 sets of regulations and intersects with Clinical Health Care Standards, Environment, Commonwealth Agencies, and other ACT instrumentalities.

AVA introduced the need to recognise One Health – intersections between Human Health, Animal Health, and the Environment. The framework only discussed the intersection between human and environmental health. We also requested proactive communication from the regulators. At the moment, all the responsibility falls on us to know the regulations under which we are required to work. You would agree this is very difficult – the ACT Drugs Regs (referred to above) alone are 328 pages.

Debbie Neutze expressed the need for regulations to be easily readable and not to have several possible interpretations.

It was also mentioned in the meeting that the ACT is pro-actively trapping mosquitoes for Japanese Encephalitis Virus monitoring, and that very few had been caught so far this season.

The ACT Division’s response to a request for comment on the draft Framework is available here.

 

AVA Submission to the ACT Budget

A submission has been made to the ACT Budget process. In the submission, we called for:

  • Funding for the AVA’s Thrive initiative supporting the mental health of the veterinary industry
  • Financial support for veterinary students on placement in the ACT
  • Incentive funding for recent graduates to start their careers in the ACT
  • Investments in veterinary services as part of the ACT’s biosecurity arrangements
  • Funding for veterinary care of animals impacted by natural disasters, and cost recovery for the care of wildlife.

New AVA Representative to the ACT Animal Welfare Advisory Committee (AWAC)

It is a huge pleasure to announce that Dr Bronwyn Orr BVSc, MSc, MANZCVS (Animal Welfare), PhD, GAICD has been nominated to replace Dr Melanie Latter as our rep to ACT AWAC.

Melanie has served the ACT (animals and human community) extraordinarily well in this role, and Bronwyn’s academic prowess and extensive hands-on experience (and especially her personality!) equip her very well to enhance the welfare of all animals through this role. Your Division Committee endorsed her and have offered her all support.

 

ACT Division Committee for 2024-25

The AVA constitution does not require an election for Divisional Committee members unless there are more than nine nominees. I am therefore able to announce that, with nine nominees, the Committee for the next 12 months comprises:

  • Dr John Aspley-Davis
  • Dr Eloise Bright
  • Dr Amanda-Lee Charman
  • Dr Anna Julia Gabrielson
  • Dr Michael Hayward
  • Dr Mark Schipp
  • Dr Natasha Webb
  • Dr Natalie Wood
  • Dr Frances Zewe

You will notice that most of the committee are continuing. We have one member who has retired, and one new member.

Dr Kevin Doyle DVSc, AM, after a long career at the most senior levels of the Australian Government, went on to be National Veterinary Director of the AVA from 1997. In retirement he continues to serve the profession and Australia by his association with The Australian Centre for Disease Preparedness (formerly the Australian Animal Health Laboratory) and in assisting the then CVO, Dr Mark Schipp, in meetings of the OIE. Kevin has been member of the ACT Branch and Division Committee for much of the last 40 years. He is a true inspiration to all who know him and a fount of knowledge in so many areas of our profession. Thank you Kevin, for your long, dedicated and effective service to our profession and the animals of Australia.

We could not have asked for a more worthy person to succeed Kevin as a member of the Division Committee than Dr Mark Schipp, the recently retired Chief Veterinary Officer of Australia. We all look forward very much to working with Mark as he adds another dimension to the knowledge and experience of the committee. Mark has been a keen member of and advocate for the AVA in his official role and private life – welcome, Mark!

Michael Hayward

President 2022-24