There has been no AEPMA NSW ACT State Council meeting since the 1st of March 2021.

At last meeting it was suggested to discuss with NSW EPA the possibility of another meeting with AEPMA NSW delegates. Three of our state delegates (Mr Patrick Legey, Ms Kylee Enwright and Mr Gary Stephenson) met with Mr Martin Bowles, Ms Patricia Fabiano and Mr Luke Formosa from NSW EPA on 29 April 2021, where we discussed the progress in implementing Automatic Mutual Recognition (AMR) for licenses, including NSW Pesticides Licences – with the next steps being changes to Commonwealth and NSW legislation and proposed upgrading of EPA systems to allow on-line notification by interstate licensees wanting to work in NSW.

Scrolling through some of the Government websites, it seems that some things may have already happened and it looks like this item was passed by both houses of parliament on 23 June 2021. We will keep you posted when we have analysed it. 

Other licencing matters discussed

• We have also discussed the possibility of Pest Management Technician (PMT) Timber Pest 
• Management License or some endorsement on the existing licence in NSW.
• NSW EPA will work with NSW AEPMA on this matter and again we will keep you updated as and if things progress. 

     
Unlicensed carpet cleaning service providers possibly doing pest management

We have raised concerns about the prevalence of unlicensed carpet cleaning service providers also doing pest control work (eg flea treatments).
It is ok in NSW for carpet cleaners to do pest management work for a commercial gain if they are licenced, but it is not illegal if they are not.
EPA advised that it would look into the issue and get back to AEPMA.
EPA encouraged AEPMA to direct customers to lodge complaints with the Environment Line service to assist compliance response and building an evidence profile of potential problems 
(131 555 or info@environment.nsw.gov.au).

PMITAG NSW had a meeting on the 9 June 2021 by Dr Chris Orton. 

The meeting was held using Teams for about 2.25 hours with Gary Stephenson as Acting Chair.
Most of the meeting was concerned with issues surrounding the new Pest Management (PM)  Training Package, in particular:

• Problems experienced by RTOs in dealing with the new assessing requirements of the package.
• Possible ways to amend the package to overcome the assessment problems.
• Problems involved in recent reviews of the Package and possible ways of avoiding them in the future.
• The reasons why RTOs are not yet able to enrol trainees in the new package.
• Past and projected future enrolment figures of new recruits to the industry.
• How and why the new package imposes problems for new industry recruits to small PM businesses.
• General agreement that despite these issues, the new package is an improvement over the old one.

There was also discussion of on the possible implications to the Urban Pest Management Industry of the proposed changes to the Agvet Chemicals Regulations - especially the possibility of national licensing of the industry.

I am sure you, like me, would really like to attend another Pest Management Conference. So unless Covid -19 prevents us attending, I will be attending the AEPMA Conference Pesticon (Pest Management in the Digital Age) at the Star, Gold Coast on 22-24 September 202 and I hope to see you all there.

The next meeting of the AEPMA NSW branch will be held on zoom on 19 July 2021 at 3.30pm

As usual if there are any issues or matters you want to discuss or raise, you can contact me on 0438 022984 or email at Patrick@austrapest.com.au or any of your State Council members or the National Office on 1 300307114 or email: info@aepma.com.au

Patrick Legey AEPMA NSW ACT State Council Chairman

Back to eNewsletter