Chief Executive Officer's Review
[ pdf format 36 kb ]
The year 2003-2004 brought major changes to our organisation. We redefined our strategic direction through a revised Corporate Plan, took steps to enhance our communication and consultation with stakeholders, worked on enhancing collaborative arrangements at a national and international level and reviewed and refined our operational procedures to position ourselves better in the new environment.
Our agency was restructured around four branches - with a Food Standards Branch in both Canberra and Wellington largely responsible for risk management in relation to standards in Chapters 1 and 2 of the Food Standards Code. The Wellington Office has an expanded role with responsibility for labelling standards. Our science function has been strengthened with the establishment of a Scientific Risk Assessment and Evaluation Branch with responsibility for scientific risk assessment. The new arrangements provide an enhanced role for the Chief Scientist and increased line management responsibility for science functions within the organisation. The Food Safety and Services Branch manages our increased responsibilities for the development of primary production standards and the food safety standards.
We recognise that the food regulation reforms have had a significant impact on our core business, on our consultative arrangements, our decision-making powers and our relationships with a more extensive group of stakeholders. Staff have worked hard towards improving our stakeholder consultation and communication arrangements. We have revised our arrangements for the delivery of training and consultancy services in the Asia-Pacific region, and changed our operational arrangements to manage the risk assessment, risk management and risk communication interface more effectively.
Our science and technical expertise is our core strength and we will continue to build on our expertise and experience in this area and improve our evidence base by collaborating with industry, consumers and jurisdictions. We continue to build on our linkages with the scientific community and place a priority on our work in forging stronger links with international experts and other regulatory agencies. We propose to continue our efforts in these areas.
During the year we continued to respond to the need to ensure we have a fully effective office in Wellington. The office moved to larger premises and some staff members relocated from Canberra to Wellington. We intend to further increase the staff complement in Wellington in the next three years. Appointments will take into account the need to have a broader skill base in the Wellington office to facilitate wider stakeholder interaction and to undertake lead project management responsibilities.
We continue to work on strengthening our relationships with stakeholders and to build on our communication efforts. Effective involvement of stakeholders is a critical part of the work FSANZ undertakes in developing standards for Australia and New Zealand. We are committed to stakeholder participation in our consultations. We are working to identify ways, including a process of public tendering for consumer input, to broaden the level of consumer participation in our standard setting process.
During the year we worked closely with our partners in the Australian and New Zealand governments and the Australian States and Territories. Food policy is now developed for Ministerial approval through the Food Regulation Standing Committee (FRSC). We provide technical advice and input into policy development. The Ministerial Council developed policy guidelines during the year that allowed us to commence the food standards development process in a number of significant areas. We recognise the importance of the various committees in the food regulatory system and participated to the fullest extent possible in this process. Of particular significance were the revised working arrangements for the Implementation Standing Committee (ISC) and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAG).
We are an active participant in the ISC and FSANZ chairs a key ISC working group tasked with developing a comprehensive framework for consistent national implementation and enforcement of food regulation in Australia. This umbrella agreement will provide the foundation for the development of specific detailed operational protocols and arrangements. Two of the first of these protocols are a National Surveillance and Monitoring Policy and Protocol, and a National Food Safety Incident Management Protocol.
Our maintenance of strong international networks and engagement in international food regulatory activities ensures that FSANZ’s food standards reflect world best practice. A key priority of our international collaboration throughout the year was our continued support for Australia’s involvement in the work of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, the World Health Organization and other international agencies. The leadership we have provided in the Asia-Pacific region through training initiatives in food regulatory matters has been significant. Our training initiatives had successful outcomes with the People’s Republic of China that we believe will prove significant in the long-term.
We carried out an extensive review of the way we provide technical assistance on food regulatory matters to our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region. It is pleasing that our international reputation as a leader in food safety matters continues to attract an increasing number of regional participants to our training programs.
While 2003-2004 highlighted our own reforms it was, nevertheless, a year of other significant achievements. Major progress was made on the development of a Primary Production and Processing Standard for Seafood and the poultry standard. The Ministerial Council guidelines on Nutrition, Health and Related Claims and Country of Origin Labelling enabled us to commence the development of appropriate standards. These are significant bodies of work.
The Memorandums of Understanding we have developed with national and international agencies such as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology, and with Health Canada were significant achievements during the year and further evidence of the effort we have put into relationship building.
The development of appropriate food standards is our core business. Increased consumer awareness of food-related issues, the globalisation of the food industry and internationalisation of the food system, and rapid changes in food science and technology, place immense pressure on the food regulator. As our report shows we have an extraordinarily talented, qualified and dedicated workforce who, I am confident, will continue to rise to the challenge. We need to ensure that we have the systems, processes and resources in place to provide the appropriate level of support.
The significant changes involved during the year would not have been possible without the support and assistance of staff. While staff have responded well to the changes we introduced during the year, the review process put stresses on internal arrangements and highlighted a number of issues that could be better handled. Mindful of this, I initiated our ‘Capabilities Initiative’ designed to address staff issues, foster the ‘team FSANZ’ environment and develop strategies for the long-term sustainability of our skills and expertise. A range of strategies and interventions has been recommended to improve organisational effectiveness, team building, and commitment to our objectives.
I wish to thank our Chairman, the Hon. Rob Knowles and our Board members for their commitment and support during a challenging but immensely productive year. We are but one part of a binational regulatory system and our achievements would not be possible without the cooperation and collaboration of our partners and stakeholders on both sides of the Tasman. Finally, I would like to thank FSANZ staff for their efforts and commitment in what has been a challenging year.
GRAHAM PEACHEY
Chief Executive Officer
[ pdf format 36 kb ]