The pesticides authority will keep up to 40 staff in Canberra after its move to Armidale, in a decision admitting it will need scientists in the national capital for its troubled relocation to work.
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Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority chief executive Chris Parker said it would have 30 to 40 specialist scientists and regulatory decision makers in its ACT office after finding its previous business plan failed to reduce risks the forced move posed to its work.
Canberra will retain about 20 per cent of the agency's expected headcount of 180 public servants when its new Armidale building is ready in a relocation costing $25.6 million and another $10.1 million for an IT strategy supporting the move.
The agency had hoped to stem the potential damage its move could do to its performance with flexible remote working for its regulatory scientists and by using contractors for support.
But Dr Parker found an internal survey of staff and a trial of e-working showed these would not do enough to stop the relocation harming results.
He said he made the decision to keep some staff in Canberra after the survey in early 2018 showed most did not want to move to Armidale, and the trial showed remote working would raise problems if used full-time.
After sounding out the market, the agency was also unconvinced that expanding its use of contractors could support its regulatory work.
"I reached the conclusion that we were not able to mitigate the risks and do our core regulatory duties without another risk mitigation strategy," Dr Parker said.
He said the e-working trial showed the agency needed "a fair bit of work" to ready staff for full-time teleworking. Flexible working could also increase costs that would be saved by keeping scientists in Canberra.
The Coalition's order for the pesticides authority move in 2016 said it had to be in a regional community and within 10 kilometres by road of the main campus of a regional university recognised for research and agricultural science teaching.
Dr Parker said the agency's plan to keep staff in Canberra conformed with the order, and that it had previously expected a similar amount to work remotely.
"We're committed to the regulatory centre we've established in Armidale including staff working there at the moment," he said.
Staff with positions eligible to join the agency's new "risk assessment capability" unit in Canberra will remain in the national capital. The authority will fill the unit's vacant roles through an internal expression of interest process.
Some of its specialised roles are located in Armidale, including staff who have already relocated or been recruited into the northern NSW city.
Labor says the government will have to change its own policy order to let the pesticides authority keep staff in Canberra.
Opposition agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the decision was a "huge backflip" that heralded more to come, and called for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to stop the move.
"It's very clear that this relocation isn't working and the Prime Minister has to intervene," Mr Fitzgibbon said.
A cost-benefit analysis by consultants Ernst and Young released in 2016 found 85 per cent of staff would not want to move and that the relocation risked leaving the pesticides authority unable to replace its technical staff.
Twenty regulatory scientists and an additional 28 staff members, with 204 years' service between them, left the agency between July 2016 and February and the agency saw performance levels plummet before recovering later.
The APVMA, which has 21 staff working in Armidale, asked its public servants to indicate whether they would join it in moving by mid-2019.
Dr Parker said in February he expected to have 40 public servants there by the end of the year and 150 by the time its move was scheduled to finish.
The agency will open an additional interim office housing up to 32 staff as its existing temporary digs is expected to reach capacity in August.
