Armidale's Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority (APVMA) building was officially opened on Friday morning, some three months after being completed and occupied by its federal government department.
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Federal Minister for Agriculture Bridget McKenzie, Member for New England Barnaby Joyce, Member for Northern Tablelands Adam Marshall and Armidale Regional Council Mayor Simon Murray all attended the event.
Ms McKenzie described it as not just a housewarming, but history being made.
"The APVMA is the centrepiece of our government's decentralisation agenda," she said.
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"This building is so much more than 2000 square metres of office space.
Member for New England Barnaby Joyce said the APVMA was a great laurel for the people of Armidale.
"There are 130 people here now, and we all did that," he said.
"I took some glee talking to the Canberra Times the other day, when I said 'I would like to give you a personal thank you because all those articles you wrote deriding it were advertising.'
"The next step is to build upon it by making this a global centre of excellence in agrivet chemicals.
Mr Joyce said with the UNE, CSIRO and now APVMA, he would like to get the CRC research centre for agrivet chemicals here.
He said it was all about attracting the very best in their fields to Armidale.
"People may say that's far fetched, but it's not really; BASF is already at Tamworth, so they are already nearby," he said.
Mr Marshall described the addition of new jobs to the region as magnificent.
"We've seen over 100 jobs here, which is terrific and comes on the back of the decentralisation effort from the State Government of TAFE Digital with its 54 full-time jobs here," Mr Marshall said.
