I received the following reply:
Thank you for your writing to me about the concerns you have with the proposed legislation for the Therapeutic Goods (Permissible Indications) Determination No.1 of 2018.
As I indicated in my earlier email the matter was referred to our Labor Caucus meeting for discussions.
These discussions were led by Tony Zappia who is Labor’s spokesperson and Shadow Assistant Minister for Medicare.
Tony engaged in many conversations with a range of stakeholders on the impacts that could arise if the regulation was disallowed.
We were advised, and have accepted, that disallowing the regulation could have significant unintended consequences for the listing system.
The discussions held by Tony also revealed that while the Government’s new system is clearly deficient, it is a slight improvement over the previous regime - which had even less transparency for consumers.
I can assure you that Labor is committed to improving consumer protections for medicines.
That’s why we have decided that if we win the next federal election we will require disclaimers on traditional medicines not backed up by medical or scientific evidence.
This change would be in line with a recommendation of the Review of Medicines and Medical Devices Regulation, completed in 2015.
The Government has failed to implement this recommendation.
The types of claims to which you refer are not new and were allowed prior to the introduction of the Permitted Indications list on 6 March 2018 - but we do realise there are concerns this list legitimises misleading information.
Thank you again for your email. I will continue to speak with my Labor colleagues on issues around consumer protections for medicines.
Claire
Senator Claire Moore
Labor Senator for Queensland
P: 07 3252 7101 ║ F: 07 3252 8957 ║
E: senator.moore@aph.gov.au
W: www.clairemoore.net