Harry Jenkins (Scullin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the Therapeutic Goods Amendment Bill (No. 3) 2006. This bill proposes amendments to Therapeutic Goods Act 1989. Basically, these amendments will allow for electronic lodgement by manufacturers and is therefore a fairly simple and non-contentious bill. But, Madam Deputy Speaker Bishop, knowing that you are a great champion for the parliament and the House, keeping the executive on their toes, I think it is apposite to mention that the matters in this bill arise out of an audit report. We see in this bill some application of the executive’s response to that audit report, but we are not quite clear whether there has been a full commitment to all the matters that have arisen as a result of the ANAO’s audit report on the Regulation of non-prescription medicinal Products by the TGA. Hopefully, in the summing up, if anybody is going to bother summing up on this very small debate, those matters might be addressed.

As an aside, I think that it is quite interesting that, on this very simple, small, non-contentious bill, the House through the Main Committee is allowed to have a full debate. We have mustered I think four or five people to debate on it, whereas down in the main chamber on something of much greater moment the debate is going to be curtailed.

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