Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over the past couple of years of my being in this place, there have been many occasions when the member for Swan has raised issues with me which he is passionate about. I would like to congratulate him and the member for Shortland for moving this motion today. Over the last couple of years, the member for Swan has, on many occasions—too many to count—mentioned this particular cause of adhesive arachnoiditis and the devastating impact it has had on so many Australians, the vast majority of whom today are potentially undiagnosed. I would like to thank the member for Swan and the member for Shortland, acknowledging that, for the duration of this report and this study, their roles as chair and co-chair have changed, but they have been united in their pursuit of what the right thing to do is.

We take for granted that we stand in this place to speak. When we finish speaking, we walk back to our offices. What you are potentially talking about with sufferers of this disease is people like Mr Scott in the electorate of Swan; the doctors currently think it is a miracle that he can stand. As the member for Shortland said, she has a constituent who is confined to bed.

The two recommendations of the report that I would like to focus on are the responsibility of GlaxoSmithKline and the responsibility of us as a government to raise awareness of the potential for undiagnosed cases currently out in the community at large. GlaxoSmithKline is obviously a big pharma company with big resources and, as a result, big lawyers. But they have to acknowledge and own up, 'fess up, to their part in the role they have played in this and do the right thing. Instead of hiding behind lawyers, they have to deal with, as this recommendation says, setting up a charitable organisation. As the member for Swan said, they have done this on numerous occasions in the US. I call on them, like the member for Swan and the member for Shortland, to acknowledge their role in this and the onus on them to provide some sort of support for people who have been adversely impacted through medicines that they are responsible for.

The second major part of the report was the lack of broader community knowledge about the plight. I know that the member for Swan and the member for Shortland were contacted by sufferers. Some 30 years ago, when this was used as a treatment for x-rays, 250,000 people in total used the drug. Currently we have 60,000 listed as diagnosed to be suffering from it. Potentially, there are many out there who are suffering in silence and unaware of what they are suffering from. Why? Because as the report rightfully identified, there is such a low level of understanding on the frontline of our medical practices.

I would particularly like to point out the bodies which the report has said should be engaged and educated in an attempt to promote this cause to patients who are potentially undiagnosed. They are the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Primary Healthcare Networks, the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists, the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council and other healthcare providers. In fact, I would like to join the member for Swan in putting not only the financial responsibility back onto GlaxoSmithKline, but I would encourage them to enter into an education campaign that could be run through medical networks, so that resources could be made available and another potential reason for undiagnosed causes of pain could be proffered—when seen at the frontline by our wonderful primary healthcare physicians.

This is about doing what is right. We all have the right to stand and walk around at the end of what we would have considered in those days a standard medical procedure. GSK is fully aware of the adverse impact this drug has had. I call on it to make right what is wrong. I commend again the member for Swan and the member for Shortland for their unending pursuance of what is right.

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