Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I suggest the member for Hindmarsh is desperately looking for something to complain about here. He's right on one count, and that is the demand for medicinal cannabis in this country is significant and cannot currently be met by supply. He's also right that there is too high a number of people seeking access to medicinal cannabis outside the legal framework. However, what the member for Hindmarsh failed to say to the chamber was that it actually took a coalition government, in 2016, to introduce legislation in this chamber that brought about a regime in Australia in which licences and permits for the cultivation and production of medicinal cannabis would be made legal.

Now, the demand for medicinal cannabis wasn't suddenly new in 2016. It has been around for years. But, again, it took a coalition government to move forward and to take action. It's all well and good for the member for Hindmarsh to suggest the coalition is 'flat-footed', to use his words, despite previous Labor governments making no move in this regard. But we are talking, after all, about a drug that needs to be safe. We are talking about the TGA needing to ensure that the efficacy of this drug is safe for the Australian people. We also have an entire suite of international laws with which our country must comply. So does this take time? Well, it does. So if the opposition seem to have some crazy idea to rush through medicinal cannabis products without due diligence, I'd ask them to be more specific rather than making these motherhood statements of flat-footedness.

When we, as a government, introduced the law in 2016, we rightly inserted the need for a review. That review, the McMillan review, was tabled in this parliament in 2019. What we see today in the Narcotic Drugs Amendment (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2021 is the implementation of the recommendations from that review. Two measures in particular are worth noting. The first measure is the consolidation of the licensing structure that will come under just one single framework rather than the existing three separate licences with which those in the supply chain now have to deal. The second measure relates to the creation of a perpetual licence and permit structure. As a bill—and it's something, again, that the member for Hindmarsh failed to recognise—it strikes a balance between the need for safety and international legal compliance and the need to ensure that the supply chain is free to be productive and grow. Those who are operating within the relatively new medicinal cannabis sector in Australia are dealing with an embryonic industry. They need to have the room to grow. They need to be able to be productive. What we see with the consolidation of licences is a removal of the burden of red tape. What we see with perpetual licences is an opportunity for investors to take a longer-term view and therefore invest more. It's a pretty simple formula. The less red tape and the more investment, the greater the focus on this industry and the more it can grow, be productive and get products to patients who are in need.

We all know that the proponents of medicinal cannabis point to some pretty compelling evidence. I'm no doctor, so I won't make any claims, but what medicinal cannabis seems to be able to do in the areas of cancer, multiple sclerosis and epilepsy is quite extraordinary. This is why we need to do what we continue to do as a government—to free up this industry in a responsible fashion so it can attract investment and we can have product going to market. Let us not forget that medicinal cannabis, as an industry, should be within Australia's sweet spot. It comes to the intersection of two of our greatest strengths: agriculture and health care. It is within that sweet spot, within that intersection, that medicinal cannabis is being cultivated and produced for both medicinal and scientific purposes in this country. As a Queenslander, I'm proud to say that the greatest number of prescriptions are coming from our state. As the member for Fairfax, I'm also proud of MEDIFARM, which is one of the companies that are taking a lead in this space in Australia. This is not just a market for us domestically. It's an international market with exponential growth potential for Australian products overseas. I am delighted to commend the bill to the House.

See this speech in context