Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to speak on the Narcotic Drugs Amendment (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2021, but I note the member for Lyons's comments earlier. He raised a hypothetical and wondered how, if Labor had put this bill before the House back in 2013, the coalition would have received it. I was thinking that I would hope, and I would be sure, that the coalition would have taken a bipartisan approach to this, because I'm sure that we have all, in our other lives, come across people who have been in desperate need of medicinal cannabis—people who have children with cerebral palsy or epilepsy or know somebody who has been injured or has a chronic illness and who, since 2016, has been assisted by the introduction of the legislation allowing medicinal cannabis. So, if the member for Lyons is listening, I say to him: I understand some of your frustration as to the rollout and the extent that this bill goes to, but I am pleased to speak to it, because it does several things that will make life easier for those who are in need of this quite often life-changing medicinal cannabis.

In short, the recommendations are, firstly, to streamline the licensing structure in the act into a single licence, replacing the current three-licence structure, to reduce the regulatory burden for industry participants undertaking cultivation, production, manufacture and research; secondly, to create a perpetual licence and periodic permit structure to support the long-term nature of business investment decisions; and, thirdly, to reaffirm the government's commitment to patient availability of medicinal cannabis. What does that mean in the real world? What does that mean to the layperson, the person who is on the waiting list and the person trying to get medicinal cannabis through a doctor? It means certainty. It creates certainty for investors, it creates certainty for the agriculture industry or the growers and, most importantly, it creates certainty for the patient. They are all as important as each other and all are reliant on each other.

At a time when this government is talking about sovereignty in manufacturing and moving into manufacturing it is the perfect time to provide that certainty. It's the perfect time to say to a startup, 'We're reducing the red tape.' It's saying to someone who is going to invest in these types of businesses, 'We're cutting the red tape so you have certainty in what you're investing in.' It's also saying to those who rely on medicinal cannabis now: 'It will be there. The supply chain will be there in the future.' It gives confidence to investors and confidence to startups. There will be confidence in the supply and in the longevity and future of this industry, which could be not only nationwide but international. We could lead that international industry.

These small changes do a few things, but these are the two most important things. Certainty of supply means that people don't have to look elsewhere. I saw that firsthand prior to 2016. In my previous life I acted as a lawyer for a man who had never been in trouble. He was pulled over by the police and he had a bag of cannabis in his car. He was a farmer. He had been involved in a tractor rollover accident and had chronic pain. He had been addicted to the opioids he took to get over the pain. He made the decision that they didn't work and were not beneficial for his health. Somebody showed him how to make cannabis cookies. He said he would take only half a cookie at night because it did what it needed to do. It wasn't making him high and putting him into a different atmosphere; it was getting rid of the pain.

He told the police that that was what it was for, but he was still charged and put before the court. I'll give you insight into his character. He was so honest that the next day he took to the police station the cookies he already had and said: 'I'm telling you the truth. Here are the cookies.' Unfortunately, he then found himself on the other side of the charge desk. Even though the legislation hadn't come in, the magistrate understood the need for, and the importance of, medicinal cannabis. It was so pleasing back in 2016, when I was a defence lawyer, to see that the government recognised that as well. So that's one of the issues and the red tape that has been cleared that will allow the certainty of supply and the certainty for the consumer or the patient.

The other issue—and this is, again, a personal story—is a family who had a young child with cerebral palsy who would have severe epileptic fits every single day. Once this legislation was passed, it changed everything not just for that child but for that family in not having to see their child go through those fits hour after hour, day after day. By removing this red tape and creating that certainty, it alleviates any fear, any worry, that those families have—and those families are across Australia.

I hear the member for Melbourne's comments that some are still unable to access it. There is still work to do. But these few amendments go some way to abolishing the red tape and some way to being able to provide that service, provide that medicinal cannabis and provide that need for those people who have chronic pain or who need this to just get through life. I commend it to the House.

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