Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) the importance of complementary medicines and practices, including traditional Chinese medicines, to the international healthcare landscape;

(b) that the Australian complementary medicines industry is worth over $3.8 billion; and

(c) that Australia is the first western nation to nationally regulate Chinese medicine practitioners; and

(2) acknowledges:

(a) the National Institute of Complementary Medicine (NICM), hosted by the University of Western Sydney, as Australia's premier research facility in complementary medicine, being the only Australian complementary medicine research centre to receive the top ranking of five in the Commonwealth Excellence in Research for Australia scheme; and

(b) the role of the NICM in fostering collaboration and engagement with Chinese hospitals, research centres and universities to provide trade, research and investment opportunities in Australia.

Early this month, I spoke to the House about the significance of the complementary medicines industry in this country and the contribution it can make to improving wellness outcomes for Australians, as well as benefiting the economy. I would like to pay special tribute to Professor Alan Bensoussan and all the staff at the National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney for their vision and pioneering work in this important sector. NICM is Australia's premier research facility in complementary medicines and is playing a key national role in ensuring that Australians have access to reliable evidence on medicines and treatments in wide use. NICM is one of the two UWS research concentrations to be recognised by the Commonwealth rankings as performing research at well above world standard, ERA 5.

NICM Director Professor Bensoussan and his team have forged a broad network of links with national and international organisations in government and industry, including major collaborative research projects with key institutions in China. Professor Bensoussan received the prestigious International Award for Contribution to Chinese Medicine in 2013, which was conferred in the Great Hall of the People in China. He is the only recipient of that award to be based outside the People's Republic of China.

NICM's strong credentials in the area of Chinese medicine are well recognised and form the foundation for the proposed partnership with China's leading Chinese medicine university, the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, BUCM, in establishing a clinical service and national education initiative that could eventually mature into a joint campus of the two universities. Founded in 1956, BUCM is one of the earliest established higher education facilities for Chinese medicine in China. NICM and BUCM have worked together since the late 1990s. This has included several highly productive collaborative research projects, higher degree research supervision and visiting scholar exchanges.

With the recent introduction of the statutory regulation of Chinese medicine practitioners in Australia, both parties believe the time is right to consider more substantial investment and joint partnership in the delivery of specialist clinical treatment services, performance of multi-centre clinical trials and collaboration on the development of Chinese medicine intellectual property. UWS and BUCM have signed a memorandum of understanding which was witnessed by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott in Canberra in November 2014.

BUCM have subsequently offered to invest $20 million in establishing a joint centre of Chinese medicine in Western Sydney. This funding will be directed towards building refurbishment and the first three years of clinical operation and educational services. Fully developed, the bilaterally supported initiative will provide clinical treatment services on a fee service basis; support student training and research; deliver Chinese medicine, education and training, including the development of potential double-badge qualifications; conduct pre-clinical and clinical research, including multicentre trials and clinical research training through NICM; and will include a museum, celebrating the history, depth and cultural significance of the practise of Chinese medicine.

I am proud to say that NICM is wholly located at the UWS Campbelltown campus in my electorate of Macarthur. However, the institute is rapidly outgrowing its current laboratory and office facilities and is exploring a range of sites in Western Sydney. The key national role that the institute is taking and its rapid expansion coincide with the dramatic changes currently underway in Macarthur. Thanks to the Baird and Abbott governments, $3.5 billion has been committed to major infrastructure upgrades over the next 10 years that will support the development of Sydney's South West Growth Centre, which will contain about 110,000 new dwellings for roughly 300,000 residents—almost the same population as Canberra.

The institute is aiming to advance health services in this major growth corridor, connecting directly to a new population within the South West Growth Centre at Oran Park, Leppington, Austral and Macarthur. According to a report last week in the Daily Telegraph, UWS has created a blueprint for establishing 'medical, science, technology, aviation and agribusiness hubs, each dotted along the outer Sydney orbital corridor and centred around … Badgerys Creek airport'. The establishment of a joint centre for Chinese medicine in Western Sydney with BUCM is at the core university's strategy as a key hub.

Other key hubs include plans to work in conjunction with the private sector to build a Sydney Science Park around Luddenham that would 'focus on becoming a leading international centre for research and development in food, energy and health'. There are also plans for a hi-tech business hub at Werrington Park 'that focuses on activating and growing technology and innovation-orientated businesses'. UWS's exciting and ambitious strategic plan has been dubbed Sydney IQ, with the Hon. Julie Bishop MP comparing it to how Silicon Valley was started in the United States. These key hubs will attract some of the smartest people in the world to the region and ensure that Macarthur's brightest students have access to cutting-edge research facilities and industries right on their doorstep.

Thanks to the UWS's grand plans and the hard work and dedication of people like Professor Bensoussan and his team at NICM, Macarthur is set to become an even better place to live and work.

Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macarthur for bringing the matter before the House. Complementary medicines, as the House knows well, include Chinese medicines. It would be remiss of me to speak on this matter in this week without taking the opportunity to wish all of those within the Chinese Australian community throughout my electorate and throughout the country and indeed those of Chinese heritage within this House a very happy Lunar New Year. I understand that it is the year of the goat, and that does bode very well for many in this place.

Chinese influence on Australian history and culture and our community is something I also want to acknowledge. We are all the richer for it. Of course, Chinese medicine is only one small way in which Chinese Australians have made a contribution to our society. For many Australians Chinese medicine is something that they remain unfamiliar with—and perhaps this debate in the House today will help in some way to address that—and for others it is a tool for them in their quest for general health and wellbeing. Medical and scientific knowledge has evolved over thousands of years, nurtured by both culture and the environment. People for eons have looked to their local ecosystems to find relief from pain and to assist in their health and wellbeing. In its crudest forms of experiment observed over histories the human and animal responses to certain plants and minerals were the first forms of medicine.

Medical practice of course continues to evolve along cultural traditions and for many Australians complementary medicines and traditional practices sit alongside modern medical practices. Indeed, there is a greater community awareness of complementary medicines today than there was in the recent past. It is why Australian regulators have had a greater interest in this space. Since 2003, the Therapeutic Goods Administration has made recommendations that were moved to reform the system and regulation of complementary medicines. I think that is an entirely healthy development.

The Australian National Audit Office made similar recommendations back then for us to strengthen the regulation to improve community confidence in what was a growing sector of the economy and of the health system. It was an important milestone. It followed the mass recall by Pan Pharmaceuticals of over 1,600 items. It was and remains important for Australians to have confidence in all of the medicines that they take. Closer attention to the regulation of complementary medicines was the surest way to ensure consumer confidence in this important sector.

Today, the TGA regulates complementary medicines on a risk basis. It means that lower risk medicines can apply to be listed on the Australian Register of Therapeutic Goods, the ARTG, but are not required to do so, while higher risk medicines must be registered on the ARTG, involving all the scrutiny that goes with it. That is important, because Australians are entitled to know that if they choose to use a complementary medicine there is a level of scrutiny applied to it and that it is safe. Moreover, they are entitled to know that the therapeutic claims that are made for a particular medicine have been tested by a reputable authority—that is to say, that the product they are using for a purpose actually does what it says it will do. I think all Australians would think that that was nothing more than reasonable.

Of course, the regulatory system is perhaps a little more complicated to go through than time permits me here, but it is important for me to say that we need to have a system of confidence in all of the products that are sold with a therapeutic blandishment in this country. Australia has been one of the world leaders in this area, which is something we can be proud of.

The National Institute of Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney is a very healthy development. The academic rigour that this will help to bring to the sector is very much welcomed by all on this side of the House. I thank the member for Macarthur and the other Labor members who have lined up to speak on this motion, showing the importance that they attach to the sector.

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like first to congratulate the member for Macarthur for moving this important motion. The electorate of Macarthur is very fortunate to be home to the National Institute of Complementary Medicine, which provides:

… leadership and support for strategically directed research into complementary medicine and translation of evidence into clinical practice.

The NICM was initially developed with $4 million in seed funding from the Howard government and is hosted by the University of Western Sydney at its Campbelltown campus. According to the NICM website, its programs:

… encompass all aspects of the research agenda for complementary medicine, from pure basic research in the laboratory; to clinical trials tailored to address the challenges of testing the efficacy of medicines already in use; to the translation of research evidence into clinical practice and community use.

I have risen many times in this place to applaud the work of our medicines industry. I know of no other sector that is focused on improving the health outcomes of our constituents whilst also representing such a significant contribution to our national economic productivity. In Australia, the medicines industry is the brightest of lights in an otherwise repressed manufacturing sector, with an average of $4 billion in exports each year.

Many innovative medicines manufacturers also maintain a range of vibrant complementary medicine brands. One of the market leaders in this field is Sanofi, headquartered in Macquarie Park in my electorate of Bennelong. Sanofi's portfolio includes market-leading household names such as Nature's Own, Cenovis, Bio Organics, Ostelin, MICROgenics and Golden Glow and it is our nation's largest distributor of nutraceuticals including multivitamins, fish oil and glucosamine. Australians can find these products in more than 8,400 pharmacy, grocery and health food stores across the nation.

As you can see, I am happy to take any opportunity to spruik the significant contributions that companies like Sanofi and so many others make both to my local region by creating thousands of jobs and to our nation's economy. This latter category is due to grow as a direct result of last year's signing of the historic free trade agreement with China. The visit by the President of China, Xi Jinping, and his address to this House represented a watershed in our relations with our largest trading partner. The Prime Minister Tony Abbot, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and the Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Robb deserve our congratulations for their magnificent work in securing this agreement together with the free trade agreements with Japan and Korea.

During President Xi's visit, he joined our Prime Minister to sign a memorandum of understanding between the University of Western Sydney and the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. This partnership will spark the development of a new research led Chinese medicine clinic in Sydney directly contributing to improved patient outcomes and giving our nation the potential to tap into the $170,000 billion global traditional Chinese medicine market.

Beijing University of Chinese Medicine is a world leader in Chinese medicine. Through the National Institute of Complementary Medicine, the University of Western Sydney and the electorates of Macarthur, Lindsay and surrounds will benefit greatly as a direct result of this partnership. The MOU and the free trade agreement truly represent the way that this government and the members of Macarthur and Lindsay are delivering for their local communities.

The Bennelong region is the second most populous electorate of Chinese Australians and a quick walk down Eastwood mall will expose hundreds, if not thousands, of drawers filled with Chinese medicines. I was there just yesterday competing in the lunar new year cooking competition—I am too modest to say who won.

We are the only Western country to operate a unified national registration of Chinese medicine practitioners and have a strict regulation of Chinese medicines delivering safe healthcare outcomes to thousands of Australians and a subsequent boost to our export market and economy.

This ever-growing connection between Australia and China economically, diplomatically and culturally is central to our nation's development in the 21st century. This is so ably represented by the MOU, the free trade agreement and this motion brought forward by the member for Macarthur, which I commend to the House.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the great things about Australia is our cultural diversity. As Australians, we are welcoming people and we have benefited from generations of immigrants who have enriched our lives through their knowledge, skills and the values.

This past week Australia has revelled in the celebrations surrounding Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Sheep. Over the weekend I was honoured to host the first Chinese lunar new year festival in Kingsford Smith. We are blessed to have a strong and vibrant local Chinese community in my electorate who came along and shared their many talents and cultural highlights with members of our community.

One aspect of Chinese culture Australians have embraced is Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine has been used in Australia for more than 100 years, since the 1840s when the Australian goldfields first enticed Chinese people to Australia. Many Australians on a daily basis undertake and seek out Chinese medicinal therapies to cure all manner of ailments and ills. A classic example of Chinese medicine in our culture and our country is the widespread of acupuncture.

Chinese medicine has been utilised in China for more than 5,000 years. The challenge has been meeting these ancient Eastern medical practices with what we do in the West. The Labor Party has long been an enthusiastic advocate of Chinese medicine. In 2007, the then NSW Labor government helped facilitate the establishment of the National Institute for Complementary Medicine at the University of Western Sydney, providing $600,000 to accelerate the establishment of the institute.

The state Labor government supported the formation of a joint academic chair in traditional Chinese medicine between the University of Sydney and the University of Western Sydney, committing $800,000 over four years towards the chair, and also announcing the establishment of an Australia-China Centre for Research in Chinese Medicines. This is a joint collaboration between the University of Sydney and Sun Yat-sen University in Guangdong, with the aim of undertaking research and development into traditional Chinese medicines for the growing complementary medicine market. As Australia looks to Asia and our Asian Pacific partnership to further our economic growth, the links that we can establish through Chinese medicine provide fertile ground for future endeavours and the relationship.

As mentioned in this motion, the Australian complementary medicine industry is worth over $3.8 billion and Australia is the first Western nation to nationally regulate Chinese medicine practitioners. Since July 2012, students and practitioners must be registered with the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia. The board also manages complaints and disciplinary processes and assesses practitioners trained overseas who wish to practise in Australia. Registered individuals must commit to maintaining and developing their skills, spending at least 20 hours a year in training, meeting a minimum English language requirement and having professional indemnity cover to the value of at least $5 million in liability. This oversight is vitally important to the Chinese medicine industry and to ensuring that Australians have ready and safe access to this unique international resource.

I acknowledge as part of the motion the important work being undertaken by the National Institute of Complementary Medicine and the role of the institute in cultivating investment, education and research opportunities in this exciting space. The complementary medicine sector has the potential to make significant advances on the burden of disease in Australia, particularly chronic disease, as well as boost our economy.

With the celebration of Chinese New Year, it is wonderful and appropriate for this parliament to pay tribute to the historical links between our two nations and, in particular, the wonderful link that Chinese medicine has provided in not only boosting both our economies but providing support for people-to-people links.

Fiona Scott (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy Speaker Wicks, it is fabulous to see your elevation to the Speaker's Panel. Today I stand here as a proud advocate for my community of Western Sydney, shoulder to shoulder with my neighbour and ally the member for Macarthur. We are proud members of Western Sydney and we are proud of the future that Western Sydney will have.

Today we are talking about Chinese medicine. Chinese medicine is going to be very significant to the future jobs growth for the people of Western Sydney. As part of the Chinese free trade agreement, the Beijing University of Chinese medicine and the University of Western Sydney have joined together in researching Chinese medicine in Western Sydney. This will mean thousands and thousands of jobs for the people of Western Sydney. Already we have seen $20 million from this memorandum of understanding flow to the University of Western Sydney. However, the MOU contains more than just that; it will form part of an innovation corridor that will go from Campbelltown through to Luddenham, up to Werrington and then across into Blacktown. This innovation corridor includes amazing projects like the Sydney Science Park, which will be located in Luddenham. The Sydney Science Park will be a new centre of excellence in the key growth areas of food security, energy and health. This internationally recognised epicentre for research and development will employ 12,200 professionals, educate 10,000 students and provide quality residences and infrastructure to cater to them. This is about as exciting as it can get. We are not talking about low-skilled jobs; we are talking about smart jobs. Western Sydney has long been viewed as the poor part of the rest of Australia, but every single member in this place who represents Western Sydney from our side and even those from the other side is a proud advocate of this community. What is exciting about today is that this Chinese medicine MOU with UWS will allow us to compete with an industry which generates $4.7 million locally and $170 billion right across the world. What we will be able to do is to start an accreditation process for Chinese medicines and potentially then look at how we could provide western manufacturing techniques to then commercialise these medicines. This is important news for the people of Western Sydney. This agreement capitalises on all of these successes, but it will take Chinese medicines and western medicines that very next step.

For the first time outside China, an accredited institute will scientifically evaluate the worth of all these herbal medicines. With the scientific research behind them, the University of Western Sydney will establish GP prototype clinics where conventional medicine and Chinese medicines will be offered side-by-side—complementing each other, not exclusive of each other. The aim is to get Chinese medicines accepted inside the local GP practice with the confidence behind them so that our local GPs know exactly what they are prescribing and they know they can trust them. The outcome is more choice for you, more choice for the consumer, and, in the end, better treatments and cheaper treatments for us all.

I would really like to applaud University of Western Sydney for taking this leading position. It is a university that I am an alumni of, and it is leading the world and providing huge opportunity for all Australians. Their own National Institute of Complementary Medicine will provide all of these services. This agreement really does show that the University of Western Sydney is a dynamic, daring, smart and innovative institution—an institution that I am very proud to hold a degree from. While this is very much a team effort, one of the driving forces behind all of this has been the Vice-Chancellor, Barney Glover, and the Chancellor, Peter Shergold. I would like to congratulate them for their forethought in putting this all together.

This is one agreement that is a fantastic story. It is good news for all Australians, and it will initially lead to the employment of around 90 Australians, and in the future potentially thousands. This education corridor will be fabulous for the people of Western Sydney, it will be fabulous for all Australians, and it will allow Australians to lead the way when it comes to medical research.

Chris Hayes (Fowler, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my colleague the member for Macarthur for bringing this important motion forward to highlight the importance of complementary and alternative medicines and practices, particularly Chinese medicines. The fact is that the complementary medicine industry in Australia is worth about $4 billion, and almost half of Australians are turning to alternative medicines and therapies. Given the significance of the growing influence in this area, I understand that a group of senior Chinese officials will be visiting Australia in July of this year to advance negotiations around the development of a traditional Chinese medicines regulatory body. The proposal will open up opportunities for research and development partnerships between Australian and Chinese universities, together with global medical research institutes for the integration of traditional Chinese medicines.

I represent the most multicultural electorate in the country—a third of my electorate are of Asian heritage and almost 10 per cent of my electorate are Chinese speakers. As a result, there are a number of alternative or complementary medicine stores across my electorate, particularly in Cabramatta. A little while back I had the pleasure of attending the grand opening of the Beijing Tong Ren Tang herbal medicine store in Cabramatta. This manufacturer has a proud track record. As a matter of fact its history can be traced back nearly 350 years. What it has done for local residents has certainly made it a lot easier for them to be able to access high quality traditional Chinese herbal medicines right in the heart of Western Sydney. This is particularly important for the elderly, many of whom I know swear by the benefits of traditional Chinese medicines. This becomes very important with an ageing population in Australia. Traditional Chinese medicine is expected to contribute to helping people live longer and healthier lives.

Western Sydney plays a very important part in the growing influence of alternative and complementary medicines, with one of the most important complementary medicine research centres, the National Institute of Complementary Medicine, situated at the University of Western Sydney. This institute is led by Professor Alan Bensoussan, a clinical researcher with over 25 years experience in Chinese medicine. Professor Bensoussan has been the lead investigator on numerous high-quality clinical trials of Chinese medicines and has conducted collaborative research projects with key institutions in China. His 1996 publication on the practices of traditional Chinese medicine led to the statutory regulation of all Chinese medicine practitioners in July last year, making Australia the first Western nation to regulate Chinese medicine practitioners.

In 2007 the NICM received $4 million from the Australian government to enable its establishment. Currently the NICM is funded through the University of Western Sydney, industry partners, research grants and contracts. Today the NICM is Australia's premier research facility on complementary medicine and is the only research centre to receive the top ranking in the Commonwealth Excellence in Research for Australia scheme. Hosted by the University of Western Sydney, the NICM continues to foster collaboration with Australian and Chinese hospitals, research centres and universities in the area of complementary medicine to conduct research through an evidence based approach into complementary medicines alongside conventional medicines.

I would like to commend the efforts and undertakings of Professor Bensoussan and the University of Western Sydney and the NICM research institute for the comprehensive research that they have conducted in this area and in elevating the potential benefits of traditional Chinese therapy as it applies here in Australia. We live in a highly multicultural country with a strong connection to various Asian cultures and, therefore, we should be open to a number of these influences. It is important that the government continues to support and fund research into this area to ensure the safety and effectiveness of the various medicines and therapies that fall within this category.

Debate adjourned.