Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

We are not dealing with the car industry; we are dealing with the pharmaceuticals industry and we are dealing with the world-best Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in making sure that Australians get value for money in the medicines that are required for their good health. It has nothing to do with the car industry, and the comparison is simply false. Let me try once more: could you please tell the committee the corporations that Mr Will Delaat, Mr David Grainger, Mr Ian Chalmers and Mr Duncan O’Brien represent. It is not hard. After all, there has been an agreement by the government for this group to be set up.

The senator says that they first met in April and they have a report, but we do not have it available. I am so used to this from this government. Here we have a parliament determining very crucial and complex legislation, and a report from a working group that is very germane to this legislation, but the government is saying: ‘You’ll get that after the vote has being taken on this matter. We won’t give you that information.’ I would have thought—and I will ask this: is there a draft report? Is it available, and can we have it tabled? If not, what is the expected date of arrival of this report from the first meeting of the access to medicines working group, and will the minutes of that and future meetings be made available to members of parliament, to this chamber?