Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Trade and Investment, Senator Payne. This morning, former Australian trade negotiator, Dr Ruth Lopert,—now one of Minister Robb's so-called scaremongers who has questioned the secretive Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement—publicly stated that the TPP will cost 'possibly hundreds of millions of dollars to the government' in higher medicine costs. She went on to say that through intellectual property and patent law changes:

The taxpayer will be paying more and ultimately if this affects the long-term sustainability of the PBS (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) that will likely be pushed onto consumers through higher co-payments.

She gave the example of the drug Humira, which is a biologic used to treat arthritis, and said that a one-year delay in the market entry of a follow-on version of that drug to a competitor would mean savings foregone of roughly $44 million a year. Will the government rule out changes to Australia's domestic intellectual property or patent laws via the TPP that will punish Australian taxpayers?