Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

For the record, I should indicate that the Labor Party will not be supporting Senator Leyonhjelm's amendments, which would in fact remove all of the longstanding arrangements we have had about pharmacy location rules in this country. I acknowledge Senator Leyonhjelm's motivation is based on the liberal approach to the market. But can I suggest that there is another consideration that we need to take into account. This is not a simple shopfront; this is a service that is provided by a service provider, a very well trained person who has an understanding of how medicines work.

As I said in my speech on the second reading, most pharmaceuticals are dispensed to elderly people, to chronically ill people. When pharmaceuticals are dispensed to that cohort of patients, we understand—and I have seen it with my own eyes—that pharmacists speak with the patient to ensure that any contraindications, any mismatch of drugs, is well understood by the patient. Pharmacists do take that responsibility seriously. Sure, if you are healthy man like Senator Leyonhjelm and you turn up and get a drug over the counter you probably do not need to have that conversation but we should think of those people who are prescribed a number of pharmaceuticals. Certainly a doctor is having a good look at that, but having that second set of eyes look over that list of medicines is a good thing. I suggest that we should not be making decisions about the location of pharmacies based simply on market economics. We have to include in that consideration another value, and that is the value of medical advice—and that is what pharmacists bring to this equation. For those reasons we cannot support Senator Leyonhjelm's amendments.