Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

In view of the overwhelming public and professional support for the use of whole plant medicinal cannabis, the need for it to be listed in schedule 4 of the Therapeutic Goods Act, so it may be prescribed by an authorised health professional and available for purchase from the pharmacy.

As all members of this house know, for more than five years I have been a very strong advocate for the use of whole plant medicinal cannabis. It came off the back of a woman I met who was diagnosed with a brain tumour. Surgery was out of the question and conventional drugs had left her for dead. Imagine a doctor saying, 'Sorry darl, everything we've done just won't stop the cancer,' or, 'Sorry darl, I can't prescribe you anything stronger to deal with the pain you're suffering; you are already on the most potent,' or, 'Sorry darl, your child will have to be kept in a comatose-like state because there are no other drugs that will stop the seizures.'

Secretly, the majority of people in the Senate support the use of whole plant medicinal cannabis, as I do. The problem is that too many of you are too gutless to take the necessary steps to make any change and come into line with the thinking of most of the general public. Why? Because you fear what your pharmaceutical mates might come out and say or, worse still, you fear they'll pull your political donations.

You might ask yourself why One Nation would bring to this chamber a matter of public urgency regarding whole plant medicinal cannabis. The truth is that up to 100,000 Australians are being forced to break the law by sourcing medicinal cannabis oil from the black market. These people are our next-door neighbours, our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters or our uncles and aunts. They are everyday people caught in a world of pain and suffering. They are people who can't wait any longer. It's almost as if the cold weather down here in Canberra freezes the hearts of elected members. Unless you've suffered the effects of chemotherapy, epilepsy, tremors, PTSD or one of the dozens of other symptoms medicinal cannabis can assist you with, you really don't know what I'm talking about. I have no doubt you all know someone going through these symptoms, so I ask you all here today: why are you preventing the use of a natural drug?

In my home state of Queensland, the Labor government and the health department are denying medicinal cannabis oil to a nine-year-old girl by the name of Caitlin, and instead want to dope her up on oxycodone, OxyContin, tramadol and diazepam. Each and every time this girl is forced to take pharmaceutical drugs of this nature, her body shuts down. Medicinal cannabis oil is the only thing that gives her any quality of life. Right this minute, nine-year-old Caitlin needs an urgent operation to extend the growth rods in her back and the health department refused to allow her mother to administer medicinal cannabis oil while she's in the hospital. Even Caitlin's own doctor has written a letter of support to allow her to keep using cannabis oil, which the Labor government and the Queensland health department refuse to acknowledge. This is just one case of the 100,000 people forced to source illegal black-market medicinal cannabis oil.

Every day, my office, my website and my Facebook page receive contact from people asking why they cannot access this pain-relieving product. Why are we so behind the eight ball in Australia in this field compared to many other countries in the world? And, yet, this government went to the election on a platform of innovation and jobs. I'm telling you right now: medical cannabis oil is innovative. It will get people back to work sooner. It will stop so much suffering and mitigate the tears that flow every single day from helpless family members who sit and watch their loved ones in pain.

I have to highlight that there are very few people in politics willing to put their heads on the chopping block and fight so hard on this matter. I take my hat off to Steve Dickson, who did that just last year when he came to One Nation because of this very subject. No-one in his former party were willing to step up and speak out on this subject, and I want to thank Steve Dickson for continuously helping me keep this matter in the public arena and pushing for legislative reform.

We know that the Australian government has approved the growing, harvesting and manufacturing of whole-plant medicinal cannabis. So why can't everyday Australians get access? It is not because the product goes off, because it can be kept unrefrigerated for up to 12 months. I'll tell you why Aussies can't get access to medical cannabis—it's because of the onerous paperwork and bureaucracy. Every single one of us in this chamber today has the ability to change that. That's what we were elected to do—to make decisions for the greater good of everyday people. Bureaucrats weren't elected; we were. Pharmaceutical companies were not elected; we were. I'm not interested in synthetic products produced by greedy pharmaceutical companies, and neither are the public. We want access to the real deal. Please, no more excuses. No more telling me, 'We're doing our best to give sufferers access,' because the public are telling me they can't access it.

I'll leave you with one parting comment before we break for Easter. This weekend marks a time when Christ gave his life for the sake of ours. I'm not asking for any of you to give your lives today. I'm just asking you to give your vote to support medical cannabis oil and help save the lives of others.