Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

Today I rise to speak on the urgency motion put forward in this place by Senator Hanson. I want to place on the record that Labor have consistently fought for improved access to medical cannabis in circumstances where it's clinically desirable for patients. We've been listening to patients. I've met with patients. I know that the shadow health minister Catherine King has also met with patients. We have put forward our own clear thoughts on these issues. But what we have seen coming from the government, on the other hand, is them very much dragging their heels on this issue. When they finally established a national scheme, it was so complicated and had so many barriers to access that people simply gave up. This goes some way to highlighting the kinds of issues that Senator Hanson has raised in the Senate today. Instead of prioritising access for patients, what the government did at that time—and still does—was stigmatise desperate Australians who were unwell, who were dying or who had serious conditions such as epilepsy and were trying to overcome the barriers in the system to access medical cannabis.

But I want to be clear about the motion that's before us today. It is simply a statement of opinion before this place. Being so, it's an attempt by Senator Hanson to try to hide her failure to stand up in this place for better medical access to cannabis.