Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Why is it that the Australian government and negotiators allowed them to stay in the agreements as simply on-ice clauses, as opposed to having them deleted? Surely the Australian people would like to know if their government tried to have these clauses deleted. If there is cancer medication and health advances available when dealing with the very traumatic issues of the various different cancers across the country that patients are suffering from today, that cancer medication should be as affordable as possible. I don't think that big pharmaceutical companies should be able to exploit time lines on patents to make them more expensive at the expense of patients being able to have access to that medication at an affordable rate. Could the government minister please explain whether they argued for those clauses to be deleted in the first place?