Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Kovacic for the question. I think this is the issue that we dealt with in estimates in quite considerable detail, in terms of the management of what has been a very significant increase in applications for PBAC approval. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I recall from estimates that it was a very significant increase that couldn't be dealt with at one meeting, so the decision of the minister was to call for an extra meeting so that all of those applications could be considered in detail and that those were triaged against, as I understand it, an assessment of criteria to make sure that those decisions could be dealt with as quickly as possible.

I think we went into it in detail. The workforce to provide some of those assessments simply isn't as big as we need it to be, so quite a lot of work has been done by the department of health to go out and try to find extra assessors to provide information for that. Everything that can be done is being done to make sure those PBAC meetings—the one that is being held in March and the extra one—are being dealt with as quickly as possible. I reject the insinuation that there has been some sense of control put on it. It is about managing the appropriate safety and regulatory responsibilities to ensure that those applications are processed as quickly as possible. It is highly unusual to have this number come forward, much more than any other standard meeting, and that is why these extra measures have been put in place.