Stirling Griff (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate:

(a) notes that:

  (i) Australians spend over one billion dollars per year on cosmetic surgery and cosmetic procedures,

  (ii) most of these surgeries and procedures occur outside of a hospital setting and, hence, escape regulatory oversight,

  (iii) the cosmetic surgery and cosmetic procedure industry has expanded rapidly driven by the arrival of companies providing a low-cost, high-volume model, and driven by intense promotion on social media,

  (iv) there are a large variety of cosmetic procedures that aim to alter or modify a person's body or appearance, and all invasive cosmetic procedures carry risks,

  (v) due to false and misleading advertising by unscrupulous businesses and untrained doctors these risks are minimised to entice patients into having risky cosmetic procedures,

  (vi) high-risk procedures include breast augmentation, which has grown from 5 000 patients a year to 20 000 patients in the past decade, and the use of certain Schedule 4 poisons, such as Botox or dermal fillers,

  (vii) the Therapeutic Goods Association says that the process of injecting dermal fillers is an invasive medical procedure that should only be undertaken by an experienced and qualified medical doctor, or a nurse under the direct supervision of a doctor,

  (viii) these procedures are routinely performed by a person, other than a doctor, in locations such as beauty salons and private homes (in the form of Botox parties), where the risks can be catastrophic,

  (ix) in August 2017, a 35-year-old woman died two days after she suffered a cardiac arrest during a breast procedure at a Sydney beauty clinic performed by a person with no Australian medical qualifications,

  (x) in April 2018, Australian doctors at the Ophthalmology Unit at the Prince of Wales Hospital treated their first patient who was permanently blinded in one eye after being injected with a dermal filler in a beauty parlour,

  (xi) many invasive cosmetic surgical procedures are being performed by doctors with a basic medical degree and no specialist surgical qualification, and

  (xii) these doctors have chosen to deliberately bypass formal accredited surgical training in Australia to cash-in on this booming market;

(b) recognises that practitioners of cosmetic surgery and cosmetic procedures must have patient safety as the paramount consideration, not profit; and

(c) calls on the Federal Government to:

  (i) raise the issue of protecting the title 'cosmetic surgeon' with the COAG Health Council, and

  (ii) work with the states to close registration loopholes, and enforce regulations to ensure no patient undergoing cosmetic surgery or procedures is harmed.

Question agreed to.