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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2004 Week 06 Hansard (Wednesday, 23 June 2004) . . Page.. 2513 ..

As I said, we will have to wait and debate later on in the day the bill and the various amendments. I will have to get advice on Ms Dundas’s most recent amendment before I can say for sure what the Greens will be doing.

MR PRATT (3.48): Mr Speaker, I rise to give in-principle support to the Pharmacy Amendment Bill. I also support our community pharmacies. I would like to make the point that the minister’s criticism so far of this piece of legislation is quite unfair. I think it is the height of ignorance for the minister to say that this legislation is fundamentally flawed because of some amendments that were brought forward concurrently with the tabling of the legislation.

Might I remind the minister that last night, in this place, the government brought on 21 amendments to its new OH&S legislation. I am not necessarily criticising that—I am simply making a comparison. Last night 21 amendments were brought on, of which seven related to one clause.

I think we need to be a little fair here and give the MLAs a go. I think the point ought to be made that a couple of sensible amendments do not represent a fundamentally flawed piece of legislation. As I said, in addition to taking the time to deal with its own legislation last night, the government introduced 21 amendments. This legislation deserves to be looked at. It deserves to be supported. The government, in fact, needs to get behind this legislation; the government needs to get behind pharmacies rather than attacking them.

MS DUNDAS (3.51): Mr Speaker, the Democrats have one clear goal in mind today and that is to ensure that supermarkets cannot have pharmacies operating within their walls. We do not want to have supermarkets operating pharmacies in the ACT.

Pharmacies are at the forefront of primary health care in our society and it is important that not only do we have excellent pharmacies but also that the services they provide are accessible and affordable. Pharmacists help with minor ailments and they offer specialist guidance on the proper use of medicine. They are trained health professional who, like doctors, make a commitment to promoting the health of their clients. This is why many offer what are quite unprofitable services and why they feel obliged to advise customers against excessive or inappropriate use of medications. Pharmacists have a focus on social benefits, not just economic ones.

The prospect of supermarkets owning pharmacies is not a positive step for health care in this country. In an ever increasing bid for market share and sales, pharmaceuticals, as with petrol and liquor, would simply become another product to stock on the shelves without thought to the medicinal needs of the community.

Supermarket chains are currently claiming they will bring competition, which will in turn lead to lower prices and more benefits to consumers. What they forget to mention is that their superior purchasing power would in the short term lower prices, but this could force local community pharmacies to cut services and, in many cases, close down.

This has been the overseas experience. In the United States, for every dispensary that opened in a supermarket, 1.3 independent pharmacies were forced to close their doors.

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