Page 2915 - Week 08 - Wednesday, 15 August 2018
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reproductive health,” or in particular for medical abortions, it may open them up to criticism for a variety of reasons.
One of the reasons they may not dispense that drug is simply because they do not have enough people calling on them to do so to justify the onerous regulation around that. Lots of pharmacists do not dispense methadone for exactly the same reason. We are not asking pharmacists to put up signs about whether they do or do not dispense methadone.
Madam Speaker, I move my amendment to Ms Fitzharris’s amendment:
Omit paragraph (3)(a), substitute:
“(a) in consultation with medical practitioners, pharmacists and their representative organisations, explore options for development of an on-line resource to assist the Canberra community to access information about reproductive health medicines, procedures and products;”.
MADAM SPEAKER: The amendment having been moved, the question is that Mrs Dunne’s amendment to Ms Fitzharris’s amendment be agreed to. Mrs Dunne.
MRS DUNNE: Thank you, Madam Speaker. The Canberra Liberals think that this is a better way of doing it. As a colleague said to me yesterday, most people these days will google what they want to know about a lot of these drugs and a lot of these procedures. So having an online mechanism would be a good way of giving maximum access, essentially to young people who are switched on electronically.
This would remove the burden from individual small business owners to provide signage which, as the president of the Pharmacy Guild said, could be quite problematic. It might depend on which pharmacist is on duty at the time. There might be somebody who has a conscientious objection who would not want to dispense. They would therefore be in a situation where they would be putting signs up and taking them down, depending who was on duty. That may create problems.
I think that if Ms Cody had done what I did and had actually rung the Pharmacy Guild before she moved this motion—
Ms Cody: I used to work for the Pharmacy Guild. I spent a lot of time working with the Pharmacy Guild.
MRS DUNNE: It is interesting. When I rang the Pharmacy Guild or, to be precise, when my office rang the Pharmacy Guild about this on Monday, my office’s approach to them was the first that they had heard about this. They had considerable concerns about the motion and the implications it would have for pharmacists.
That was relayed yesterday in the media by the ACT president of the Pharmacy Guild, who said that he did not believe that this regulation was necessary. I think it is quite clear that the minister’s amendment today is actually a tidy up and a fixing up of the relationship with the pharmacists. Ms Cody has gone off half-cocked—that is the expression—and has not got the full story before she has moved this motion.
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