Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution on the government's response to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee report on barriers to patient access to medicinal cannabis. I chaired this inquiry and was quite frankly shocked by some of the evidence that we received and the impact of these barriers on Australians' access to medicinal cannabis. I'm pleased that the government has finally handed down its response, because this report made a number of what I consider to be very important recommendations that will help to improve the lives of many Australians hoping to be able to use medicinal cannabis to address their very significant health issues.

Throughout the inquiry the committee received evidence of inequitable access to medicinal cannabis across jurisdictions, with patients in rural and remote communities finding it particularly difficult to access medicinal cannabis in their areas, particularly if their local health professional is unwilling to consider prescribing it or does not have sufficient knowledge of it. The committee also received significant evidence from patients who were unable to meet the costs of travelling into cities to access health services or had to relocate to other regions in order to access medicinal cannabis. The lack of patient access is having a detrimental impact on the mental and physical wellbeing of patients and their families. This is a postcode lottery for many Australians, who shouldn't have to go through this in Australia. There are many barriers to access to medicinal cannabis, despite the fact that there is now supposed to be better access.

I was disappointed to see that the government only noted a number of important recommendations, including recommendations 1, 2 and 3 on training and accreditation processes for doctors. Recommendation 1 recommended the department develop targeted education and public awareness campaigns to reduce stigma around medicinal cannabis within the community. Globally and here in Australia COVID-19 has shown us that working through digital innovation has achieved positive outcomes by providing access to education, training and service delivery via telehealth and other platforms which are cost effective and efficient in connecting Australians, regardless of geographical distances. The government has no excuse not to look at how we can develop training programs to ensure that doctors are equipped to prescribe medicinal cannabis. One of the significant issues that we heard about was that doctors either are reluctant to prescribe medicinal cannabis or have a lack of understanding of medicinal cannabis, particularly as some doctors were trained before medicinal cannabis became known for its medicinal purposes and/or are sceptical about the evidence and they certainly need to understand better the evidence around medicinal cannabis.

Under recommendation 3, the committee recommended that the Australian Medical Council make mandatory the inclusion of modules on the endocannabinoid system and medicinal cannabis in curriculums delivered in medical schools, again because we need to ensure that doctors have training in and awareness of medicinal cannabis. Doctor education is critically important, both for medical students during their studies and for practising doctors seeking more information and training, and we believe that the government should be supporting this. I am particularly disappointed to see that the government did not accept recommendation 5, which stated that if the TGA failed to address barriers to regulation then a new independent regulator should be considered. The TGA has not fixed the barriers to regulation. It's still a hotchpotch in this country. It is clear that we haven't fixed the issues around regulation. Patients still rely on the black market to get access to this essential medicine. I'm calling on the government to either fix this mess pronto or overhaul the system and put in place an independent regulator immediately. Patients can't wait any longer.

We heard a lot of evidence—we had a day of hearings, as Senator Urquhart just said—and we got a number of submissions that articulated very clearly the problems on access and the fact that the current system makes access so expensive that people have to go to the black market. People don't want to go to the black market but they are suffering. People on low incomes in particular are not able to access medicinal cannabis easily, and it's very costly if they can. We heard a great deal of evidence about that.

This needs fixing. The government's response to this is inadequate because they fail to see the urgency of the need to fix access to medicinal cannabis. The regulations across the country are hotchpotch and they're nonsensical in many areas, including where fences are required for particular plants according to whether they're for medicinal cannabis purposes or for other purposes—same plant, different sized fences. Those sorts of things are just ridiculous. We need an independent regulator immediately.

Another recommendation that was only noted was recommendation 18, which recommended the implementation of a compassionate pricing model for patients facing significant financial hardship in accessing medicinal cannabis products to treat their health conditions. That goes to the point that I was just making: so many people cannot afford medicinal cannabis and they have to go to the black market. People were very distressed about having to do that and, of course, about the consequences for doing it. Cost is a hugely prohibitive factor for many, many patients. We heard from parents who talked about their son's or daughter's access to medicinal cannabis and the fact that they were having to go to the black market, which is appalling. We need readily available legal medicinal cannabis products through a regulated system, and government needs to ensure this happens.

There is a lot of concern in the community about the fact that this hasn't been fixed and the fact that the government need to do better. They have it in their remit to do it. I urge the government to, in particular, look again at recommendation 5, which talks about the need for an independent regulator. The Greens will continue to pursue this matter because it is urgent. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.