Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to my Medicinal Cannabis Legislation Amendment (Securing Patient Access) Bill. I introduced this bill in the name of Australian patients who are sick and tired, who are angry, at the regulatory nightmare they and their doctors face when they try to access medicinal cannabis. We Greens stand with the many tens of thousands of Australians out there today who themselves are suffering or watching loved ones suffer as a result of the lack of access to these treatments.

When the government brought in their medicinal cannabis legislation last year, after a long campaign from the Greens, we thought it was a step in the right direction, but what has become clear is that this is a facade. Instead of a pathway to access, we have regulation and red tape preventing people from getting access to these treatments that relieve people of pain and suffering. The Australian Greens is a party that is concerned to do something about this on behalf of patients. We know that there is a problem when over 100,000 patients stand to benefit, yet under the government's legislation only 200 or so people have got access to medicinal cannabis.

This bill makes two small changes. It gives dying patients rapid access to medicinal cannabis when it's prescribed by their doctor. The first amendment makes sure that the government follows through with the will of the Senate which allows for the importation of medicinal cannabis for people with a terminal illness. The special access scheme is designed to allow people to prescribe medicines which aren't yet available in Australia to terminally ill patients, if they believe it is going to relieve them of pain and suffering. By definition, people who are eligible are suffering from life-threatening or terminal illnesses—people with cancers, people who are not getting relief from conventional treatments at the moment.

In an unprecedented move, earlier this year we saw the Greens supported by the opposition and the crossbench come together to overturn the government's cruel block on this scheme from being used for dying patients. That was a victory for patients right around the country who are suffering. Instead, we saw this government ignore the Senate and indeed threaten importers that they would have their permits revoked if they followed the law. This bill that the Greens are introducing will make sure that the government can't block the importation of medicinal cannabis under the special access scheme.

The second amendment, as part of this legislation, makes sure we level the playing field. We've got a burgeoning medicinal cannabis industry in this country. It is very small but it's growing. When these treatments come online, Australian medicinal products will also be made available under this scheme. We know the bill won't fix everything. I was just talking to Olivia Newton-John's partner, John Easterling—he is in the gallery here today—who is a pioneer in this industry in the US. What we've got in Australia is a regulator, through the TGA, that is trying to put a square peg into a round hole. We are 20 years behind the US on this issue. If people manage to get through the maze of regulation imposed by the TGA then they face further hurdles, because what we have is the complexity between federal and state regulation that also needs to be fixed through a national approach. But at least for now, let's make the small changes that relieve people who are dying of their symptoms.

We do so because we know that real people are suffering, people like Suli—a young girl, eight years old, with refractory epilepsy who suffers from hundreds of seizures a day, which has resulted in brain damage. She is not responding to the cocktail of pharmaceuticals but is getting relief from medicinal cannabis. We do it for her and we do it for the many tens of thousands of people and their families who are suffering right now. We will keep fighting so that people have safe and timely access to these medicines. I look forward to the support of this chamber to our legislation.