8. GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Does he believe that a trans-Tasman therapeutic products agency will be “costly, restrictive and unnecessary for New Zealand”?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
No, if it was the agency that was announced yesterday by the New Zealand and Australia Prime Ministers, which is not dependent on natural health products being part of that regulatory regime. This is what National has always sought, and it is an outcome of the Prime Minister’s outstandingly successful visit to Australia, and I congratulate our Prime Minister.
Can the Minister confirm that, in fact, it was he who described the agency as being “costly, restrictive and unnecessary”, despite it achieving the same things that the agency announced yesterday, including an opt-in for natural products that his leader agreed to at the time?
That quote was with regard to Labour’s proposed scheme, which included natural health products. Our Prime Minister has gone to Australia and delivered a scheme that does not include natural health products. He was the first New Zealand Prime Minister to speak to the Australian Parliament, and how proud we are as a nation of that.
Does he recall Michelle Beckett, Executive Director of Natural Products New Zealand, saying that the National Party see the natural products sector only as “a political football to be leveraged to any political advantage,” and why will he not accept that National’s flip-flop on the trans-Tasman agency only reinforces Ms Beckett’s view?
Mrs Beckett was a supporter of the Labour Party’s plan to include natural health products in the joint trans-Tasman agency. The agreement between the Prime Ministers is that that does not need to be the case. This is a successful win-win for New Zealand, which has been delivered by our Prime Minister because of the close, improving, and strong relationship with Australia.
Sue KedgleyWhy on earth would we join up to an Australian agency to regulate our medicines and medical devices when it is located in Canberra, staffed by Australians, and has a reputation for being a heavy-handed regulator with a costly bureaucracy?
Those details are yet to be determined. The work is about to begin very soon, but I would expect that we would see a move to centres of excellence, whereas the various parts of the two systems were able to concentrate on those parts that they do best.
Will he guarantee that natural products will not be part of the trans-Tasman joint regulatory arrangements in the future?
I cannot guarantee that there might not be a Labour Government that wants to force them in. The agreement that has been designed between the two Prime Ministers is that that is a choice for New Zealand, and the scheme does not have to happen with natural health products. It is a real win-win for New Zealand. Labour was never able to achieve it.