Restoring Parliamentary Oversight and Accountability in Drug and Product Approval

One Nation will restore direct oversight, supervision, accountability, and control to Parliament, removing influence from pharmaceutical companies over drug and product approvals.

Recently the head of the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) Professor Skerrit left his role at the TGA and commenced work with Medicines Australia, which is the lobby group for the pharmaceutical industry. In effect, the professor is now working for the companies he recently regulated.

This is entirely unacceptable. The health of everyday Australians and trust in the medical establishment is too important to leave in the hands of a broken system rife with cronyism and self-interest.

We will return the power to authorise drugs and medical devices back to the Minister for Health, who will be responsible for delegating these decisions to his own departmental staff.

This system will ensure that the Minister’s decisions will be subject to rigorous parliamentary scrutiny, prevent conflicts of interest and most importantly remove the direct relationship between the TGA and pharmaceutical companies they are supposed to regulate.

Security of employment in the public service should prevent the revolving door we currently have between the TGA and pharmaceutical companies and ensure the best possible outcome for everyday Australians.