Sitting date: 10 Apr 2025

MEDICINES AMENDMENT BILL

First Reading

Debate resumed from 8 April.

Hon PEENI HENARE (Labour): Thank you, Mr Speaker. I support and endorse the words of my colleague the Hon Dr Ayesha Verrall, who spoke on this bill before it was interrupted, and acknowledging that, for Kiwis right across Aotearoa, the access to medicines is important. The access to the right medicines, however, is the most important thing. Making sure that the processes in order to get the right framework to allow the right decisions for the right medicines to be accessed in this country are hugely important.

What we know, however, though, is we can tinker with some of the legislation, we can put something that seems like such a token gesture because it means nothing unless the funding is there to purchase those particular medicines. So we stand to make sure that when this bill goes to the committee, and when it's considered and more submissions are heard on this particular bill, we can make sure that those voices are heard to hold this Government to account on their promise to delivering medicines to New Zealanders. That's hugely important.

We heard the speeches in the House as this particular bill was introduced, and we want to look closely at what that means with respect to the international standards that other countries place on the access to those medicines; the research, to make sure that it's robust. I wonder, too, just given the nature of world affairs at the moment, what does that actually mean? We can't deny that. We can't simply say that "That country does it, so we must do it too." We must look more broadly at this particular matter. Sometimes that means not always agreeing with those that we've usually aligned ourselves with. We can't look towards international standards without making sure that we continue to hold a truly independent foreign policy—one that says we'll do what's right for New Zealanders.

We can't shortcut those matters. This particular bill, while it might look towards greater access, we must make sure that it's robust enough to show that New Zealanders can continue to make sure that the medicines that it accesses are the right ones and won't do harm to Kiwis.

Now, we know this particular matter is one of great concern, consternation, and priority for New Zealanders. In fact, in all of my time in Parliament and every election campaign that I've entered into, health and access to medicines has been one of those topics that continues to be at the forefront of the debate wherever we go across this country. And rightly so—rightly so. Because it touches on an emotion that every member of this House, and every New Zealander, and communities around this country feel passionate about because it affects them. It affects their families, it affects their loved ones, it affects their friends, and their wider community. Which is why, when we look towards this particular bill, we must make sure that, in supporting it—as Labour does, at least for more consideration—that we continue to look at the system in its entirety, not to cut corners while trying to build a house. That's the point we want to make on this side of the House as we look towards those regulations and making sure that Kiwis can access the medicine that they need to access.

A good man by the name of Mr Malcom Mulholland, who regularly contacts members from right across the House. I acknowledge the journey and the fight that he and so many others have had with our legislation, with members of this House, with Governments of all views, to make sure that Kiwis get that access. One of the challenges with that is when I think of Mr Mulholland, I think of his wife, Wikitori. It makes me sad when I think of her and so many others that, often, when we come to this House, we hope to do more, we hope to do good things for people, and often, sometimes legislation or other barriers—political barriers—can stand in the way because the cost is a real cost. It's a human cost. Access to medicine's important, and I'll reiterate the point that access to the right medicines is even more important.

My colleague Dr Verrall, who has a particular interest and knowledge in this space, made clear in her contribution in the House how she looks—and the Labour Party will look towards monitoring the submissions and continuing to monitor this Government on what they're promising with this particular bill. Because it's easy to get caught up in rhetoric. We saw that in the reading of the last bill and we know that—in particular, from the member who led that, the Hon David Seymour, whose name was on that last bill and who's the Minister that's promoting this bill—rhetoric is actually exactly that: just rhetoric. It's got to have substance.

It's got to be something that makes sure that it isn't just an empty promise to New Zealanders to build their hopes up, because we saw it from this Government during the campaign. They promised all these medicines, first Budget came, and realised, "Oops, it's actually quite an important thing to deliver on those promises." U-turn—U-turn, that's what happened. It was a U-turn. This bill continues to make sure that those Kiwis get what they deserve; can deliver on promises that have been made throughout election campaigns.

I don't want to go on too much longer because Dr Verrall, in her contribution when this bill was interrupted, spoke to the specifics around some of those medicines, some of the research, and some of the licences that they've received from other countries and the challenges that those particular medicines had through that process. She was very clear in her critique about whether or not that suits us and whether or not we should simply just give it the green light to enter into our market and for supply here in New Zealand.

But just a final reminder for the House—and which is why, particularly in health matters, it's one of those things where if we could remove the politics, focus on the substance here to make sure that Kiwis get what they deserve and get what they need, when they need it, and the quality that they deserve in these matters, then of course we will support that. We do support it to the next process of the bill, but we will continue to interrogate it and we encourage all of those who I know have already reached out and the many others who want to have their say on this bill will have their voice heard.

I was mentioning to my colleague here, in the reading of the last bill, about how not only did that activate on that bill, but it's activated New Zealanders right across to just submit; to actually engage in the democratic process. I know all of us who sit on select committees are wondering, "Oh my gosh": on what seems like a rather benign bill or bill of little interest, Kiwis are coming out in their droves to make sure their voice is heard. That's the strength of the democratic institution, and that's making sure that the people whose lives these decisions that we make in this House impact the most have their voice heard.

So, with caution, we support this bill and we will make sure we interrogate this throughout the entirety of the process, and, of course, with that, hold the caveat that if we don't agree, we will continue to challenge and even potentially withdraw. But for now, we support it.

Dr CARLOS CHEUNG (National—Mt Roskill): This Government is committed to delivering timely and quality healthcare for all New Zealanders. This bill will increase access to medicines for New Zealanders by introducing a streamlined verification pathway for medicines. Faster access to medicines leads to better patient outcomes. For that, I commend this bill to the House.

Hon KIERAN McANULTY (Labour): It's hard to take the Government seriously when they claim that they are focused on healthcare of New Zealanders, when in the context of delivering this bill, the entire health system in this country remains underfunded, we have stories on a regular basis where people cannot get on to a waiting list—let alone through to see a specialist—and we have a situation like we have in Wairarapa where they have literally stolen money that was going to be used for our hospital because they can't make their bills add up. They have such a hole in the budget because of their cuts that they have to take money from other hospitals to pay their bills. And then we have Government members standing up and encouraging the House to support this bill, and they last for 30 seconds. How can New Zealanders take this Government seriously when they talk about health.

My colleague Peeni Henare summed our position up well. It might be that this bill will deliver benefits to New Zealanders. But, in the very typical fashion of this Government, they haven't given us substance or given us confidence that this bill will do what it says on the tin. It's possible that this might work. But it's also possible that it might not. It's valid to pose the question, is it possible to use the assessment processes of other countries and apply it here to streamline the approval of medication? Fair enough. But are the assessment criteria in other countries suitable for here? Are they as good as our processes here? We mustn't forget the role that the likes of Medsafe played during the pandemic. They were able, under extremely urgent circumstances, to approve vaccines very quickly, given how important it was that they were able to provide the certainty that people needed to be able to have the COVID vaccine. We have stringent and effective processes that people trust in this country, and it is a valid question to pose. Are the processes overseas as good as ours, and is automatically taking theirs, if there's two of them, to apply here good enough?

We want to explore that further, and that's why we're voting it to select committee, but that's all we're committing to, because if the Government doesn't front up and show us the substance that we need and the assurance that we need and actually provide more of a contribution than we've seen from members so far—perhaps, even better, the Government would demonstrate at the upcoming Budget that they are going to properly fund health, that they are going to reverse the decisions that they've made that are directly linked to this bill.

Let's not forget they got rid of free prescriptions, and here they stand up, and they talk about improving access to medicines. Their comments on this bill and the way that they have framed this bill need to be looked at in the entire context of this Government's attitude to health. People that need access to healthcare can't get it. People that can only get their prescriptions if they were free now can't. This is the legacy so far of this Government in health. I still want to know what happened to Wairarapa Hospital's money. The Minister is refusing to answer my questions. He's hiding behind a public-interest test, which, frankly, is appalling. They've got a lot to show us for us to trust them on health. Perhaps they'll do that at the committee stage.

CATHERINE WEDD (National—Tukituki): I rise to support the Medicines Amendment Bill. This is about faster and more efficient access to medicines, and it will support better outcomes for families across Aotearoa New Zealand. I commend this bill to the House.

Motion agreed to.

Bill read a first time.

ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Greg O'Connor): The question is, That the Medicines Amendment Bill be considered by the Health Committee.

Motion agreed to.

Bill referred to the Health Committee.

Instruction to Health Committee

Hon ERICA STANFORD (Minister of Education) on behalf of the Associate Minister of Health: I move, That the Medicines Amendment Bill be reported to the House four months and one day after it has received its first reading.

Motion agreed to.

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