Transcript: NAAA Alcohol Tax Forum Media Conference, 28 September 2011

                Media Conference

                AMA House, Canberra

                Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Subject:    Alcohol tax reform; Penicillin shortage

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Look I’d like to thank the press for coming today. Today the AMA has called together the NAAA to make some very serious health points in relation to alcohol consumption in our country and ways that we can actually improve the position of Australians, and in particular the next generation of Australians, for responsible alcohol consumption.

We know the health effects of alcohol are enormous; $36 million of extra costs every year because of the way alcohol is consumed in this country. We know the impact is weighted towards our young people, with those from 14 to 25, 80 per cent of the alcohol consumption at that age group is actually at harmful levels. It harms them and it harms those around them.

We know that alcohol is locked into our – well, our way of living and we need to change that. The Government’s about to have a tax summit and

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Well certainly we would like to see this discussed at the tax summit. This is clearly an opportunity for the Government to make a change in a positive direction, but it certainly doesn’t mean the campaign’s going to stop there.

Just like tobacco, we do need to have a long-term view. We need to make sure we improve the health of our population and we need to do that in a sustainable way. So it does need to be multi-factorial. It’s a long-term campaign.

We need to promote responsible drinking, not irresponsible drinking, and we need to have levers to make it happen. We have the evidence. We are told our opponents’ evidence is flimsy. The case is overwhelming for government to get on with it and it’s time to get on with it.

MICHAEL DAUBE:             Can I perhaps add too, that we have now a National Alliance for the Action of Alcohol. Over 50 members – member organisations of that alliance and I think it’s pretty clear that there is going to be increasing pressure on governments both here and around the country to act on various issues around alcohol and tax is one of them, but what we’re seeing I think is increasing public concern. We’re certainly seeing increasing parental concern.

People are worried about kids drinking to get drunk so health, law enforcement, alcohol and drug organisations will be stepping up the pressure on governments to act across the board on alcohol, but currently of course the urgent issue is to get this issue discussed at the tax summit.

QUESTION:              Dr Hambleton, have you been given any update on the penicillin shortage issue?

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Well yes and certainly the simplest and most commonly used penicillin, Benzylpenicillin, there’s been a reported shortage of right around the country.

I’ve had a personal communication from the Chief Health Office yesterday to say that Australia has been able to sort alternative supplies. That’s a good thing. So the public can be reassured that supplies will not run out.

In fact, there are alternatives that can be used. But it does raise the issue of consistency of supply in this country. You simply can’t run hospitals like supermarkets. You need to have that ability to surge capacity, you’ve got to plan ahead. So Australia can be reassured we do have supplies that we can get access to.

QUESTION:              Do you think we need an essential medicines list and some way of making sure that those medicines are always in the country?

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Well there certainly are medicines that we must have access to and as I say, we can’t, we simply can’t run our health system like factories. Just-in-time delivery is really not appropriate and we do need to have sufficient stocks of important medicines to make sure we can actually treat our population.

QUESTION:              Should more companies beyond CSL be providing penicillin products?

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Look, we do need to make sure the supply chain is reliable and if there’s a glitch in one supply chain, it’s certainly going to impact quite broadly so we need to plan for that. It’s not hard to plan for that. There are multiple manufacturers. We need to make sure we have consistency of supply.

QUESTION:              So do you think it’s a bit outrageous that it got to this stage where there’s now just one week’s supply left of some of this medicine before your hospitals were notified?

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Well we’re certainly disappointed by the fact of the reported one week supply left and that intervention by the Chief Health Officer to look for alternative supply is sort of at the last minute.

We do know though that other medications are in short supply and that sort of varies over time. It is important that our hospitals and our health system have access to appropriate pharmaceuticals to treat our population.

QUESTION:              Will the AMA be coming up with a plan to ensure that happens?

STEVE HAMBLETON:       Well certainly we’re engaged with the Chief Health Officer, we’re engaged with the Therapeutic Goods Administration, and we need to make sure there’s consistency of supply. The AMA will keep a watching brief.

QUESTION:              Thank you very much.

28 September 2011

CONTACT:         John Flannery                    02 6270 5477 / 0419 494 761

                       Geraldine Kurukchi              02 6270 5467 / 0427 209 753

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