Controlled Substances (Miscellaneous) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Employment, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, Minister for Manufacturing and Innovation, Minister for Automotive Transformation, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (16:33): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

This bill will make three technical amendments to the Controlled Substances Act 1984 (the CS Act) to provide users with clarity. It also takes into account agreement at the national level to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses by achieving nationally consistent poisons regulation. Clause 4 of this bill will simplify the legislation, making it easier for users to find requirements by prescribing all information that retailers must record when selling schedule 7 poisons under the Controlled Substances (Poisons) Regulations 2011 (the poisons regulations).

Schedule 7 poisons are dangerous poisons used for agricultural or industrial purposes, such as arsenic, cyanide and strychnine. These poisons have a high potential for harm at low exposures and require special precautions during handling. There are currently requirements in the CS Act, as well as in the poisons regulations, for the retailer to keep records of information, including the name, address and occupation of the purchaser, the date and purpose for purchasing the poison and the name, form, strength and quantity of the purchased poison.

The Council of Australian Governments (COAG) identified inconsistent poison regulations, and this is an area for reform in the National Partnership Agreement to Deliver a Seamless National Economy. Record keeping requirements for schedule 7 poison transactions is one of the regulatory areas that is inconsistent between jurisdictions and poses compliance costs for businesses operating across borders.

A set of uniform controls over poisons that includes the information to be recorded about schedule 7 poison sales was developed by Australian poison regulators. The controls were agreed nationally by the Council of Australian Governments Health Council on behalf of COAG to achieve consistent regulation of poisons and to reduce the regulatory burden on businesses. All jurisdictions have agreed to amend their relevant legislation to reflect these uniform controls, and completion of the reform process is expected by the end of 2017.

Referring to the national uniform control will reduce the amount of information retailers need to record by removing the uniquely South Australian requirements to record the purpose of purchase of the schedule 7 poison. This change will not reduce the overall regulatory oversight of the supply chain for schedule 7 poisons because another requirement under the CS Act requires retailers to satisfactorily determine the purpose of purchase before proceeding with the sale, and a requirement under the national uniform control requires retailers to record proof of the purchaser's authority to purchase the poison that indicates the purchaser's occupation and the context of use.

The bill will assist South Australian businesses by harmonising and reducing the amount of information to record, particularly those businesses that operate across state and territory borders, by removing the need for them to understand and comply with multiple sets of inconsistent regulations. The major retailers of schedule 7 poisons in South Australia support this amendment to achieve national consistency. Clause 5 of the bill clarifies the regulation of schedule 4 prescription drugs, such as antibiotics, for users of the CS Act.

The CS Act empowers the minister to grant a licence to organisations such as the South Australian Museum, the RSPCA and the Animal Welfare League to possess schedule 4 prescription drugs to administer to animals and to apply conditions to these licences to control this activity. Licensing enables these organisations to operate effectively without posing a risk to public safety.

Prior to 2011, the CS Act made reference to a person being permitted to administer a schedule 4 prescription drug to an animal if the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse had licensed that person to do so. Changes to the CS Act in 2011 inadvertently omitted this reference. This clause will return to the previous provisions by reinstating the reference to a person being permitted to administer schedule 4 prescription drugs to animals when the minister has licensed them to do so.

Clause 6 of this bill will clarify that the Minister for Mental Health and Substance Abuse has the power to issue a prohibition order against a person who has sold a prescription drug in an irresponsible manner to prevent that person from doing that again in the future. Section 57 of the act is intended to apply particularly to pharmacists, to prevent potentially dangerous sales of prescription drugs. It has been advised that when a pharmacist dispenses a prescription, they are selling the medicine to the consumer not supplying it, and that the terms 'supply' and 'sell' are not used interchangeably in the CS Act.

This clause will make reference to selling as well as supplying drugs, to remove any ambiguity around the nature of these activities that the minister may consider in forming the opinion that a prohibition order should be issued. I commend the bill to members. I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Leave granted.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

3—Amendment provisions

Clauses 1 to 3 are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Controlled Substances Act 1984

4—Amendment of section 16—Sale of certain poisons

This clause amends section 16 of the Act so that all the information that must be recorded by a person who sells poisons to which section 16 applies will be prescribed by the regulations.

5—Amendment of section 18—Regulation of prescription drugs

This clause amends section 18 of the Act so that a person may administer a prescription drug (other than a drug of dependence) to another person, or to an animal, if the person is licensed to do so by the Minister.

6—Amendment of section 57—Power of Minister to prohibit certain activities

This clause amends section 57 of the Act so that the Minister is empowered to prohibit a person from manufacturing, producing, packaging, selling, supplying, prescribing, administering, using or having possession of a substance or device if the person has, in the opinion of the Minister, sold a prescription drug in an irresponsible manner.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. J.M. Gazzola.