16 July 2007

Government backdown a victory for democracy

The announcement by Annette King today that the Therapeutic Products and Medicines bill is on hold is a victory for consumers and for democracy, and a major defeat for the Government, Green MP Sue Kedgley said today.

"It is a humiliating defeat for the Minister, who has badly mishandled this contentious piece of legislation. Clearly, the Bill is dead in the water, and I wish the Government would take the only sensible step and remove it from Parliament's Order Paper altogether," Ms Kedgley says.

"She ignored a unanimous select committee report, agreed to by all parties in Parliament, which urged the Government not to include dietary supplements in the proposed Trans-tasman regulatory scheme, and bulldozed ahead and signed a treaty when she knew she had no parliamentary mandate.

"Had she listened to the Health select committee four years ago, instead of crashing on regardless, she would have saved millions of dollars of taxpayers' money.

"Serious questions need to be asked about the huge waste of resources that has gone into pursuing this piece of legislation. The Government has already spent at least seven million dollars of taxpayers money on the agency.

"It is crucial that Parliament now moves to come up with a cost-effective New Zealand regulatory system in place of the heavy-handed Australian based system."

"The decision is a tribute to consumers all around the country who marched and campaigned tirelessly against this Bill. It also shows how our democracy can be protected from unilateral action by the executive when the MMP parties work together on issues." Ms Kedgley says.

ENDS

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