Government submissions archive 2009

Cancer Council Australia understands that Treasury is scrutinising the economic and financial implications of the Government’s Preventative Health Taskforce recommendations, which we support, along with the National Health and Hospital Reform Commission’s final report. On this basis, our 2010-11 pre-budget submission is concise and re-emphasises two key points:

• The targets set by the taskforce and those in the draft National Partnership Agreements on preventative health will only be achieved through a substantial increase in tobacco excise, as both a lever for meeting the agreed smoking prevalence targets and a revenue source for required investments elsewhere in the strategy; and
• The economic benefits of the Government’s most substantial new initiative in cancer control, its National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, will be delayed and the start-up costs increased unless ongoing capacity-building is funded in the 2010-11 budget.

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Cancer Council has provided evidence-based comment to Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ), the government agency reviewing nutrition claims in relation to food and beverage products. This includes a recent submission to the first review of Proposal P293 Nutrition, Health and Related Claims. (Cancer Council has made four previous submissions on this proposal in February 2008, May 2007, February 2006 and September 2004).

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This submission outlines why patent law should be changed to prevent gene patent monopolies. It also explains why Cancer Council Australia and Clinical Oncological Society call for:

• A more comprehensive government (as opposed to parliamentary) review of the problems of gene patenting, on a multidisciplinary level – i.e., formally involving economists, scientists, health professionals and consumers, as well as the patent lawyers and attorneys who have dominated previous studies;
• Recognition that a multidisciplinary approach to intellectual property arrangements in relation to science and technology will stimulate, rather than stymie, innovation – consistent with the Government’s “Venturous Australia” report and recommendations;
• Additional resources to enable the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to challenge any claims regarding gene patents in relation to patentability and/or consumer protection;
• Consideration of the establishment of a patents court or a similar review body with formal representation of a range of stakeholders in addition to those with legal and commercial interests;
• Recognition that international precedents will not resolve problems in Australia. Canada, for example, is an entirely different prospect as its proximity and relationship with the US are very different to Australia’s. The European Union is different again, as it has an enormous biotechnology sector; Australia does not. China has a different system of government etc; and
• An amendment of the Patents Act 1990, to ensure genes that have already been patented are exempt from licensing fees or monopolisation.

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Cancer Council Australia welcomed in February 2009 the opportunity to comment on the Australian Government’s review of primary care in Australia.

As documented in this detailed submission, enhancements to primary care must include formal arrangements aimed at improving outcomes in relation to:

•  Primary prevention of cancer (risk factor management, behaviour change);
• Screening and surveillance for early detection of cancer/precancerous conditions;
• Improved referral pathways to facilitate access to multidisciplinary care;
• The coordinating role primary care may play in cancer management for specific population groups;
• Improved data management and health system performance monitoring.

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Cancer Council Australia welcomed the opportunity to respond to the three technical papers developed by the Australian Government’s National Preventative Health Taskforce and summarised in the discussion paper, Australia: the healthiest country by 2020.

The Taskforce’s work is particularly important to Cancer Council Australia, as the modifiable behaviours subject to the technical papers’ recommendations – smoking, nutrition and physical activity, and alcohol consumption – cause around one third of cancer deaths in Australia. 

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Cancer Council Australia called on the Australian Government to implement five measures in the 2009-10 federal budget, which evidence shows would provide the best value for taxpayer money for reducing the economic and social costs of cancer in Australia in 2009-10. 

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This submission, jointly published by Cancer Council Australia and the National Heart Foundation of Australia, draws on the best available evidence in articulating why tobacco products in Australia should increase in price by 21%, as an interim step towards a 50% price increase in line with international best practice.

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