Two and a half years ago, in December 2000, the New Zealand cabinet took a decision which would have far reaching consequences for a great many New Zealanders. It decided in principle to establish a joint trans-Tasman agency to regulate medicines and dietary supplements, subject "to negotiation of governance arrangements satisfactory to New Zealand". The decision would involve New Zealand handing over its sovereignty and control over dietary supplements — that is which dietary supplements we sell in New Zealand, what ingredients we will be able to use and at what doses, whether or not we will have to go to a doctor to get some of them, and so forth — to a trans-Tasman Authority that will be based in Australia, staffed by Australians and set up under Australian law. The government made this decision, which would have far reaching implications for all of us in secret, without any prior consultation with New Zealanders or any discussion about whether we would support this radical proposal — the decision is subject only to the negotiation of governance arrangements satisfactory to New Zealand. Not subject to the agreement of New Zealanders, you will note, or subject to Parliamentary approval, but subject only to governance arrangements satisfactory to New Zealand. Since that time the proposal has been progressed, in secret, by a group of unelected and unaccountable officials from Australia and New Zealand, for the past two years. The first people who make and sell dietary supplements heard about it was when they were summoned to a couple of 'consultation' meetings — meetings in which they were simply told what was going to happen, and then sent a draft discussion document of what the government and officials had already agreed upon. The first time you and I will officially hear about this proposal is when a discussion document is released shortly for public consultation. There wont be public meetings during the consultation period (which we have requested), just the opportunity to send in submissions. After that Cabinet will make a final decision on the proposal, and issue instructions to have legislation drafted to go to Parliament next year, after the election, and after that a treaty will be signed between New Zealand and Australian governments. I have had time to scrutinise the proposal contained in the draft document given to industry, and the more you look at the detail of the proposal, the worse it looks. The new agency will have far more sweeping powers than even ANZFA. ANZFA makes decisions about labelling and food standards, for example, whether to allow GE foods into New Zealand or not. But this new body will not only make decisions about how food supplements will be regulated — it will implement those decisions as well — it will decide what ingredients supplements may have in them, at what level of potency, how dietary supplements can be advertised and what claims can be made about them. Every single dietary supplement that is sold in New Zealand will have to be registered and licensed with the new Authority and under a highly restrictive, bureaucratic and expensive Australian system. If the Authority were to decide that a supplement you have been using for many years couldn't be sold anymore, or if it set limits on how much of a particular vitamin you could take, for example, or if it were to decide that in future you could only get your supplement from a doctor (and we already have examples of that), the only way you could challenge that decision would be if you took an expensive judicial appeal in the New Zealand High Court. Because the truly astonishing and horrifying aspect of this proposed new trans-Tasman authority is that it will have total delegated authority to decide on all regulations surrounding the sale and import of dietary supplements. The document says that the new Managing Director of the agency will not be accountable to Ministers or to a Board that will be set up to oversee the new agency for the exercise of its regulatory powers. It actually says "The Managing Director of the new Authority would be responsible for all regulatory decisions in the same way as the Minister of Health is at present responsible for regulatory decision making". But whereas we can challenge the Minister of Health in parliament, or write to her about decisions, or withdraw support at the polls, the only way we will be able to challenge decisions of the Managing director of the new authority will be in the High Court. Can you believe it, our Government is proposing to hand control, presently exercised by our Minister of Health, to an unelected and unaccountable Australian bureaucrat who will head an organisation based in Australia, staffed by Australians, and set up under Australian law? Can you imagine the Australian government agreeing to join a New Zealand organisation, set up in Wellington, based on New Zealand law and staffed by New Zealanders? They would fall about laughing at such a proposal, they certainly wouldn't give it the time of day, and yet our Government is seriously proposing to enter such an arrangement. Now, I wouldn't mind if New Zealanders voted transparently and openly to give up on our sovereignty and become the seventh state of Australia. But what I do object to is that we are giving up our sovereignty by stealth. In a few years time, if these sort of moves proceed unchecked, New Zealanders will wake up to discover we have systematically given up our sovereign democratic rights, in so many areas that we have effectively become a state of Australia by stealth. What we are discussing here is freedom of choice - your freedom to choose how to look after your own health and well being. That choice will be fundamentally undermined by this proposal, because if it goes ahead it will inevitably result in dietary supplements that have been widely and safely used for years in New Zealand being restricted without proper health or safety justification, or becoming available only through a doctor or becoming much more expensive. Sure, the Green Party accepts that consumers need to be reassured of the quality and safety of any dietary supplements they purchase, but we can do that by simple New Zealand legislation that enables us to retain control over this important and growing New Zealand industry — legislation that was agreed to several years ago. We need to remember here that we are not discussing highly toxic substances like household chemicals (although there is virtually no regulation over them — or untested GE foods). We are discussing dietary supplements that are comprised for the most part of ingredients such as herbs that have been used for centuries in many parts of the world and which are generally recognised as being safe. Dietary Supplements comprise many of the vitamins and minerals that are essential for our health and well being and which are a valuable tool in maintaining our health and counteracting the fact that many processed foods are severely deficient in essential nutrients. Ron Law has done some research, based on government figures, which demonstrate that food poses a 390 times greater risk than dietary supplements. The risk of adverse drug reactions to pharmaceuticals is 96 thousand times greater than for dietary supplements — so why is the government not focussing on those high risk areas? Can you imagine if the government decided to set up an agency to register and license every food product sold in New Zealand and sent inspectors overseas to check the factories of every food imported into New Zealand. There would be an uproar! And so there should be over this proposal. One of the greatest frustrations I have experienced since becoming an MP is that I have so little power or influence over safe food issues because we have given up our sovereignty and control over this fundamentally important area to ANZFA — an organisation where we have 1 vote out of 10 in the decision making body. As your representative in Parliament, I am powerless to stop ANZFA decisions — decisions such as allowing untested GE ingredients into our food supply or irradiation of food. All I can do is send in a submission, which I have done to no avail on countless occasions — along with the rest of you. But at least under ANZFA the decisions they make are transparent and you can send in a submission about any of their proposals. But under the new TGA Authority there are no consultative mechanisms planned to allow the public to have input into decisions or make submissions. All decisions will be taken in secret. For all of these reasons I regard the proposal to hand over control of dietary supplement to a trans-Tasman TGA as a trap New Zealanders are being lured into. If we allow the Government to give up control to this trans-Tasman authority there will be no going back — just as there is no going back in respect of our food. Green Party regards the proposal conclusions as an outrageous assault on our sovereignty which will undermine our right to choose how to look after our own health and well being. It will undermine consumer choice in this important area and restrict the number of supplements that will be available. It will lead to the closure of many small New Zealand based firms and cottage industries. For all of these reasons I urge you to oppose this proposal with all your might and join the campaign to defeat it.