Costello CaseyTHERAPEUTIC PRODUCTS ACT REPEAL BILLFirst ReadingHon CASEY COSTELLO (Associate Minister of Health): I present a legislative statement on the Therapeutic Products Act Repeal Bill.DEPUTY SPEAKER: That legislative statement can is published under the authority of the House and can be found on the Parliament website.Hon CASEY COSTELLO: I move That the Therapeutic Products Act Repeal Bill be now read a first time. I nominate the Health Committee to consider the bill. At the appropriate time I intend to move that the bill be reported to the House by 1 November 2024.Today the Government is keeping its promise to New Zealanders in repealing the Therapeutic Products Act 2023. At the moment medicines and medical devices are regulated under legislation that is 43 years old the Medicines Act 1981. This legislation is broadly agreed as being out of date and no longer meeting the needs of the public industry and practitioners.The Therapeutic Products Act was intended to replace the Medicines Act with a more modern regulatory regime but this Government disagrees with the approach proposed in the Therapeutic Products Act. We spoke out against this Act during the election and we promised to repeal it and that is what we are doing. The Government considers the Therapeutic Products Act would have imposed unnecessary costs and paperwork on consumers industry and exporters with minimal benefits for consumers.Repealing the Therapeutic Products Act responds to the concerns of industry it responds to the concerns of consumers and it responds to the concerns of practitioners who all collectively felt the Act would lead to over-regulation of low-risk products impose unnecessary costs and lead to products becoming more expensive or limit their availability or even remove availability. Repealing the Therapeutic Products Act shows that we are listening to the thousands of submitters who opposed the bill when Parliament considered it.Of concern to many the Therapeutic Products Act created a single regulatory regime for all health products whether they were pharmaceutical medicines devices or natural health products. In repealing the Therapeutic Products Act we are listening to the concerns of the submitters and listening to ordinary New Zealanders who considered that natural health products should be regulated in a separate stand-alone bill.I have spoken extensively to those in industry who had grave concerns about the Therapeutic Products Act and how it was going to be implemented. Those involved in the medical device industry were concerned we were going to follow the path of the EU where red tape meant that people were not able to receive the devices they needed. Those in the natural health products industry were concerned that people would no longer be able to buy products that are currently on the shelves in New Zealand.The Therapeutic Products Act would also have required natural health product exporters to obtain New Zealand market authorisation even though they were meeting the standards of the importing country and that is what really matters. This double regulation would have imposed red tape and cost instead of encouraging economic growth.The Therapeutic Products Act was due to commence in 2026. Its provisions are not yet in effect and significant work and funding was still required to put in place the regulations necessary to support it. This means that repealing the Therapeutic Products Act now will not have any impact on industry or consumers. Industry will not have to change anything they are currently doing and consumers will continue to be able to access the same health products. Health practitioners will not be distracted from their important work by the need to familiarise themselves with a new bureaucratic regime at this time and health officials will not have to spend further time working on implementing a regime we do not believe would have been effective.This Government wants workable practical policy that improves people's lives. We need to ensure that the health policy is there for all New Zealanders to support better health outcomes. Once the Therapeutic Products Act is repealed we can continue work on better regulation that will ensure New Zealanders have timely access to medicines that will back our innovators and exporters and which will allow our doctors and our other health practitioners to deliver quality healthcare every day. I commend the bill to the House. Thank you.DEPUTY SPEAKER: The question is that the motion be agreed to.