Home - Claire Moore - Labor Senator for Queensland

Community Affairs Committee

Senator MOORE (Queensland)

Senator MOORE-I move:
That the Senate take note of the report.
I will speak very briefly to allow some other
senators to make comments, and I know
there will be some interest in this report.
When my friend Kay Denman asked me to
ask questions on this issue in Senate estimates
in 2003, I did not realise just how
much of an interest I would be taking in the
issues around PET in Australia. In respect of
this report, we have received complaints
from a number of people, particularly
Dr Ware and Professor Hicks, who are particularly
concerned about the process that
went on around the introduction and the assessment
of PET during the MSAC process
in 2000. You may ask why we are taking
note of this issue in 2008. The reason is that
there was never a formal completion of the
discussion around this process, and it should
have happened much earlier.
The committee became immersed in correspondence
going backwards and forwards
between a range of people. The key element
that came out for some of us on the committee
was that there was genuine confusion,
lack of closure, lack of openness in communication
and also deep hurt caused-I do not
believe deliberately-to a couple of people
who had dedicated their lives to developing
PET and making sure that it was valued not
just in Australia but also internationally.
People had a range of views, and I think
one of the real issues we struggled with was
that all this went on in 2000 and we were
trying to come to grips with a trail of communication
that was clouded, at best, and
made worse by the fact that all the officers in
the Department of Health and Ageing who
were originally dealing with this issue were
no longer in the employ of the department.
We received information at several hearings
from a series of officers who were reliant on
documents which were not up to scratch.
One of the issues that has come out of this
particular report is that we must do better.
There is no doubt about that. I think the department
has accepted that. There have already
been changes made to the way the
MSAC process operates and the way documentation
is maintained. I think Dr Ware and
Professor Hicks particularly deserve an apology
and I am giving that now, even though it
is not a formal recommendation from our
committee. I am sorry that they have gone
through the last seven to eight years of concern,
legal expenses, doubt and, I believe, ill
health as a result of this process. This may
well apply to other people but I particularly