I attach my letter to Mr Carr which reflects the substance of my discussion with the NSW Premier today.
As stated in the letter, the NSW Government has yet to present a public interest case to the National Competition Council in support of existing legislative arrangements in NSW.
I urge Mr Carr to present a public interest case. It is the commonsense thing to do.
5 April 2004
The Hon R J Carr MP Premier of New South Wales
My dear Premier
I refer to your letter of 13 February 2004 regarding pharmacy ownership restrictions in NSW and to our telephone conversation earlier today in which I invited you to present a public interest case to the National Competition Council (NCC) in support of existing NSW legislation on community pharmacies.
As I am sure you are aware, it is open to any state under the existing competition principles to argue for retention of an arrangement deemed by the NCC to be anti-competitive. In the event that a public interest argument is accepted by the NCC, no competition policy penalties are imposed.
I have been advised that, to date, no public interest case has been presented by NSW.
As you would know, the recommendations of the NCC concerning pharmacy only relate to the failure to complete the review and reform process proposed in the COAG Working Group's response to the Wilkinson Review which, incidentally, was supported by the Pharmacy Guild. The COAG Working Group, of course, included officials from NSW.
It seems to me that the common sense approach is to exhaust the public interest process before proceeding with the NSW legislation. Whilst it would be a matter for the NCC to determine any public interest application on its merits, a favourable decision would preserve existing arrangements as well as being completely consistent with the national competition principles.
As you noted in your letter, I have been and continue to be a supporter of the principle of community pharmacy, and only support reforms that are in the public interest.
Yours sincerely
(John Howard)