A vote that took place in the Senate last night should be a shock for all Australians.
Bill Shorten joined with the Greens to vote in favour of opening the floodgates for dangerous, unregulated drugs to come to Australia.
It would have opened the way for personal importation through our airports of hashish and other products that are unsafe, unregulated and even deadly.
We’ve always known Bill Shorten is a weak leader. Now he’s even weak on drugs.
People have died overseas from unsafe medicinal cannabis products and Labor voted to make that a real possibility in Australia.
The Turnbull Government voted in favour of safe medicines. Labor voted in favour of dangerous drugs.
The role of the Therapeutic Goods Administration is to have oversight of medicines to ensure quality and safety. Labor voted to remove this safeguard – which had been place with bipartisan support.
We’re making medicinal cannabis available in a safe and regulated way for patients in need. By contrast, Bill Shorten has ignored all the advice of medical professionals (including the AMA) and voted to put Australian lives at risk.
It would have undermined the local, regulated and safe medicinal cannabis industry that is starting to develop.
It is one of the most irresponsible and dangerous decisions by a leader of a major political party in decades.
(ENDS)