Labor has accused the Abbott Government of another backflip after Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane told an industry event last week that it planned to re-establish the Pharmaceutical Industry Working Group (PIWG).
The Government announced the abolition of PIWG last December, as one of 175 'agencies' to be scrapped.
PIWG was established in 1998 "to provide a forum where Government and industry representatives could discuss key issues relevant to the growth and development of the pharmaceuticals industry."
It met once or twice per year, was chaired jointly by the ministers for industry and health, and included senior representatives of the biopharmaceutical sector, including AusBiotech.
In a joint statement, Labor's shadow industry minister, Senator Kim Carr, and shadow health minister, Catherine King, said the biopharmaceutical and life sciences industry needed PIWG so that it can work "in partnership" with the Government "to deliver better health outcomes for patients and more high-value pharmaceutical investment in Australia."
"This is a critical issue now more than ever, given that the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics reports show a 30 per cent decline in Australian pharmaceutical exports over the last two years," they said.
Data released last week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed that pharmaceutical exports fell by 18 per cent to $2.9 billion in 2014, compared to $3.6 billion the year before.
Since 2012, when they peaked at around $4.3 billion, Australian pharmaceutical exports have declined by more than 30 per cent.
According to Senator Carr and Ms King, the decision to re-establish PIWG was "further evidence of the complete chaos in health policy which has seen the government forced into a series of last minute fixes just weeks before funding was due to run out for hundreds of vital health programs."
"The PIWG provides free, quality, independent and expert advice to government. There was absolutely no sense in abolishing PIWG in the first place – unless of course the government doesn't like what it hears," they said. "This was clearly an ill-considered decision from the Ministers for Health and Industry and Labor welcomes the news that this short-sighted policy blunder has been reversed."