Over 1 million signatures
September 20, 2013
The Pharmacy Guild has issued a
sincere thanks to the pharmacists,
pharmacy assistants and pharmacy
students around Australia who have
contributed to the Pharmacy Under
Threat petition campaign, which
has now gathered more than 1
million signatures from the public.
That will make it the biggest
ever petition to be presented to
the House of Representatives in
Canberra, with Guild executive
director David Quilty saying “we
have had tremendous support from
many quarters across the industry,
so thank you all”.
He said that the outcome shows
that patients care about their local
pharmacy services and “value the
professionalism of the committed
pharmacy staff who deliver them”.
The petition will be presented
to parliament next month, with
Quilty saying the campaign finished
strongly on 14 Sep, with around
300,000 signatures collected after
the federal election.
“Every signature counts in
terms of sending the clearest and
strongest possible message to the
Federal Parliament that Australians
do not want their pharmacy
services and local pharmacy jobs
put at risk,” he said.
Quilty said that the Guild will be
engaging with the new government
at the earliest opportunity to
discuss Labor’s “shock pre-election
changes to price disclosure”.
“The Guild wants to achieve a
solution that addresses the impact
of this change on pharmacies, their
staff and patients,” Quilty said.
“As we enter into these
discussions, the success of the
Pharmacy Under Threat petition
provides a very clear signal that
community pharmacies and their
loyal staff enjoy the strong support
of the Australian public,” he added.
See page three for a special letter
of thanks to the industry.
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