Mr JENKINS (11:15 AM) —The Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Amendment Bill 1998 [1999] amends the principal act to strengthen its ability to control the illegal export, import and possession of materials containing certain endangered species among their ingredients. The need for this has come about because of the difficulties that have been entailed in trying to use the provisions of the original act with regard to, especially, traditional East Asian medicines. This debate is timely, in that the previous piece of legislation before the Main Committee—to do with amendments to the Therapeutic Goods Act—acknowledges that traditional medical practices, no matter what their origin, are beginning to be something that people are turning to.

A briefing paper prepared by the research departments of the House of Commons, entitled `Endangered Species: CITES, tigers and ivory', research paper 97/45 dated 4 April 1997 from the House of Commons Library, says in part:

Over one fifth of the World's population (over one billion people) depend on TCM in varying degrees for their health care, and the development of both western and traditional medicine is required in law by the People's Republic of China. Indeed, the WHO—

the World Health Organisation—

encourages up to 80% of the world's population to rely on traditional medicines. TCM is gaining credibility in the West; the number of TCM clinics in the UK have trebled to quadrupled in the last three years.

I think that if we studied the situation here in Australia we would see a similar picture emerging. Certainly we must not dismiss either those that wish to practise traditional medicine or those that wish to partake of such medicines. Nevertheless, amending legislation is required because it is important that we undertake our international obligations to ensure that endangered species are protected from whatever threat and pressure is placed on them.

The way in which the public perceives the impact of traditional medicine on endangered species may have been clouded by a number of notorious examples, one of which was outlined in the National Geographic of January 1996. This example, the use of Asiatic black bears in Chinese medicine, is something that was picked up by the popular media in Australia. The black bear was having its bile milked so as to provide a dried bile which was believed under traditional practices to alleviate liver diseases, and there was a very large market in such places as South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. The process was carried out by way of the use of bear farms. It is interesting that throughout this debate there is some question about whether we should be allowing the use of endangered species under controlled circumstances. That gets back to the point that is often made in debates of this nature—that we should be looking at the sustainable use of any species.

The other aspect we have to be aware of is the question of appropriate labelling that arises with traditional medicines. This piece of legislation simply says that, if material purports to contain something originating from an endangered species, that is enough to ban its import, export or possession. I think that is fair enough, because difficulties have arisen in trying to do the appropriate testing which would allow this piece of legislation to be used in the courts.

In a similar debate in 1995 on an amendment to the Wildlife Protection (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1982 people raised the use of DNA testing—especially, I think, in the case of the importation of endangered birds—which would enable a proper tagging process to enable recognition of what the particular species was. But, as has been stated in this debate, one of the real problems in the preparation of the types of medicine this amendment will cover is that that type of DNA testing is not possible because of heat treatment and other treatments. The way in which practitioners of traditional medicine, especially in East Asia, are trying to ensure that their practices can be acceptable to the wider international community is by looking at how they can substitute other species, for instance water buffalo horn instead of rhinoceros horn. Other, similar suggestions have been made. This indicates that traditional medical practitioners wish to do the right thing. I think they should be given every assistance to enable them to do that.

It is interesting that in Asian countries there is a debate similar to the one in Australia about the relative way in which Western medicine and traditional medicine can be used together. I think there is ample evidence that there is a symbiotic relationship between the use of the two styles of medicine. For instance, in a recent discussion that I was able to have with officials from the department of health of the Republic of China—Taiwan—they indicated that one of the difficulties they had in being able to put traditional medicines on their list of available drugs was that they could only list the already prepared medicines, because at least there they could have some guarantee of consistency in what was contained within the preparation. In the more traditional method, where somebody attends a traditional medical practitioner and has something specifically put together for them, those drugs cannot be put on their list because they cannot guarantee the content of the preparation. It is interesting that even in those Asian countries people are trying to come to grips with ways of ensuring the availability of traditional medicine at the same time as ensuring that there is some form of standard.

The honourable member for Dunkley mentioned traditional practices of our indigenous people. That is of interest to me, because at the moment I am a supplementary member to the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs for the conduct of their inquiry into indigenous health.

Mr Slipper —A very important inquiry, that one.

Mr JENKINS —It is a very important inquiry, and I acknowledge that the honourable member who unfairly interjects had some say in making sure that that inquiry was instigated. Throughout the course of that inquiry one of the things that has impressed the committee is that where Aboriginal communities are able to encourage their members to continue their traditional practices there is a fair degree of evidence that it has produced a very positive health outcome.

I accept what the honourable member for Dunkley said, that in getting the balance by allowing our indigenous people to carry out their practices we are able to educate them on any concerns there might be about the way it may be done in a sustainable manner. Given that indigenous culture and indigenous practice have supported indigenous people in being able to carry out their lifestyles in a sustainable way, I do not think that is a great problem, but it would be a great problem if others saw the wisdom in some of those traditional practices and introduced them to the wider public.

This is a fairly straightforward and simple amendment that is being made, but it is important because it builds on the actions that successive Australian governments have taken under their international obligations about endangered species. It ensures that we are able to look at the way in which we do that and ensures that it can be policed and that the spirit of the law is able to be ensured through action reports in other places.

In conclusion, I wish to highlight one element which has been highlighted earlier in debate not only in this place but also in the other place. There is some concern that these provisions relate only to those species that are actually listed. Some of the examples that appear to be developing in an Australian context actually involve some species that are not listed, and I think that perhaps there is some need for us to look domestically beyond just our international obligations—to look at other things. For instance, an example is cited in an article originating out of the Courier-Mail of August last year, which talks about members of the pipefish family, which includes seahorses, caught as a by-product of trawling by prawn trawlers, that are in some way used for medicinal purposes. One of the concerns is that, whilst some of those species are not listed species, they have some pressures upon them, and if they were to further develop as a popular medical relief they would very quickly become endangered.

With that very minor criticism, I indicate my full support for what the government is intending to do with regard to our obligations about endangered species. I also look forward to developing debate about the way in which we can ensure that traditional medicines, from whatever origin, can be accommodated in the way in which we make them available as an alternative for people who believe that there is some remedy from those types of medicines.