Media release – Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmania Branch, 11 December 2023
Response to ASX Reverse-Listing of Chemist Warehouse
The Pharmacy Guild of Australia Tasmania Branch has expressed major concerns about the proposal to reverse-list Chemist Warehouse on the Australian Securities Exchange via Sigma Healthcare Ltd.
Branch President Helen O’Byrne says it is incumbent on Premier Rockliff and the Tasmanian Pharmacy Authority (TPA) to ensure the interests of patients are not compromised, and the deal is compliant with existing pharmacy business ownership rules.
“We expect Premier Rockliff to run a fine-tooth comb over each detail of this proposal, and to protect the ownership regulations that preserve patients’ health ahead of profits,” Ms O’Byrne said.
Franchising can, and does, support many community pharmacies to provide healthcare to patients, but laws across Australia prevent non-pharmacists from holding a ‘financial’, ‘ownership’, or ‘proprietary’ interest in a pharmacy.
“Those rules guarantee that community pharmacies remain an essential layer of the health system.
Community pharmacies provide accessible healthcare at a time when other healthcare providers are falling apart,” She said.
Ms O’Byrne says the TPA must be wary of increased corporatisation in the community pharmacy sector.
“It is not in the interest of patients, or their communities, to have community pharmacies that put shareholders first. The language of those pushing this proposal is about a ‘unique opportunity” for ‘healthcare businesses’.
“The community pharmacy network does not accord with large, corporatised business model. Medicines are not ordinary items of commerce. “Community pharmacy’s primary responsibility must remain to patients, not shareholders,” Ms O’Byrne said.
