Code of Conduct

Committee Membership

Membership of Medicines Australia Code Committee

Members of the Code of Conduct, Appeals and Monitoring Committees will not discuss complaints with a healthcare professional, member of the general public or pharmaceutical company. Any contact from or discussions with Complainants or Subject Companies will be declared by the Committee member prior to reviewing a complaint or materials before the Monitoring Committee.

All questions relating to particular complaints or the Code of Conduct more broadly should be directed to the Secretary of the Code of Conduct Committee at Medicines Australia.

Phone: (02) 6122 8500

Email: secretarycodecommittee@medicinesaustralia.com.au

For further Information please see the Code and the complaints process

Complaints Submission Forms for both non-industry complainants and Pharmaceutical companies are also available.

Committee Membership

Panel of Chairs – all Lawyers with Trade Practices experience
(Only 1 Chairman participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Mr Michael Daniel is the Founder and Principal of Resolve Litigation Lawyers. With more than 26 years’ experience specialising in Commercial and Regulatory Litigation, Dispute Resolution and Competition & Consumer Law, Michael’s extensive career has included partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers and Dunhill Madden Butler. He was a founding partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers Legal and its Chairman for 9 years. His early career was developed with Allens in Sydney and Herbert Smith in London. Michael has broad experience in the Health sector .He has acted in a range of professional misconduct matters, conducted proceedings in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal concerning the establishment of a new pharmacy and provided an independent audit report to the ACCC on trade practices compliance by a major health insurance provider, and acted for a pharmaceutical company on product recall procedures. Michael has also conducted matters successfully in the Supreme Court of NSW, The Federal Court of Australia and The High Court of Australia, The High Court of England and Wales and The International Arbitration Court in Paris.

Mr John Kelly is a Principal at John G Kelly & Associates. Mr Kelly was formerly a partner at Blake Dawson and Corrs Chambers Westgarth. He is a former Chairman of the Commonwealth Aged Care Complaints Resolution Scheme and a former Commonwealth Aged Care Commissioner. He is President of the Nurses and Midwifery Council of New South Wales and sits on their Conduct (Notifications) Committee. Mr Kelly brings trade practices law experience with health and medical biotechnology clients as well as a complaints resolution background. Qualifications include: LLB (UNSW), BA (Hons) (QLD), Grad Dip Leg Prac (UTS), Registered Nurse.

Mr Alan Limbury is an Arbitrator and Specialist Accredited Mediator. He practised as a solicitor for over 30 years in major Australian law firms, including for 20 years as a partner in Minter Ellison, specializing in litigating intellectual property (particularly pharmaceutical patents), trade practices and administrative law cases. He trained in negotiation at Harvard and has taught with Harvard Professors Roger Fisher and Frank EA Sander in Australia and the United States. He started mediating in 1987 and was a founder member and Chairman of LEADR. In 1996 Alan became Managing Director of Strategic Resolution, a dispute resolution consultancy. He was for 8 years Chairman of the Complaints Resolution Panel and is presently Chairman of the ASMI Complaints Panel and the MTAA Code Appeals Committee. Qualifications include: BA (Hons) (Jurisprudence) (Oxford); MA Oxford; Master of Dispute Resolution (UTS).

Mr Bernard O’Shea is a Partner at Deacons. Mr O’Shea has extensive experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries and heads the Deacons team nationally in this field. Qualifications include: LL.B (Melbourne); B.Sc (Melbourne).

Mr Ian Tonking SC is a Barrister based in Sydney and specialising in trade practices and competition law and other commercial and equity litigation and advice. Mr Tonking was formerly a partner in Allen Allen & Hemsley for 17 years. Qualifications include: BA (Sydney), LL.B (Sydney), LL.M (London).

Independant Members of the Committees

Australian General Practice Network (AGPN)

Dr Ruth Ratner is a general practitioner nominated by the AGPN. Dr Ratner is the Principal of a general practice in Northbridge and is also a Clinical Placement Supervisor and Tutor for the Sydney Medical School. Dr Ratner also holds an Honorary Medical Officer appointment through the Royal North Shore Hospital. Qualifications include MB.BS (NSW).

Australian Medical Association (AMA)
(Only 1 AMA nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Dr John Gullotta AM is a general practitioner nominated by the AMA. Dr Gullotta is the Principal of a general practice in Sydney and is also a qualified pharmacist. Dr Gullotta is an AMA Federal Councillor and past chairman of the AMA Therapeutics Committee. He is also an Adjunct Associate Professor in the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. Dr Gullotta is a member of the Advisory Committee on Medicines Scheduling (ACMS) TGA and the Advisory Committee on Non-prescription Medicines (ACNM), TGA Qualifications include B.Med (Hons), B.Pharm (Syd Uni), FRACGP, FAMA.

Dr Brian Morton is a general practitioner nominated by the AMA. Dr Morton is co-owner and Director of a Group Medical practice in Sydney. He is a past President of AMA (NSW) and is Chairman of AMA Council of General Practice (Federal). Dr Morton is a clinical supervisor in General Practice at the University of Notre Dame Sydney. Qualifications include MB BS FRACGP FAMA.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)
(Only 1 RACGP nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Dr Harry Nespolon is a general practitioner nominated by the RACGP. Dr Nespolon is the Principal of 2 general practices in Sydney. He has extensive experience in many areas of government health policy. He is Chair of the Northern Sydney GP Network and a member of the Board of GPNSW. His qualifications are BM.BS, Dip RACOG, FRACGP, B.Ec, LLB (Hons), GCLP, FACLM, MBA, FAICD.

Dr Martine Walker is a general practitioner in Sydney nominated by the RACGP. Dr Walker is full time general practitioner in Sydney, general practice medical educator and examiner for the Royal Australian College of General Practice. She has post graduate qualifications in Paediatrics and Women’s Health.

Dr Marcela Cox is a general practitioner in Sydney nominated by the RACGP. Dr Cox is also the Censor for the NSW and ACT Faculty of the RACGP and a medical educator, currently involved in teaching general practice registrars training with the Sydney Institute of General Practice. Qualifications include MBBS (Hons I), FRACGP, Dip. Child Health.

Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP)
(Only 1 RACP nominee participates in each Code of Conduct Committee meeting)

Dr Avi Lemberg a specialist consultant physician nominated by the RACP. Dr Lemberg is Head of Department of Paediatric Gastroenterology at the Sydney Children’s Hospital and has research experience in evaluating the utility of drugs in a variety of research and clinical situations. He is currently a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales. Qualifications include BSc (Med); MB.BS; Dip.Paed; FRACP.

Dr Catherine Streeton is a specialist physician nominated by the RACP. Dr Streeton is a public health physician and epidemiologist specialising in infectious diseases and vaccine development. Dr Streeton maintains a keen interest in preventative medicine, immunisation & all aspects of travel medicine. She has extensive experience in vaccine research and development (clinical trial design, implementation and evaluation), and health outcomes research including quality use of medicines. She is also Medical Officer of Health for both Darebin and Moreland City Councils. Qualifications include MBBS, MAppEpid, FAFPHM, Grad Cert Health Economics; CTM.

Australasian Society of Clinical and Experimental Pharmacologists and Toxicologists (ASCEPT)
(Only 1 ASCEPT nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Professor Richard Day AM is Professor of Clinical Pharmacology at UNSW and St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney. He has a clinical practice in Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology and Rheumatology. He has interests in promoting the quality of use of medicines and research into the rational treatment of the rheumatic disorders. He was chair of PHARM for the Federal Government, a director of MBF and the Drug Information Association, Chair of the Federal Medication Safety Taskforce and was recently appointed chair of NSW medication safety committee. He is the academic in charge of the Post Graduate Drug Development programme in the Faculty of Medicine, UNSW.

Professor John Miners is a specialist pharmacologist nominated by ASCEPT. He is currently Professor and Head of the Department of Clinical Pharmacology of Flinders Medical Centre and Flinders University, and Associate Dean in the Flinders University School of Medicine. Professor Miners has more than 30 years experience as a pharmacologist in both academic and tertiary hospital settings. Qualifications include BSc, MSc, PhD and DSc.

Professor Paul Seale s a specialist physician/clinical pharmacologist nominated by ASCEPT. Professor Seale is a Professor of Clinical Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine at the University of Sydney. He is a Consultant Physician in the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, and Research Leader, Clinical Trials Unit and Deputy Director Woolcock Institute of Medical Research. Professor Seale is Chair of the following :

  • Drugs & Therapeutics Committee, Royal Prince Alfred (RPA) Hospital
  • Tuberculosis (TB) Advisory Committee Sydney Local Network

Professor Seale is a member of the Clinical Trials Subcommittee, Ethics Committee, RPA Hospital and the TB Advisory Committee, NSW Health. He has over 140 publications in peer reviewed journals on clinical pharmacology and respiratory diseases. Qualifications include MB BS (Syd); PhD (London); FRACP; FRCP.

Associate Professor Ken Williams is a specialist pharmacologist nominated by ASCEPT. Dr Williams is the Deputy Director and Principal Scientist at the Department of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, St Vincent’s Hospital. Qualifications include BSc (Hons 1), PhD (UNSW).

Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia (CHF)
(Only 1 CHF nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Ms Anne McKenzie is a consumer representative nominated by CHF. Ms McKenzie works as the Consumer Research Liaison Officer, a position dedicated to increasing consumer and community participation in health and medical research at The University of Western Australia School of Population Health and the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research. Anne has a health background and established the role of Parent Advocate at Princess Margaret Hospital, Perth’s only tertiary children’s hospital.

Anne has a strong history of health consumer advocacy and is involved as:

  • Deputy Chair, current Board Member and consumer representative for the Health Consumers’ Council, Western Australia’s peak consumer organisation;
  • Consumer representative for Consumers Health Forum of Australia on national Ehealth and Quality Use of Medicine committees;
  • Member of the Cochrane Consumer Network;
  • Lay member on the Silver Chain Nursing Association Human Research Ethics Committee. This is a statewide in-home aged health care and nursing support service.

Ms Sharon Caris is a consumer representative nominated by CHF. Ms Caris is the Executive Director of Haemophilia Foundation Australia. Qualifications include Master of Health Administration (UNSW); BA/Bachelor Social Work (La Trobe).

Ms Judith Maher is a consumer representative nominated by Consumer Health Forum Australia. Ms Maher joined Breast Cancer Network Australia at its inception, undertook consumer advocacy training and has served on a range of health related and other committees in this capacity for about ten years. Ms Maher retired from the Australian Public Service in 2006, where her work included complaints management. Ms Maher’s career includes a five year term as a member of the Commonwealth Administrative Appeals Tribunal, some years as chairman of grievance and appeal committees for a number of Victorian statutory authorities, and a period as a private mediator. At the present time Ms Maher serves as a member of the Complaints Resolution Panel of the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Council, and of the Property Services Advisory Council to the NSW Minister for Fair Trade. Ms Maher’s qualifications include a Post Graduate Diploma in Commercial Arbitration.

Ms Patti Warn was a researcher on ABC TV’s 4 Corners program before working as a policy advisor for Federal Ministers for Social Security, Health and Community Services. After a 5 year term as a Member of the Immigration Review Tribunal, she cared for a friend with dementia for 2 years. In retirement, she serves as an Official Visitor to psychiatric facilities in NSW, is on the Board of Uniting Care Ageing for the Sydney region and is member of the NSW Advisory Committee on the Ageing. She is a lay member of the NSW Law Society and has served on Ethics Committees for NSW Health and the NSW Cancer Institute. She is a member of the Consumer Health Forum of Australia.

Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)
(Only 1 TGA nominee participates in each Code of Conduct Committee meeting)

Ms Marlene Keese is the Manager of the Advertising Unit. This Unit is responsible for participating in the co-regulatory system of advertising and administering statutory advertising requirements Marlene has worked as a Principal Legal Officer in TGA since late 2003. Marlene was involved in litigation work in the AAT and Federal Court, legislative development of the proposed ANZTPA, and numerous regulatory reform work including the implementation of the IVDs and biologicals frameworks. She also has work experience in the patenting of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products. Her qualifications include BSc, Grad Dip (Science), LLB, Grad Dip (Legal Practice) and currently working towards finishing her LLM at the end of 2011.

Monitoring Committee Membership

Panel of Chairs – all Chairman have pharmaceutical industry experience
(Only 1 Chairman participates in each Monitoring Committee meeting)

Mr Wayne Strong is the Director of Strong Consulting and The Change Facilitators, specialist in business strategy and organisation change, established in 1993. Prior to this Wayne had spent 25 years in the pharmaceutical industry in the marketing departments of Astra, Pfizer and Glaxo.

He has been a Juror with the Stockholm Challenge since 1998, coordinating the economic development and health categories which reward social entrepreneurs in the field of ICT. He was Guest Professor at Blekinge Tekniska Högskola teaching Business Strategy and Information Systems from 2002-2009.

Ms Helen Maxwell-Wright holds both executive and non executive roles in the health sector. Her interests are in improving health outcomes through system review and innovation, increased consumer health literacy and empowerment and good governance.

Mr Russell Edwards is a veteran of the pharmaceutical industry with a career spanning 36 years, 20 of which as a senior manager or CEO. He was Managing Director of Pharmacia before founding the Australian operations of Amgen as Managing Director. He was a Senior Director of Amgen Inc. He is currently a Director of the National Prescribing Service (NPS).

Independent Members of the Committee

Consumers’ Health Forum of Australia (CHF)
(Only 1 CHF nominee participates in each Code of Conduct or Appeals Committee meeting)

Mr Brian Stafford became a member of a number of health consumer NGO’s after firsthand experiencing, over an extended period, the consumer interaction with our current health system. After a family member’s stroke he independently research available management medications. Consequently he was instrumental in changing her original pharmaceutical treatments. This gave the patient a quality of live not enjoyed by most patients in that situation. Over the years when new treatments became necessary to support the patient he continued to complete independent research on all new proven developments in that area. As a result, and by his own initiative, he was the first to introduce into Australia new drugs through the TGA. The medical paradigm for this class of patient was to, and remains, treatment in a locked ward, managing them with chemical binding. With the right pharmaceuticals the patient lived all her life at home. Until the last month of life the patient continued to entertain at home with invited guests to lunch and dinner parties. The patient maintained an excellent quality of life until her death from unrelated causes. Brian is a health consumer representative with a lived experience.

With the knowledge of those experiences he has since worked to bring about change to benefit current and future users of the health system. In line with his belief that the health system needs to change in order to deliver improved outcomes to all those it serves he is currently completing a new degree in Business Management. Units of that degree include ‘Psychology of Organisational Change’ and ‘Marketing’ which he found useful in understanding some of the other stakeholders within the health system. He has served on a number of health related boards as the Chair, Deputy Chair, Vice President and a serving board member. He recently participated in one of KPMG’s audit of a health care provider. Currently he is a member of a number of organisations including,

  • Sir Charles Gardner Hospital Human Research Ethics Committee;
  • Silver Chain – Medical Safety & Quality;
  • St. John Ambulance Australia – Clinical Quality Improvement Committee/ Medical Safety & Quality/ Clinical Incident Review (with qualified privilege) / and a new group looking into the discipline of pre-hospital care.
  • North Metropolitan Area Health Service, a state Government body focusing planning for the future health needs for the area north of the capital city.

Centre for Clinical Governance Research Australian Institute of Health Innovation, University of New South Wales. Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite is the Chair. This a joint initiative by the university and health consumers participating in WHO’s, Patients for Patient Safety.

Patricia Greenway (Tricia) began her career as a teacher of History the Social Sciences and Media Studies.

She later worked for the Federal Minister of Aged Family and Health Services, where she gained insights into the benefits of meaningfully including consumers into the planning, monitoring and evaluation of health services . This view went on to guide a special interest in models of effective consumer participation in policy development.

The Consumer Health Forum of Australia (CHF) is the national peak body representing the interests and experiences of Australian healthcare consumers and Tricia has long been nominated by this group as a consumer voice to both government and industry committees.

She is currently a member of MTAA Code of Practice Committee and has more recently been involved with the monitoring of Medicines Australia’s Code of Practice. Additionally she is a member of the Australian Medical Council’s Recognition of Medical Specialities Advisory Committee and the newly formed Complementary Medicines Advisory Committee.

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP)

Dr Sue Whicker is a specialist pharmacologist. She has extensive experience in the management, development, implementation and evaluation of education programs, research projects and programs at local, national and international levels, particularly in therapeutics and the quality use of medicines (QUM).

Australian Medical Association (AMA)

Dr Robyn Napier is a general practitioner in Sydney nominated by the AMA. Dr Napier is also a general practice medical educator and Medical Director of AMA (NSW). She chairs the AMA (NSW) Council of General Practice and provides the secretariat for the Ethics Committee. Dr Napier is also on the Council of MDA National, is a member of the NSW State Medical Board of the National Medical Board, the NSW Medical Council and on the BEACH Advisory Board.

Procedure of Appointment

Chairman – following a public call for expressions of interest, a panel of suitably qualified and experienced lawyers are appointed by the Medicines Australia Board for a period of five (5) years.

Committee – members of the Code Committee are nominated by a peak body and appointed for a period of three years

Conflict of Interest

All attendees for a particular Committee meeting will be appointed taking into consideration that the person has no conflict of interest with therapeutic area/s or company/ies against which a complaint has been lodged or with the complainant.

In addition to the requirement to disclose a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in a matter about to be considered in a meeting of the Code Committee, members should also disclose a conflict of interest if a reasonable third party would conclude that there was a likelihood that a member of the Code Committee may be influenced in reaching a decision by factors other than the merits of the case as presented by the Subject Company and Complainant.

Page updated: October 2011