ALREADY reeling from a failed court appeal against the council, a discount warehouse chain says a deal struck between the Pharmacy Guild and the federal government will kill off any chances of opening a store in Goulburn.
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The Chemist Warehouse Group was dealt a blow in September when it lost an appeal in the NSW Land And Environment Court against Goulburn Mulwaree Council’s December 2010 refusal to establish an outlet in Sowerby Street. Council successfully argued the warehouse was not in keeping with the principles of its B6 enterprise corridor zone policy which prohibited retail shops.
Council and objectors’ fears that the warehouse would impact on CBD trade were also vindicated in the appeal, which cost ratepayers more than $130,000. But The Chemist Warehouse Group’s commercial manager Damian Gance said even if the development complied with local planning laws, approval would still be an uphill battle because of changes to National Health Act “location rules” which took effect from October 18.
He said they came about after a new deal struck between the Pharmacy Guild and the Federal Government.
“The changes will restrict where pharmacies can be established,” he said in a statement.
“(The rules) were agreed to in a series of meetings between the Pharmacy Guild and the Commonwealth Health Department earlier this year.
“Significant stakeholders, including Chemist Warehouse, were not invited to take part in these negotiations.
“Under the new rules, pharmacy owners will have to wait for a medical centre and a supermarket to be opened before they can establish a new pharmacy.
“As people living in growth areas know too well, community infrastructure takes time and comes many years after the population of an area has been established.
“Consumers have voted with their feet. One million customers come through our doors each week, (and) we dispense 500,000 scripts…20 per cent of our stores would not have opened under these new rules.”
The Chemist Warehouse Group, which has more than 200 outlets, has launched a petition as an opportunity for “customers to stand up for their right to affordable medicine”.
The new Community Pharmacy Agreement Location Rules – for applications made on or after October 18 - are contained within the National Health (Australian Community Pharmacy Authority Rules) Determination 2011. However, Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon has a discretionary power to approve pharmacies in circumstances “where the application of the Rules results in a community being left without reasonable access to the supply of pharmaceutical benefits by an approved pharmacist, and approval of the pharmacy is in the public interest.”
Minister Roxon told the Sydney Morning Herald last week that while governments had close relationships with the guild, ‘’I don’t believe we’re too close to the Pharmacy Guild’’.
