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A controversial bill creating a transtasman drug agency passed its first reading yesterday, hours after Winston Peters strode out to confront a protest on Parliament's forecourt, angrily denying he'd reneged on promises.
If passed, the bill will mean complementary medicines - natural health products and dietary supplements - are regulated for the first time.
Critics also argue it raises sovereignty questions and will remove New Zealanders' health choices.
New Zealand First and United Future have opposed the complementary medicines component of the bill - which also seeks to regulate other medicines and medical devices - but recently agreed to support it to select committee.
They won concessions on complementary medicines, but State Services Minister Annette King could not get Australian support to dump that component from the bill altogether.
The Australians were preparing to abandon the plans, seen as a template for other transtasman agencies, if the Government could not introduce the legislation by Christmas.
National began discussions about the agency in the late 1990s, but is refusing to support the bill - arguing the plan has been badly developed.
Michelle Beckett, director of Natural Products NZ, which claims to represent 80 per cent of complementary health businesses and which is now supporting the bill as a result of the compromises, yesterday accused the NZ Health Trust of running a "dirty politics campaign".
The protest was organised by the trust - a charitable group which says it "promotes education of good health practices and the health options available to all New Zealanders".
Mr Peters arrived as Green MP Sue Kedgley labelled the bill a "sinister" infringement on health freedoms and democracy and called on the 100-strong crowd to put pressure on New Zealand First to pull its support.
He claimed the bill was "dramatically" different from the one initially proposed.
United First leader Peter Dunne, who did not attend the protest, said: "We've seen a lot of conflicting evidence in the last few days and the only way to resolve that is to have the arguments on the table at the select committee."
Natural Health Laboratories director Mike Cushman said the bill would stifle innovation and the production of small-scale products.
But Ms Beckett said many businesses believed there could be a number of export spin-offs - into Australia - as a result of the joint regulator.
The bill would put an end to New Zealanders buying "a product and then finding out it's got grass clippings in it, or lead, or arsenic, or Viagra, which is some of the things we've found in some complementary medicines".
