Neoliberalism, state-corporate power and regulatory failure: the harms of prescription and non-prescription medicine regulation in Australia

• In Event: Regulating harm: States, corporations, and the social harms resulting from the failures of law and regulation

Abstract

This presentation examines the social harms of prescription and non-prescription medicine regulation in Australia, specifically, how the harms resulting from regulatory failure ultimately stem from neoliberal capitalism and its reinforcement of state and corporate power. Using the concept of hegemonic neoliberal governmentality, the presentation critically examines Australian medicine regulation and its failure in areas such as direct-to-consumer advertising (in the form of “pandemic profiteering” and “COVID cures”) and marketing directed at health professionals (in the context of the opioid epidemic). It traces these harms through the historical development of Australian medicine regulation, from its colonial foundations to its current form, examining both the failures of regulation and efforts to reform it. The presentation argues that neoliberalism is inherently unregulatable and reinforces and sustains itself, empowering the state and corporations while disempowering the public and those representing its interests. Thus, it argues the reduction of these harms can only be achieved through broader, transformative change, rather than by reforming (and thereby continuing to work within) existing neoliberal capitalism.

Author

• Rhiannon Bandiera, Maynooth University, Ireland