Australian Government attempts at regulatory and other control of antimicrobial resistance

Abstract

Antimicrobial resistance has been on the government agenda in Australia since the early 1980s. At that time the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) established a working party composed of human and veterinary microbiologists to look at antibiotic use and, in particular, the risks of using them in stockfeed. This action was taken in response to continuing reports from overseas, particularly the United Kingdom, of resistant and multi-resistant Salmonella species being selected in food animals and spread to humans. The working party report made a number of regulatory recommendations in terms of resistance surveillance and scheduling. None of these recommendations were adopted directly, but the national regulators continued to call on NHMRC for advice and in various guises the NHMRC maintained a working group on antibiotics and resistance until 1997, when it was decided that antimicrobial resistance was no longer a priority issue. As the regulators still wished to receive advice, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) took temporary responsibility for maintaining the expertise or the working party.