Consultation, Deliberation and the Review of the National Statement

Abstract

In 2007 the National Medical Health and Research Council (NHMRC) released a revised National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Human Research. This was the result of two rounds of public consultation by a working committee of the Australian Health and Ethics Committee (AHEC), a principal committee of the NHMRC. Drawing on the public consultation documentation and publicly available submissions to the review, this chapter assesses the consultation process which accompanied the review and revision of the 1999 National Statement on Ethical Conduct in Research Involving Humans to determine whether the consultation process was effective as a mechanism for encouraging consultation, deliberation and accountability by AHEC, through the working committee responsible for redrafting this National Statement. Drawing on recent literature in deliberative democracy we identify three aspects of the review process for critical evaluation: inclusive participation in policy development, discursive deliberation about policy arguments, and public accountability for policy decision-making.