Falcon Grove Pharmacy Pty Ltd and Australian Community Pharmacy Authority

Falcon Grove Pharmacy Pty Ltd (the applicant) sought review of a decision by the Australian Community Pharmacy Authority (the Authority) not to approve its application to supply pharmaceutical benefits. The Authority's recommendation was based on its findings that the proposed pharmacy premises were not located within a "large medical centre" and were not sufficiently distant from other approved premises. The applicant contended that the Authority erred in these findings and also raised a ground of natural justice.

The Administrative Appeals Tribunal (the Tribunal) was required to determine whether the proposed pharmacy premises were situated "in" a "large medical centre" for the purposes of the relevant legislative provisions. This involved considering whether the medical centre was under "single management" and whether the number of "PBS prescribers" at the centre met the required threshold, specifically, the equivalent of at least 8 full-time "PBS prescribers," of which at least 7 were "prescribing medical practitioners." The Tribunal also had to consider whether the shopping centre in which the premises were located qualified as a "small shopping centre."

The Tribunal found that the Authority had erred in its assessment of the proposed premises being within a large medical centre. It determined that the medical centre and the proposed pharmacy premises operated under a single management structure, satisfying that limb of the definition. Furthermore, the Tribunal was satisfied that the number of PBS prescribers at the medical centre met the quantitative requirements. Consequently, the Tribunal set aside the Authority's decision and remitted the matter for reconsideration.