The media coverage of health resource allocation, even in the “quality” press, is generally simplified, reducing the issue to winners and losers in political terms, and rarely providing any in-depth analysis of policy initiatives. Policies are generally analysed in terms of how difficult they will be for politicians to “sell” and the effect they will have on electoral success rather than the impact they will have on the health of the population, on resource allocation or on equity of access (Haas et al. 2001). The recent media attention on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee is a case in point.