Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—I thank members who have participated in the second reading debate on the National Health Amendment (Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) Bill 2007. They have all expressed their strong support for the PBS, which is good. Of course there is no question that this government believes passionately in the PBS, which is one of the three great pillars of our Medicare system which, for 50-odd years, has delivered affordable, high-quality, life-saving and life-enhancing medicines to the Australian people.

As many speakers in this debate have observed, the costs of the PBS have increased very quickly over recent times. The changes in this legislation are designed to ensure that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is sustainable into the future. Essentially, these changes are designed to deliver better prices for generic drugs. If we have better prices for generic drugs, we have more headroom for new, innovative and cost-effective drugs in the system. That is what these changes are designed to bring about.

A number of speakers, including the last speaker, have gone through the outline of the bill. I do not propose to waste the time of the parliament by repeating what has been said. I believe that a number of concerns have been raised, particularly by members opposite. Let me briefly deal with them. There is an understandable anxiety on the part of everyone here about ensuring that costs to patients do not rise. We have co-payments in our system which were increased a year or so back. The increases were supported, I hasten to add, by members opposite. It was a very responsible thing for members opposite to do. Some of them appear to have amnesia now about the fact that they did support those copayment increases, but I think it is important just to put it on the record again that they did.

There are anxieties about premiums. I can assure all members, including those opposite, that the provisions for premiums are essentially unchanged. There will be no premiums on top of the copayments without the approval of the government. Companies certainly are not able to increase premiums willy-nilly. There is anxiety on the part of members opposite about the number of drugs which are dispensed with a premium and I am pleased to say that, as a result of changes arising from PBS reform, pharmacists will have an additional dispensing fee for dispensing a premium-free drug. There is anxiety about the impact on the generic industry. The government recently announced a major marketing campaign to support the generics industry and to alert people to the qualities of the generic drugs on the market here in Australia. I am pleased to see that that is an advertising campaign that members opposite are happy to support.

Finally, there is a question about the distinction between bioequivalent and biosimilar drugs. Essentially ‘biosimilar’ and ‘bioequivalent’ refer to drugs which are interchangeable at the patient level. ‘Bioequivalent’ refers to simple molecules which are interchangeable; ‘biosimilar’ refers to much more complex drugs which are still interchangeable but which do not necessarily have the same molecular structure.

I want to stress that the role of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee will not change. I would also like to stress that the prices for patients of quite a number of drugs will fall under these measures. The Pharmacy Guild estimates that, when these measures flow through the system, they will produce about 400 drugs beneath the copayment that will therefore be subject to fierce price competition, from which patients will benefit. There has been a great deal of consultation with the industry over these changes. I know that these changes are difficult for some sections of the industry in particular; I want to thank them for their cooperation and the constructive attitude they have brought to dialogue with the government.

Finally, let me just say that there will be a Senate inquiry into this bill. The government will carefully consider any recommendations that come out of that inquiry and we may well move further government amendments in another place as a result. I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Message from the Governor-General recommending appropriation announced.

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