Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the motion moved by my hard-working colleague the member for Ryan. But I would also like to mention and to congratulate the member for Lyne, Dr David Gillespie, who has also been out briefing his colleagues about just how devastating the effects of shingles can be, and how important it is to have this vaccine on the list. As a child of the seventies, I suffered chickenpox and I clearly remember asking my mother if I could have a bath in calamine lotion, which happened to be the treatment at the time. You would be covered in all of this pink substance, which hopefully made it all a little bit better. Unfortunately, the chickenpox also manifested as shingles in my early 20s, so I have some personal experience of this. It is a terrible disease, absolutely terrible, and there have been good contributions from both sides of the House on this motion.

Shingles, or herpes zoster, presents as a painful rash on one side of the body that can lead to long-term nerve pain as well as hearing loss and damage to eyesight, as we have heard from many other speakers. Some 21,700 people over the age of 70 call the Hinkler electorate home. The reason this is relevant to this topic today is because senior Australians are particularly susceptible to the shingles virus. One in two Australians—one in two—will experience an episode of shingles by the age of 85. The frequency and severity of complications associated with shingles increases with age, and up to 50 per cent of patients over 50 years of age with shingles may develop a debilitating neuropathic pain that can persist for years, as we have heard in the contributions this morning.

Senior Hinkler residents make a significant contribution to the local economy and the community. Not only do they care for their grandchildren so that their adult children can work but they also make up the overwhelming bulk of volunteers in my electorate. For those who currently still work or want to be working at the age of 70 illness, injury and disability can be major barriers to employment participation. Pain is the most debilitating symptom of shingles. Sixty per cent of patients who were working when they acquired shingles reported an absence from work. More than 50 per cent of patients had to limit walking, and were unable to sleep properly. One-third of patients had difficulty with simple activities such as bathing and getting dressed. Shingles sufferers' risk of stroke increased 63 per cent in the four weeks after shingles.

There is no cure, only prevention. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has recommended listing the shingles vaccine on the National Immunisation Program. It was estimated the vaccine could prevent up to 47,000 cases of shingles and up to 14,000 cases of postherpetic neuralgia in the first five years following the commencement of the vaccination program. The makers of the vaccine estimate it will reduce the cost of shingles on the Australian healthcare system by about 31 million in five years, including 30,000 fewer prescriptions for antivirals, 130,000 fewer visits to GPs and almost 4,000 fewer hospitalisations.

As part of the 2015-16 federal budget released earlier this month, the coalition announced $1.3 billion for new life-saving drug listings, including the shingles vaccine. Zostavax will be subsidised through the National Immunisation Program to prevent shingles in people aged between 70 and 79 years of age. It is estimated the new listing will cost more than $100 million over four years. This new listing will help vaccinate up to 240,000 older Australians on an ongoing basis each year, and 1.4 million individuals through a five-year catch-up program. Without government subsidy, this vaccine would cost consumers more than $200 per dose of vaccine. There are more than 14,000 Hinkler residents aged between 70 and 79—14,000—who will benefit from this listing. Of course they live in my electorate because they can take advantage of a wonderful climate and a fantastic place to live and all of the other advantages you have of being in Queensland of course.

Since coming to office, the coalition has doubled the number of drug listings for consumers. That is an investment of almost $3 billion for 652 new and amended drug listings in just over 18 months. In order to continue listing new drugs quickly for patients, government had to find a sustainable way to fund them. With total investment in the PBS currently $10 billion and growing as more and more new drugs come onto the market, taxpayers will invest at least $50 billion in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in the next five years. We have already got another $3 billion worth of new, innovative medicines in the pipeline for future listing and will need to find sustainable ways to fund them. The sensible place is to look at the price taxpayers and patients pay for existing medicines to ensure we have the capacity to fund new ones, and I welcome the health minister's comments that she will hold constructive discussions with the entire pharmaceutical supply chain about the best ways to make the PBS sustainable for future generations. I look forward to her announcing the full package of proposed measures in due course. I commend this motion to the House. It will be a fantastic outcome for the people of my electorate.

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