Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In my community on the Central Coast of New South Wales, health care really matters. One in five of us is aged under 15 and one in five of us is aged over 65. The youngest and the oldest in our community have the biggest need for affordable health care, and this government has let them down. Vulnerable people in our community—the old and the young—have been let down by this government. This month, Mental Health Awareness Month, I stand here as a pharmacist who worked in the mental health in-patient units at my local hospital in Wyong for almost 10 years. The strain on patients, the strain on carers and the strain on families because of the lack of mental health services in regional and remote communities is growing. It's at crisis point.

On headspace Day, I heard from young people at the Gravity Youth Centre in Gorokan who spoke of their personal struggles to access care for themselves and for others due to the lack of local services. For young people in crisis in regional and remote Australia, help can't wait. One young person told me:

Why would I want to go and get help when too often the system fails?

This was from a young person in my community on headspace Day.

As a pharmacist, I would like to turn to the health minister's claims about PBS listings. The PBS was established by Labor. The principles that underpin the PBS are about universal access to medicines. Medicines matter. Access should be affordable and access should be fair. The minister should stop politicalising the PBS. The government tried to increase the cost of prescription medicines—

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

for all Australians, including children and pensioners. It was blocked by Labor.

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

The government's five-year record of failure on health care, particularly Medicare, began with the 2014 budget. The Liberals were elected in 2013 after promising—

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

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