Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. In addition to the hip pocket benefits, the health benefits and the freeing up of millions of GP consults, there's also the improved convenience for people who live in rural communities. I live within about 100 metres of a pharmacy, but people who live in rural Australia have to travel vast distances to reach their pharmacy. That's why this measure has been supported by the College of Rural and Remote Medicine, the Rural Doctors Association and the National Rural Health Alliance.

To the last part of the member's question: of course we are committed to the viability of the community pharmacy sector, which is why we have committed to fully reinvest all of the savings that we make here. The most substantial focus of us in designing that reinvestment package is the impact, particularly, on small rural pharmacies. We've had a couple of good discussions on this, the member for Mayo and I. We are doubling the rural maintenance allowance, which is, essentially, a payment that rural pharmacies receive simply to stay open. That will have differential impacts, depending on which part of rural Australia they live in—like the member for Maranoa, for example. There are areas where pharmacies will receive an increase from $40,000 in their allowance to $90,000—a 120 per cent increase in the payments they receive simply to remain open. We're still consulting about the final design of the package and I look forward to further discussions. (Time expired)

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