Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) | Hansard source

Our universal healthcare system promises all Australians access to a full range of quality healthcare services when and where they're needed without financial hardship. It is the responsibility of our government to provide cost-effective, transparent and fair access to medicines. In recent years, the out-of-pocket costs to patients of GP visits and of medicines have become an increasing burden in a time of severe cost-of-living pressures. For this reason I have supported the Albanese government's decision to reduce the patient contribution to medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. That 30 per cent reduction in cost represents very real and very significant savings for Australian households.

We need our medications to be not just affordable; they have to be available as well. Australia imports more than 90 per cent of its medications. We are reliant on international supply chains. From 1 July new regulations mandate larger onshore stock holdings of some medications in this country, which may help, but we'd also benefit from a review of our sovereign manufacturing capacity and how our government can support it better. While our domestic market is small, we have established supply chains and proximity to Pacific markets. This government should expand our manufacturing capacity, decrease sovereign risk and support our Pacific partners by fostering local manufacturing of medicines.

Many of my Kooyong constituents previously expressed frustration regarding the need for unnecessary and costly visits to GPs for repeat prescriptions and the limits placed on supply in our pharmacies. For that reason I suggested, and was really happy to see the government adopt in the 2023 budget, a change in prescribing laws, permitting up to 60 days worth of medication and 12-month scripts for more than 300 commonly prescribed medications. Those changes will be rolled out in three tranches from September. They will decrease the price of those 300 medications by up to $180 per medication per year. Australians will save more than $1.6 billion over the next four years through the introduction of 60-day prescriptions. As an Independent member but also as a doctor aware of the stress and the cost of medications for many Australians, I am truly proud to have been the first to propose this initiative to this House in this parliament and to have the government respond promptly and appropriately.

We've seen what the government can do when it takes scientific advice and it acts decisively and effectively. We need more of the same in our health care and in our economy. All funds saved by the government through this initiative will be reinvested into community pharmacies. They will strengthen the range and the depth of services provided by those pharmacies, especially in rural and regional settings. Some remote pharmacies will receive more than $90,000 a year in funding from 1 July, and the recent seven per cent increase in the indexation of PBS medications will give pharmacies an average of more than $40,000 a year more in annual funding from our government.

With that federal support should come a commitment to responsible dispensing. The Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement stipulates the need for transparency, appropriateness and cost effectiveness in provision of pharmacy services supported by taxpayer funds, yet taxpayers are currently paying exorbitant prices for vapes flogged to pharmacies for a fraction of those costs by big tobacco. There are also concerns regarding the conflict inherent in pharmaceutical suppliers owning shares in vaping companies. Our government must continually review federally subsidised prescribing and dispensing to ensure that it always accords with the National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines.

Our health dollar is finite and precious. All Australians deserve reliable, equitable and affordable access to safe medicines. As an Independent member of this parliament, I will hold this government to that standard.

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