Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. Access to universal, free health care is one of Labor's greatest legacies to Australians. I don't know how my parents, with their eight children, could possibly have managed without free access to health care via Medicare and subsidised medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. My pensioner grandparents, who lived next door to us in Paddington, certainly also relied on Medicare and PBS in their later years. Medicare and PBS are Labor legacies that have helped millions of Australians receive the quality health care they deserve. Health care is in Labor's DNA, and this bill is another example of how we continue to improve and expand on our commitment to this fundamental right.

It's important to recognise during this discussion that reducing the cost of prescriptions is one of the cost-of-living measures Labor took to the last election. These measures have been overwhelmingly supported in my electorate of Brisbane and across Australia.

The PBS benefits so many Australians. As of last year, 930 different medicines were listed on the PBS, across more than 5,000 brands. It is critical that all Australians can afford the medicines and the medicine related services that they need. This is particularly important for people with multiple health conditions, taking multiple medicines; people on low incomes; and individuals or families experiencing high out-of-pocket healthcare costs.

In the campaign and before it, as I doorknocked and held community events, the cost of living and health care were consistent themes raised in all parts of my electorate. I heard the real stories in my community of the difference that cheaper medicines make for people.

While doorknocking one day, I met one young woman who told me she didn't know who she was going to vote for yet. She raised a number of community issues that she was concerned about, but there were two key ones on her mind. One was the cost of living and the other was the cost of medicines. We talked about the cost of medicines, and she described how those that she relied on, like antidepressants, continue to become more and more expensive for her and therefore out of reach. She also talked about how young people like her understood how important it was to manage their mental health and how our system needs to be responsive and tailored to help people with mental health needs.

When I mentioned Labor's commitment to cheaper medicines, she wanted to know more. She soon realised Labor's promise would help lower the costs of her scripts and give her a little bit more of a financial buffer to pay her rent, her electricity and grocery bills, and other costs. She, like many Australians, recognised the effective and immediate relief this would bring. She then said that she had made up her mind and would go to the polls and vote for Labor. She did what millions of other Australians did.

Across my electorate, there are many people like this young woman who, with cheaper medicines, will benefit immensely at the chemist check-out. This story shows how reducing the cost of PBS medicines matters to all Australians, including young Australians.

As I mentioned in my first speech, I've heard many stories from constituents about how affordable health care is the difference between living a decent life and not living at all. I just want to repeat one of these stories While doorknocking one day, one lady cried. She cried and she thanked me and she asked me to pass on her thanks to our prime minister because her best friend will now live because her cancer treatment is on the PBS and she can afford it. I also heard stories of other people in our Brisbane community not taking their prescribed medicines because they could not afford to buy them. They talked about cost-of-living pressures, including an increase in healthcare costs. Sadly, this financial pressure to delay or not get prescription medication disproportionately affects women and young people, not just the elderly, as many might assume.

I hear stories from young people in my electorate with diagnosed ADHD about putting off buying their mental health drugs. This is debilitating in some instances. For some, it just makes it a lot tougher to go about their daily lives. In 2023-24, delaying filling medication prescriptions was most prevalent among those aged 15 to 24, with around 12 per cent of this cohort not having their medication in time or at all. That's a lot of people. There is a significant flow-on to the person's health as well as healthcare costs if these barriers are not addressed quickly.

Not taking medicines clearly negatively impacts the health of the individual, but it also leads to higher government costs due to worsening health and, therefore, increased health care—things like the increased likelihood of acute unavoidable hospitalisations and a slow growth in the burden of chronic diseases. Ensuring people can access the medications they need also allows our children to continue to go to school, to learn and to grow up and be productive members of our society, and it allows adults to work, which is important again for our workforce participation and—the words at the top of everyone's mind at the moment—increased economic productivity. Medication adherence can be difficult and complex—I acknowledge that—but, given the significant and increasing impact of health costs on Australian budgets, reducing the cost of prescriptions has to help.

This bill also builds on Labor's previous measures to reduce the cost of medications. The Albanese government, in its first term, cut the general patient co-payment for the first time in 75 years. This reduction, from $42.50 to just $30, has since saved general patients around $770 million.

Thanks to this government, patients with a stable treatment plan for ongoing conditions can receive 60 days medication for the cost of 30 days and only pay a single co-payment. This also helps a lot in health savings as it reduces the number of times patients need to see their GP for simple medication prescriptions. In fact, a patient with a 60-day prescription for a PBS medicine may save up to almost $190 a year per medicine if they are a Medicare card holder who does not have a concession card. If they do have a concession card, they may save just over $46 a year per medicine. For some people that's a lot of money.

This bill before the House makes medicines even cheaper than that though. Once this bill takes effect, it will mean that a prescription on the PBS will cost Australians no more than $25. The last time PBS medicines cost no more than that was in 2004. As a number in this House will remember, 2004 was the year of Shrek 2, Shannon Noll and, unfortunately, the Brisbane Lions losing the grand final. Not only are these prices a classic throwback to 2004, they are also more than a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will provide immediate cost-of-living relief to Australians doing it tough. This will save Australians over $200 million each year.

Of course, concession card holders will continue to pay just the $7.70 co-payment. Reducing the general co-payment provides the highest level of savings for the most patients, and it targets people within this group who are likely to have little access to government or other financial support, such as social welfare payments.

The central pillar of Australia's National Medicines Policy is equitable, timely, safe and reliable access to medicines and medicine related services at a cost that individuals and the community can afford. Affordability is exactly what this bill is aimed at.

This bill builds on our support for women's health and medicines. From 1 March, contraceptive devices became cheaper. Some of the most commonly used contraceptive pills were recently listed on the PBS, including Yaz and Yasmin. This is the first listing of new types of oral contraceptives in decades. From 1 July, a new Medicare rebate for menopause health assessments was introduced. After more than 20 years, three new menopausal hormonal therapies were listed on the PBS. Women with specific low levels of reproductive hormones will have earlier access to the combination of therapies through the PBS. The four pens of this therapy would cost more than $3½ thousand without PBS. There are a lot of women who will be much better off as a result.

From 1 July, two new Medicare Benefits Schedule items were introduced for gynaecological consultations of 45 minutes or longer, helping those facing complex conditions such as endometriosis and pelvic pain, and there will be more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics treating more conditions thanks to the Albanese Labor government.

As I said, PBS and Medicare is in Labor's DNA, so I cannot fail to mention here today that my electorate will also benefit from the broader package of Labor health policies that we took to the election. Thanks to the Albanese government expanding the Medicare urgent care clinic and mental health clinic networks, I've already started to hear the wonderful and real stories of people across my electorate getting the immediate care they need. Once Brisbane locals start to access those $25 PBS medicines, we will hear even more similar stories, stories of people getting the care they may have delayed in the past.

The nearest Medicare urgent care clinic to my electorate is in Kedron, and it's one of the busiest in Australia, which is tangible evidence of how effective this policy is. One of my volunteers gave the urgent care service a trial run earlier this year when her son came off his e-scooter and broke his collarbone. He was seen by a doctor within 30 minutes entirely free of charge. He was patched up in no time thanks to the clinic and its hardworking frontline staff. I'm sure there are many stories just like this of people across Australia being helped every day. The Albanese government is continuing to deliver on its commitment to further expand the Medicare urgent care clinic network, and I'm excited to say there's a tender process underway to identify providers to operate a new Brisbane urgent care clinic.

I'm incredibly proud that the Medicare mental health clinic network has expanded in my electorate as well. Just last week, we launched a new Medicare mental health clinic in Lutwyche. This inner-north Brisbane clinic is commissioned by the Brisbane North Primary Health Network and operated by Communify Queensland. I met many young people on the campaign trail, in addition to those I spoke about earlier, who said they were overcoming mental health challenges. My community will get to see a doctor or a mental health professional for free, closer to home, and they won't have to wait. This will mean residents of Brisbane will now have access to free, walk-in mental health care. No appointment or referral is needed to access the services. This will encourage more people, especially young people, to get the care they need when they need it. They will be able to walk in, and they'll need only their Medicare card, not their credit card.

Labor really is the party of accessible and affordable health care. Labor introduced Medicare. We're expanding Medicare urgent care clinics, and we're now reducing PBS medicines to just $25. The Lutwyche Medicare mental health clinic will provide immediate help for people in distress as well as ongoing care for those with more complex mental health needs. I met with the incredible service delivery team, which includes expert practitioners and people with lived experience. That lived experience is really important. When people go to that clinic they will get a warm welcome, much-needed conversation and clinical care, as needed. Sometimes people facing mental health distress just want to talk to someone and to know that they're not alone and help is there. They may not necessarily need to visit a psychologist or other clinician, but it's available to them if they need.

In closing, I began my working career in the health sector, so this is an area that I am very passionate about. I have a great deal of interest in always looking for ways to improve access to affordable health care for the community. In other countries where I've lived and worked, I've seen what the lack of access to affordable health care can do. Frankly, it is not pretty. For instance, the inhalers that my twin sister and I use daily cost well over $100 in the US, a place where I lived for a while. Here, they will be $25 when the PBS reforms kick in. As I said, this is one of the reasons that I stood for parliament. I want my community and all Australians to have access to universal health care but also the best health care and the best medicine system in the world, which is what I believe we have and are growing towards here in Australia. As successive Labor governments have demonstrated, we are the only party that continues to deliver the needed reforms to expand and improve our world-class healthcare and medicine systems that we are all proud of.

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