Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The PBS is not an exclusive club. All Australian residents who hold a current Medicare card are eligible to access the PBS. Citizens of countries with reciprocal health arrangements, such as New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, are also eligible. The numbers clearly illustrate the scale of the PBS. In 2023-24, over 226 million subscribed subsidised prescriptions were dispensed. The government contributed $17.7 billion, and patients contributed $1.6 billion. The patient co-payment contributes to the sustainability of the PBS. This bill is the Albanese Labor government's fifth wave of reform to ensure that medicines are cheaper. It cuts the costs of PBS medicines. The last time medicines cost no more than $25 was in 2004, and 2004 was a long time ago. It was a time when Shannon Noll was at the top of the charts; some think he still should be! For me, it was a time when I was at university, wearing pleated denim skirts. While some things should come back, not all of them should!

In July 2022, the Albanese Labor government implemented a $480 million reform: the 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts a concessional patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in. This has seen pensioners save over $500 million. General patients also benefited, with a decrease of around $80 to their threshold. A $625 million investment in January 2023 enabled the government to announce the largest cut to the cost of medicines in PBS history. And, to start this year off, Labor froze the costs of PBS medicines, with co-payments not increasing with inflation for the first time in 25 years.

All of these measures strengthen Medicare. All of these measures stand alongside Labor initiatives to increase rates of bulk-billing, to train more doctors and nurses and to open more urgent care clinics. At last count, there were 87 across the country, and there are plans for an additional 50. I'm delighted to have an urgent care clinic on my patch in Oxley and another just across the road at the PA Hospital. These are health initiatives driven by Labor that help people every day. They are health initiatives that make sure that people have access to more affordable health care every day.

The PBS is a trusted and essential part of our national fabric, and it is a Labor invention. It is Labor that has always prioritised health care. Whether it's Medicare, cheaper PBS medicines, expanding bulk-billing, making sure that women's health is at the forefront of our funding or making sure that everyday people have access to health care, it's part of who we are and part of what Labor will always do for this country.

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