Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025 brought forward by the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing, and I commend him for doing so. This bill is a cost-of-living measure, and it's part of the Albanese Labor government's efforts to improve health outcomes for all Australians.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is a national government funded scheme that subsidises the cost of a wide range of medicines. The PBS was first introduced to Australia by the Chifley Labor government in 1948. Back then, it provided a very limited list of free medicines, but it was revolutionary in principle: no Australian should go without necessary treatment because of cost. Over the decades successive Labor governments have expanded and strengthened the PBS, ensuring it evolves to meet new health challenges. Like Medicare, the PBS was introduced by Labor and, like Medicare, Labor will continue to protect the PBS.

The PBS is a key program supporting the delivery of the National Medicines Policy, and we want to make sure that Australians have the PBS that enables Australians to have timely, safe and reliable access to effective, high-quality medicines. Today, the PBS subsidises nearly 930 medicines across more than 5,200 brands, ranging from common treatments for chronic conditions to advanced cancer therapies and life-saving vaccines. It's not just a policy; it's a lifeline.

Right now, the maximum cost for a PBS medicine is $31.60 for general patients. With this legislation, from 1 January next year, this will be reduced to just $25. This is more than a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will save Australians over $200 million each year. It's tangible cost-of-living relief.

My electorate of Gorton, in Melbourne's west, is one of the fastest growing electorates in the country. There are more than 50,000 families across the electorate, and new ones are being created every day, with close to 58 babies born every week in the city of Melton alone. In fact, the city of Melton is the fastest growing municipality in Australia, with a growth rate of 6.6 per cent in 2023-24. My electorate also contains the area with the second-highest growth rate in the country, in Fraser Rise and Plumpton.

My electorate is not only young and growing fast; it is also culturally and linguistically diverse, with many of our constituents proficient in two or more languages and carrying rich histories of migration. In fact, more than 30,000 of my constituents speak a language other than English at home and more than 33 per cent of my constituents were born overseas. This carries its own set of challenges in accessing health care.

My electorate, as I say, is also young, with a median age of just 35. And, as Melbourne's west continues to grow, prioritising affordable and quality medical care isn't just about meeting the needs of Australians now but also about getting ahead of the health outcomes in the future.

In so many ways, my electorate represents Australia as a whole, with its vitality, its rich cultural and linguistic make-up and its aspirations for the future. An electorate like mine—young, diverse and aspirational—has many needs that have yet to be met. One area that has struggled to keep up is access to health services. Gorton residents experience significant disadvantage in accessing health services. Even within Melbourne's north-west, the burden of disease disproportionately impacts my constituents. In the city of Brimbank, a staggering 28 per cent of residents 18 and older have been diagnosed with two or more chronic diseases, conditions that need to be managed throughout their lives.

For seniors living on fixed incomes, this is relief that provides dignity and security. For families with children who require medication, whether for asthma, allergies or developmental conditions, these savings will make a real and immediate difference. For young adults—who are often balancing work, study and housing costs—reduced medicine prices will mean they are not forced to choose between managing their health and meeting their other financial obligations. Our cheaper medicines legislation is one piece of the puzzle of improving access to health care for Australians, including those in Melbourne's west.

Three months ago, I was campaigning in the electorate of Gorton when the Albanese Labor government committed to making medicines even cheaper. Now, as I stand here in the chamber of the House of Representatives as the member for Gorton, it's time to deliver on that promise. I want to see better health outcomes for my electorate of Gorton, for Melbourne's west and for all Australians. That's why I couldn't be prouder to be part of an Albanese Labor government that is making medicines even cheaper, capping the cost of a prescription on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to no more than $25—$25: the cost of lunch, an Uber trip or two or three beers—because medicines should be affordable. Healthcare should be affordable. This is more than a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will save Australians over $200 million each year. In my electorate of Gorton, that's a total saving of more than $9.1 million. The last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25, it was 2004, when I was in primary school; it was also the year that Facebook was launched, and Regina George from Mean Girls was on our cinema screens.

This legislation comes after doubling the number of medicines now available for a 60-day prescription. This means that patients with chronic, stable medical conditions can be prescribed and dispensed a 60-day supply of medicine, rather than a 30-day supply, for eligible PBS items. This is saving Australians without a concession card up to $189 per medicine per year and pensioners and concession card holders up to $46.20 per medicine per year.

I'd like to talk about the experience of Jeanette, from Melbourne. She was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in 2019. Since 2023, one of Jeanette's medicines, sulfasalazine, has become eligible for 60-day prescriptions. This means that she can get two months worth on a single prescription, cutting the cost of the medicine in half and reducing the number of visits to the doctor that she needs. Jeanette says: 'It seems like a small thing, but, when you are managing a chronic condition or you're feeling unwell, it has a big impact on your quality of life.'

This is helping so many people in our community who are dealing with chronic pain or managing other health challenges, giving them peace of mind and more certainty for their health journey. Our cheaper medicines legislation builds on what we started with 60-day prescriptions, ensuring that accessing medicine is affordable for all Australians. In line with the Albanese government's election commitments, our cheaper medicines legislation will come into effect on 1 January 2026. It will reduce the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme general patient co-payment from $31.60 to $25.

I recently visited the Taylors Hill Retirement Village, a cheerful and welcoming community of seniors in the beating heart of my electorate. I dropped in to help residents apply for savings through the Energy Bill Relief Fund, but I also had several conversations with them about the difference that cutting the cost of medicines will make to their household budgets. For the residents of the retirement village, some who are self-funded and others who rely on their age pensions, this cut to the cost of medicines will take the pressure off the household budget. Residents Ian and Lorraine told me that this policy would give them much-needed room to breathe among other cost-of-living pressures. It's not just about cheaper medicines. This is part of Labor's broader strategy to improve the health outcomes of Australians and give tangible cost-of-living relief for my community.

Currently, Sunshine Hospital is the closest hospital for those in my electorate. It services the LGAs in Melbourne's west from Brimbank all the way to Wyndham. It's a 25-minute drive on a good day, but demand for emergency care means that, during busy periods, you can be waiting more than two hours to see a doctor.

That's why we've been putting in the work to improve access to health care by expanding the availability of free Medicare urgent care across the country. I was lucky enough to open the 90th urgent care clinic in Melbourne's west with the Prime Minister and my friend the member for Fraser this month. But we're not stopping there. Labor have opened 90 urgent care clinics right across the country, and we've committed to opening another 50. We're growing Australia's health workforce, with the largest GP training program in Australia's history.

We're investing landmark commitments in women's health. For too long, women's health issues have not been adequately addressed. We're working to reverse decades of neglect of women's health, with a $573.3 million investment to deliver more choice, lower costs and better health care for women. We're introducing the first new contraceptive pills added to the PBS in 30 years: Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda. We're introducing the first new menopause treatments on the PBS in 20 years: Estrogel, Estrogel Pro and Prometrium. We're ensuring that there's better access to IUDs and birth control implants. This comes alongside the opening of 22 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, with another 11 to open soon. Thanks to these initiatives, Australian women and their families will save thousands of dollars on health related costs across their lifetimes.

This is what happens when we elect women. Women's issues come to the forefront of the government's agenda. I couldn't be prouder to be part of a Labor government made up of 56 per cent women, because, when we elect women, we legislate on women's issues.

I also couldn't be prouder to be one of the youngest members in the House of Representatives, representing an electorate made up of young people. The median age of Gorton is 35 years old. Our younger generations face unique pressures, with cost-of-living pressures that are not what the generation before us experienced. Many young Australians are dealing with an increased rate of mental health issues. According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, almost 40 per cent of people aged 16 to 24 have experienced a mental health disorder in the past year. This bill is a step towards increasing access to health care for young people. More affordable medicines mean young Australians will be able to access essential prescriptions, whether they are antidepressants, anti-anxiety medication or treatment for ADHD, without the burden of financial stress.

This builds on the Albanese government's existing work to roll out free mental health care, including establishing 61 Medicare mental health centres that offer free, walk-in mental health care. We are upgrading their clinical capability to ensure every centre provides free access to a psychiatrist or psychologist, either onsite or on call. Our $1 billion investment to roll out even more places Australians can go for free public mental health care backed by Medicare also includes $225 million for 31 new and upgraded Medicare mental health centres, $500 million for 20 youth specialist care centres for young people with complex needs, and $90 million for more than 1,200 training places for mental health professionals and peer workers.

Mental health is not separate from the cost-of-living debate. It is deeply intertwined. Financial stress is one of the leading contributors to anxiety and depression. When people worry about whether they can afford their medicine, their health outcomes suffer twice over, once because their condition may go untreated and again because of the toll financial stress takes on their mental wellbeing. By cutting PBS co-payments, we are directly addressing this cycle. We are ensuring that young people, parents and seniors alike can access treatment when they need it, before conditions worsen, before hospital admissions are required and before lives are derailed.

On this side of the House, women's health matters. On this side of the House, young people matter. On this side of the House, we invest in Medicare and in the PBS, and we have the track record to prove that. Under the Abbott government, those opposite tried to increase Australians' out-of-pocket expenses when visiting specialists and undergoing X-rays and pathology. The Turnbull government spent $5 million on a 20-person Medicare privatisation taskforce to look at how the coalition government could sell off Australians' private health data. But their legacy doesn't stop there. Not even a pandemic could stop the opposition's anti-Medicare mission. While Australians were supporting each other through lockdowns, the Morrison government secretly announced that there'd be almost 1,000 changes to the Medicare Benefits Schedule. This meant that people were going into surgery without knowing how much they would be paying on the other side. More recently, in opposition, those opposite voted against cheaper medicines six times.

On this side of the House, we're committed to tangible cost-of-living relief and outcomes for all Australians. With that I commend this bill to the House.

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