David Moncrieff (Hughes, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Looking after each other is a key part of what it means to be Australian. It's why Australians are so proud of Medicare, it's why Australians are so proud of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and it's why I am so proud to support the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025.

Being able to afford medicines that keep us healthy and well is not something that only the wealthy should be able to afford. When I'm out in my community talking to the hardworking families of southern Sydney, the cost-of-living pressures associated with health care are raised with me all the time. That's why the Albanese Labor government is delivering this key cost-of-living measure.

It will mean that a lot of parents won't have to skip filling their own scripts so that they can afford medicine for their kids. Many older Australians won't have to stretch out doses to make their prescription last longer. There will be fewer Australians with chronic conditions waiting weeks before filling a script because they simply cannot afford it. These are choices that no Australian should have to be making in a modern economy like ours, and under this measure they won't have to.

We have one of the best health systems in the world, but it will only remain strong if we take the required steps to protect it. Strengthening our healthcare system is exactly what the Albanese Labor government was elected to do. This bill cuts the maximum cost of a PBS script for general patients from $31.60 to $25. Those are real savings on the pharmacy bill every month for five million Australians. The last time a script cost $25 was in 2004. If you'd handed me $25 in 2004 I would have taken it straight to the Bosco primary tuckshop and bought 25 Paddle Pops—not all of them chocolate; maybe even a banana one. No-one today would believe that Paddle Pops cost only a dollar each. It was, indeed, a dark day in Australian history when Paddle Pops went up to $1.10.

Paddle Pops aren't the only things that have gone up in price over the last two decades. Medicines have risen significantly too. Before the election, I doorknocked a lot of houses in Wattle Grove and told them what the Albanese Labor government had done to make medicines cheaper and its plans to make those cheaper medicines even cheaper. Now we are delivering on those plans and building on what this government achieved in the last term. This government delivered the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS, with the maximum cost of a general script falling to $30 from $42.50. It also provided more free and cheaper medicines sooner, with a 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts a concessional patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in.

This government introduced 60-day prescriptions, saving time and money for millions of Australians with ongoing health conditions and in January 2025 this government froze the cost of PBS medicines, with co-payments not rising with inflation for all Australians for the first time in 25 years. Our cheaper medicines policy has already saved Australians $1.5 billion. In my electorate of Hughes, the savings from cheaper medicines have reached nearly $7.4 million as of July 2025. That's money back in the pockets of residents like those in Wattle Grove and money they're not seeing added to the weekly bill just to fill prescriptions.

Now we're going further. We're reducing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme general patient co-payment from $31.60 to $25 from 1 January next year, delivering on the Albanese government's election commitment. That's a more than 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will save Australians over $200 million each year. Four out of five PBS medicines will become cheaper because of our government's $689 million investment. Pensioners and concession card holders will continue to benefit from the freeze to the cost of their PBS medicines, with the cost frozen at its current level of $7.70 until 2030.

This bill means hundreds of dollars saved each year for households with multiple prescriptions. That is money that goes back to food, bills, school shoes and electricity. That is money making a meaningful difference. In making medicines cheaper in a tangible way, we're helping with cost of living, but it's not just good for the wallets of residents in my community; it's good for their health too. Someone with asthma who needs a preventer, a person managing high blood pressure or a family with diabetes—their scripts are not optional; they are essential. By cutting the costs, we help them stick to their treatment, stay healthier and avoid bigger health problems down the track. The cost of untreated illness is far greater. It shows up in emergency wards, in longer hospital stays, in lost work and in families under stress.

The work that pharmacies do is much more than just as a retailer for medicines. Pharmacists like Ahmad, who runs the local pharmacy in Macquarie Fields, do so much work behind the scenes to keep our community healthy, connected and functioning. I went to see firsthand the work that Ahmad is doing in my community with the member for Dobell, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and Assistant Minister for Rural and Regional Health. It was so apparent how much our cheaper medicines policies are helping our pharmacists keep our community healthy. When medicines are cheaper, people fill their scripts on time. They take appropriate doses as they are prescribed. The medicines work as they are designed to. They reduce rates of serious illness. That keeps pressure off our GPs and off our hospitals.

On this side of the House, we believe in strengthening our health system. This bill cuts the price of medicines and increases their availability to vulnerable Australians. It eases the squeeze on households and reflects the Australian value that your income should not be the primary determinant of the health treatment that you receive. This government is one that cares about all Australians—about their health and about their financial wellbeing—and that is reflected in this bill. I thank the House.

See this speech in context