Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's a pleasure to follow the member for Richmond. Having heard her contribution and how well she summarised the importance of this legislation, the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025, I feel she's left me with very little else to say!

I commence my own remarks by thanking the nurses in our health workforce—over 400,000 of them across the country, and, as the member for Richmond quite rightly pointed out, the most evenly spread and the largest health force sector we have in the country. Every day they provide patient care that is second to none in terms of the relationships they build with patients, the confidence they give them, and the counselling and support they give them to get through, in many cases, very difficult health issues. It's not surprising that, given the work they do, they are probably rated as the most trusted profession across all professions in the country.

That says a lot about the confidence the community has in nurses. That is not surprising when you think about the work they do, dealing each and every day with sometimes incredibly difficult situations—dealing with patients that have got very serious injuries, horrific injuries at times. They have to face that on a regular basis, whether it's drug-affected people or people with serious disability or even dementia; they're dealing with people who don't know what they're doing, and it's incredibly difficult and draining work. In particular, it can also be very risky work. I note that this year marks the 10th anniversary of the murder of South Australian nurse Gayle Woodford, in the outback in South Australia. I well remember that incident. That highlights the work nurses do and the risks they often take. I'm pleased to say that, as a result of what happened to Gayle, the laws were changed to try and provide a little bit more support and security for our nurses at the time.

Australia's health system is indeed one of the best in the world; again, we can attribute much of that to the work of the nurses and what they do. But even though it is a good health system here in Australia—and I think that would be widely accepted and recognised—the reality is it is under stress. We have an ageing population and a shortage of health professionals right across the health profession spectrum. Trying to fix that is not something we can do overnight, because, in each case, health professionals need years of training in order to do the work they do. The fact the sector is under stress is not good for patients, because at times they can't get in to see their GP or the health professional they need. Nor is it good for the health workforce themselves, who are put under incredible pressure and often have to work long hours in order to try and fit in demands from the patients that want to see them. Neither side wins unless we can fix the system.

Whilst it is something that will take time to fix, there are things we can do right now that will make a difference. The Minister for Health and Ageing, since his appointment as health minister, has been methodically working through the steps we need to take in order to bring the health system back to the level at which we would all like to see it. Empowering nurses to prescribe medications is one of those things we can do right now and are doing right now; I commend everyone who was involved in that decision and, having made that decision, bringing it to the House in the form of this legislation.

Not only do nurses have, in my view, the professional qualifications and, as I said earlier on, the confidence of the community to do what they do; their daily experience in dealing with the patients they deal with each and every day matters. It's sometimes the experience of being in the job that teaches you more than any academic training you get in universities. Whilst they are out there every day doing the work they do, they're learning on the job each and every day, which, in my view, makes them thoroughly accredited to prescribe and give medications to their patients. They know what will work as well as anybody else. They know what a patient needs when they see a patient as well as anybody else. Whilst this legislation does bring in some additional appropriate safeguards to ensure that nurses get additional training and oversight by a health professional working with them, it enables them to do what they know needs to be done—that is, when a patient needs certain medication, they are able to prescribe it for them.

In doing that, there are an enormous number of benefits. Firstly, the patient benefits because the patient gets immediate access to what they need. Secondly, it takes pressure off the health system because the patient doesn't have to wait for a doctor to come in—a doctor who may also be working long hours and unable to get there when the patient does. So it takes pressure off the doctor or the GP or whatever other health professional might have been called in. It also takes pressure off our emergency departments in our hospitals. For example, quite often people in aged care, where we now have registered nurses on duty 24 hours a day, need medical assistance. If the aged care premises can't get a doctor—and many doctors are not able to attend—then people are simply sent to the nearest hospital. That ties up medical staff at the hospital, and it ties up hospital beds as well. Having a nurse able to prescribe the medication that the patient needs will relieve an enormous amount of pressure on a whole range of different people within the health network more broadly.

It also means that, for people in remote and rural areas—which is where nurses play a particularly important role—there will be additional services. When you go into remote and rural areas, the chances of finding a doctor are very, very difficult; in fact, those are some of the areas where we have the least number of doctors. What we do have across the country is nurses in those places. Those nurses provide literally all the medical care that people need because there's no-one else. Again, enabling them to be able to prescribe medications is critical to them being able to do their job and to do it well for the patient. Apart from the fact that there are no doctors, the reality is that, for many of those people, travelling to the nearest centre where there is a GP practice or a hospital is sometimes impossible. In remote areas, travel isn't easy, and, even if people can get to a centre, it is costly. So this will save people both money and time. That is indeed a good thing.

As I said earlier, these decisions are not made flippantly. There is a process in place whereby nurses will get additional training. I understand that the first cohort of nurses providing prescriptions will be able to do so from 1 July. There is oversight. As I said earlier, they are working in partnership with an authorised health professional. These are some of the security measures that have been implemented as part of this legislation, and they are responsible measures. The nurses themselves, even before they get to this step, have had to show a level of experience within the workforce. I think they have had to have been a registered nurse for at least three years. So they're already experienced people, but that additional training and oversight ensures that there aren't any risks being taken.

I'm going to close with perhaps what all other speakers on this side of the House have closed with. This is another step in trying to reform our health system in this country. It is a health system that—as I have said from the outset—is good but can be better. We are getting there one step at a time. The 122 urgent Medicare clinics that have been opened across the country and the 15 clinics that are about to open will make a difference as well. The workforce is growing thanks to this government. We are slowly getting more doctors into the system. I understand that some 17,000 have been added in the last two years. We've tripled the GP bulk-billing incentive for pensioners, concession cardholders and kids, and since November that has been expanded to all Australians. The proportion of bulk-billing has risen from around 20 per cent in 2025 to now 40 per cent. We have literally doubled the number of GP practices that are now bulk-billing. That's all because we've tripled the incentive. As has been said time and time again, the price of PBS medicines has been reduced to $25. For concession card holders, the price will be $7.70 right through to the end of this century. The most recent hospital agreement means record funding for our hospitals.

I close with this comment: there's probably nothing more important to families than good health. Particularly when someone is unwell, there is nothing else that matters in their life other than their health because, without their health, they literally have nothing, so the health system does matter to people. We have a good health system. This is going to make it better. I commend this legislation to the House.

See this speech in context