Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Melbourne, who is such an amazing advocate for a stronger Medicare. I particularly want to thank her and the member for Maribyrnong for their tireless work in securing a long-term future for that inner Melbourne icon, cohealth, which we're working on very hard together.

The member also knows how important a strong PBS and cheaper medicines are for her community. The PBS is one of the world's best medicine systems. For eight decades it has been delivering Australians access to the world's best medicines at affordable PBS prices. Today that is more important than ever, in a time of turbocharged discovery, where new medicines are coming onto the market at a huge, unprecedented pace every single month. These new treatments, using revolutionary technology, are highly effective, but they're also incredibly expensive.

Since we've been elected, we've listed more than 400 new medicines onto the PBS. And this month, just as an example, I'm delighted to say that we listed a new treatment called Ultomiris for a relatively rare condition, myasthenia gravis. This relatively rare condition impacts only about 3,000 Australians, but it can impact their ability to manage everyday tasks very severely, like walking or even chewing or breathing. This is the first new treatment for those patients on the PBS for 30 years. It's going to make a huge difference to their lives. But, without this listing today, those patients would have to pay $25,000 for every single script. From this month, instead of $25,000, they'll pay just $25. That is the beauty of the PBS—the world's best treatments here in Australia at affordable PBS prices.

As the member for Melbourne knows, we've been busy over the last three or four years making those prices even more affordable. Since we were elected in 2022, Australia's pensioners and concession card holders have received about 90 million scripts completely free of charge as a direct result of the changes we made to the safety net. Australian pensioners' maximum script price will be locked in at $7.70 and frozen for the rest of the decade.

For those many Australians who don't have the benefit of a concession card, general patients' PBS script prices are now no more than $25—the same price they were way back in 2004. These changes already have saved Australians more than $2.3 billion at the pharmacy counter, with more being saved every single day. It's good for their hip pocket but also incredibly good for their health.

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