Craig Laundy (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister inform the House what steps the government is taking to make medicines more affordable not only to the people of Reid but throughout Australia?

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Reid, my good friend. I look forward to soon tramping again with him through the streets of Strathfield, which is a very important part of Sydney, and talking to his constituents about this important area, which is the cost of medications. Legislation that could be before the Senate as early tomorrow is designed to bring down the cost of over 2,000 brands of common medicines—medicines that treat high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart attack, heart conditions, osteoporosis and depression. Some of the most common medicines taken by millions of Australians are slated to reduce in price sharply, instantly after October 2016.

This is an extremely important component of our PBS reform measures. There are other key ingredients that introduce competition into the supply chain of medicines and, most importantly, save the government and taxpayers money. While we do not fund on the PBS every medication, the ones we do are affordable for consumers. While we can keep the cost of those medicines coming down we save the budget money, and that is vitally important because over the next five years we expect to invest $50 billion into the PBS for life-changing and lifesaving drugs.

As I often say, when new drugs arrive and we commit through our PBAC process to list them on the PBS, new money for the budget does not arrive with them. The measures before the Senate this week are critical in making sure that that supply of medicines puts consumers first. The aspects I have talked about will make a difference to people's lives. By increasing the uptake of generic medicines—those that are off patent—we know that we can encourage consumers, with advice from their doctors and pharmacists, to choose the medication that is most affordable to them and most affordable to the taxpayer.

We look forward to Labor's bipartisanship on this issue. I know that, after the Auditor-General took a fairly sizeable swipe at them in the Fifth Community Pharmacy Agreement, the member for Ballarat said:

Labor … looks forward to Minister Ley announcing significant savings … Labor welcomes the Minister's commitment to exceeding this—

Labor's—

benchmark and delivering even greater savings for both patients and taxpayers.

I am very pleased that we have in fact delivered greater savings for both consumers and taxpayers and built in meaningful reforms into the future. I look forward to Labor's support in the Senate.