Trevor Evans (Brisbane, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Waste Reduction and Environmental Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As 2020 draws to its end, one of my reflections is that the year has displayed Australians at their very best: community minded, innovative, future focused and willing to make personal sacrifices for the progress of other Australians and for our nation. In a year characterised by phrases like 'quarantine', 'isolation' and 'social distancing', I want to highlight the progress of a group of Australians who've had many lessons to teach us this past year. Australians living with cystic fibrosis have been practising social distancing and quarantine for pretty much their entire lives. In some ways, 2020 has given us all an insight into the everyday lives of those living with cystic fibrosis.

I spoke about CF in this place soon after I was first elected and I noted at the time that the life expectancy of an Australian living with cystic fibrosis was 38 years. That resonated with me. I was 35 at the time. I've been part of the policy-making journey in the years since, as life-changing medicines have been placed on the PBS to support people with cystic fibrosis—drugs like Orkambi, Kalydeco and Symdeco. As a result, I'm very pleased to report that the life expectancy of Australians with cystic fibrosis has now risen from 38 to 48 years. The listing of those medicines is not cheap. The point of the PBS is to make unaffordable medicines affordable for everyday Australians and some of the medicines I've mentioned are subsidised to the tune of $200,000 to 300,000 per year, but this is a perfect example of why good financial management by a government matters. It's not about having good economic numbers for their own sake or for bragging rights; it's about the ability it gives a country to invest in things like new medicines and services that improve lives and empower individuals by giving them a fair go, which ultimately progresses our nation. I'm proud to be part of a government able to commit to listing every medicine recommended by the independent experts on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee. I note that the PBAC is due to consider the drug known as Trikafta at their meeting in March. Trikafta is a drug that works for the majority of those with CF—about 90 per cent—and, quite simply, it saves lives. I look forward to the PBAC's consideration of that issue. I think they can reasonably guess what my view on this issue is. I thank Cystic Fibrosis Queensland for their ongoing advocacy and hard work in this space.