Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. Will the minister please update the House on how and why the Morrison government is supporting access to life-saving medicines, including for Australians living with cystic fibrosis, and is the minister aware of any alternative policies?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Robertson. On Sunday I had the privilege of meeting Jess Ragusa from the member's electorate, indeed, I think, from Copacabana. Jess has been an advocate for better access to better treatments for cystic fibrosis. She is a sufferer herself. She said very simply that with the listing of Trikafta, a medicine for 1,900 patients, which will save approximately $250,000 per patient, she and her husband can now plan on having a child. Her life will be extended, her quality of life will be improved and her capacity to have a child is now secure.

Alongside other patients who were there on Sunday, such as Kai, 11-year-old Heidi, and Sarah, who's a year 11 student from the Mornington Peninsula—all of these patients with cystic fibrosis have a better chance of a longer life and a better life. Indeed, as we look across the last few years, we have been able to progressively list new medicines for cystic fibrosis, such as Kalydeco, Symdeko, Orkambi and now Trikafta, a quarter-of-a-million-dollar medicine. That is something we can do because we believe in it, because we can fund it and because we are committed to it.

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macarthur is warned.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Link to this | Hansard source

As a result of that, we've seen over 2,800 new or amended medicines listed during the life of this government. We have seen the listing times more than halved, from 312 days to 141 days, over the course of the life of this government. And we have committed to listing every medicine that the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee approves.

Sadly, we know that that has not always been the case. In 2011, the previous government refused to list the medicines that were approved by the PBAC, which included Symbicort for other respiratory conditions, in particular asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. It is my hope and my belief that such a time never happens again during our lives and during the course—

Andrew Wallace (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Macarthur on a point of order.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

There are many alternatives to Symbicort, the medicine that the minister is talking about. It wasn't a lifesaving medication. There is no comparison with Trikafta, which is bipartisan.

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) | Link to this | Hansard source

There you go. There is no repentance on their side for stopping the medicines. But I will finish with a message I received today, about why we do these things, from a friend who said: 'I have a close friend with a 23-year-old son with cystic fibrosis. My friend and her family have not slept since the Trikafta announcement. For their son, Ben, this drug will hopefully mean a chance to live his life rather than await an early death.' That is why we do what we do.