Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes the Government's commitment to Medicare through the largest increase to Medicare rebates in thirty years and a tripling of the bulk billing incentive;

(2) acknowledges the Government's commitment to making it easier to see a doctor, making medicines cheaper, and strengthening Medicare after nine years of cuts, neglect and rorts; and

(3) calls on the Opposition to support the Government's policy to halve the cost of medicine for over six million Australians.

I'm delighted to take this opportunity to talk about the importance of our universal healthcare system through Medicare and what the Albanese Labor government is doing to strengthen and expand it. Before entering this place I worked in the health sector. One of the key things I learnt through that experience was the importance of early intervention and preventative health.

Cost is a significant barrier for people being able to access health care appropriately. I'm pleased to say that this principle of affordable health care is core to the way this government is strengthening Medicare. In the May budget we announced that we are tripling the bulk-billing incentive for regular appointments. This is the largest-ever increase in the incentive, meaning more Australians will be able to see a bulk-billing GP. We know how hard it is to get in to see a GP, let alone a bulk-billing one, so we are incentivising more GPs for more sessions to be bulk-billed.

GPs told me they want to keep bulk-billing because they know it is important for their patients to be able to see them in a timely manner. Under the previous government, former health minister Peter Dutton tried to introduce a co-payment and permanently eliminate bulk-billing in 2014. When that didn't work they turned around and froze Medicare rates for over six years. While the Medicare rate was frozen, certainly the cost of providing surgery wasn't. The number of GPs bulk-billing dropped significantly, but now we are acting to turn that around. The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners has called this massive investment 'a game changer' for general practice in Australia and one that is certainly needed.

Of course this isn't all we are doing to improve Medicare. This government knows that the cost-of-living pressures can and do have a very real impact on people's ability to access health care. That's why on 1 January we reduced the price paid for PBS prescriptions by $12.50 a script. The maximum you'll be out of pocket for scripts has been cut from $42.50 to $30. This means that, for the first time in the 75-year history of the PBS, the co-payment for general scripts has fallen. This measure alone has saved people in Boothby more than $900,000 on more than 93,000 prescriptions since 1 January this year.

Starting on 1 September, and in three tranches, over 300 PBS listed medications will be available for 60-day dispensing at your local pharmacy. This will save on trips to the chemist and cut out-of-pocket expenses for consumers. It also means patients won't need to go back to their GP so often just to get a prescription renewal, freeing up GPs to see other patients. As we've seen from other countries that have longer dispensing, in some instances up to two decades worth—sorry, two decades of long prescriptions, not two decades per prescription—it will lead to better compliance with taking medications, which leads to better health outcomes.

This change means patients living with a chronic stable condition will be able to buy two months worth of these medicines for the price of a single prescription, rather than the current 30-day supply. People with a Medicare card who are prescribed the relevant medications will save up to $180 every year per medicine, and concession card holders will save $43.80 a year for each eligible medicine. Longer prescriptions will halve the cost of medicines for over six million Australians, many of them older Australians, and it will also free up GP time. I would encourage those opposite to back this important reform to our health system.

Finally, in my electorate of Boothby we're getting on with the once-in-a-generation investment of $400 million to upgrade and expand Flinders Medical Centre in Bedford Park. The upgrade will equip Flinders to deliver high-quality services to southern Adelaide, decrease ramping and dramatically reduce pressure on the overall hospital network. I was delighted to be able to bring the Prime Minister and Premier Peter Malinauskas to Flinders earlier this year to announce the fast-tracking of 26 new acute inpatient beds at Flinders to ease the pressure on the hospital's emergency department. Later this year I hope to announce the site of the new urgent care clinic. Labor built Medicare and our universal health system, and Labor's the only party that can be trusted to deliver these kinds of major projects that make a real difference in Australians' lives.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Is there a seconder for the motion?

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for introducing this topic and opening the door to shine a light on the disparity between regional areas and our metropolitan cousins. I'll give credit where credit is due: the increase in the Medicare rebate was very welcome at a time when our communities are hurting across Australia. It was getting to a point where it was almost financially impossible for some people to actually go to the doctor because of the gap. Again, credit where credit is due—particularly for remote and rural Australia.

However, that's where the kudos stops. I have to say that it doesn't make it any easier to see a doctor in regional and rural Australia. Many people know that my father was a doctor in Kempsey in the seventies and eighties, and there were more doctors in Kempsey in the 1970s then there are now. It is literally impossible to get in to see a doctor in South West Rocks, Crescent Head or our smaller communities, and there are very lengthy waiting lists to get into see a doctor—when you can—who hasn't already closed their books. This problem has been compounded by Labor increasing the distribution priority areas across the state, and what we have seen is doctors go from these regional areas to more metropolitan areas. And you can't blame them. You can't blame them because this is their business. It is their core business. Yes, they care for their patients, but, if they're raising a family and things are tough, they're going to go to areas where they can see more patients and can charge more.

Before I go on, I'll go back one step to bulk billing. We will be watching very closely in our communities, because across Cowper only two per cent of doctors are currently bulk billing. With the increase in the payment, I'll be watching very closely and hoping that those doctors accept with gratitude the taxpayers' money and allow further bulk billing across the board for those who most need it. I'm happy to pay. Most people are happy to pay, but there has to be that availability to be bulk billed for the vulnerable and those less fortunate.

I'll get back to the distribution priority areas. In our last term I spent a lot of time ensuring that the DPA applied to all of Cowper because of the problems that we were facing in Crescent Head, South West Rocks and Bellingen. Unfortunately, the decision to expand the DPA has meant that now people are no longer able to see a doctor because either the books have closed or the doctors have moved.

We should also look at Labor's decision to halve the mental health sessions from 20 to 10. People struggled through COVID. We've all heard the statistics of how it's going to affect our young people and how it's affecting those who are now going to university. Mental health is high on the priority of all governments—all levels of government—so why would you halve the mental health sessions available from 20 to 10? You don't just get to 10 appointments and go, 'I'm fixed! I'm all good!' I've spoken to many psychologist, and one of them put it succinctly: you wouldn't ration your diabetes medication. You wouldn't ration medication for another ailment. Why would you ration the amount of times you can see a psychologist to get the treatment that you need? So what I'm asking Labor to do is consider the regions when they develop their policy. Consider the people who live in the country, who are the backbone and who put the food on the table for us to all eat in the future.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate of Bennelong, just like in many across our country, our community is struggling with the costs of living. In and amongst that, of course, I've had countless constituents approach me to raise their concerns about the increased costs of seeing a doctor, and I understand why. I vividly recall a time when visiting a doctor was free. But now, in Bennelong, like most communities, gap fees of $30, $40, $50 and even up to $80 have become the norm. In my adult life, seeing a doctor has gone from being free to being $80. In the past decade, the freeze on Medicare rebates imposed by the Liberal-National government has forced doctors to seek alternative means of covering costs, leading to the normalisation and proliferation of gap fees. These fees now place immense strain on families who have already been grappling with the rising costs of living. In that time, we've witnessed the erosion of our healthcare system with increasing out-of-pocket expenses and growing gaps in medical coverage.

We cannot ignore that nearly a million Australians are forced to forego essential health services and medicines every year due to these costs. This is an unacceptable reality and one that the new government is committed to addressing. Our actions thankfully speak louder than our words. We are committed to rebuilding general practice, and, after nine years of cuts and neglect by the former government, we are resolute in continuing to make Medicare stronger for all Australians. The historic investments announced in the first two Albanese budgets are unparalleled as we are tripling the bulk-billing incentive, the most significant increase in its 40-year history. This move will benefit over five million children and their families, along with more than seven million pensioners and concession cardholders, making it easier for them to see a bulk-billed GP. This unprecedented increase will provide benefit to an estimated 67,000 people in my electorate of Bennelong. The 2023-24 budget has delivered much-needed support, totalling around $6.1 billion, into general practice and introduced reforms to empower GPs. This includes the $3½ billion in bulk-billing incentives, which I've just mentioned. This will ease the rising cost-of-living pressures for millions of Australians. Moreover, we are investing in a diverse health workforce with targeted scholarships and incentives to encourage more health workers to serve in regional and rural areas, addressing the healthcare disparities that exist in our regions.

A crucial part of our focus is on making medicines cheaper and more accessible for those with ongoing health conditions. From 1 September, around 36,000 members of my community in Bennelong and over six million Australians across the country will benefit from cheaper medicines, with 60-day prescriptions for a range of medicines. This initiative means that individuals with a Medicare card buying those medicines will save up to $180 a year while concession card holders will save about $43.80 per eligible medicine. It's a significant step forward in relieving the financial burden on households while ensuring that their health needs are met. This measure, combined with the steps we have already taken by reducing the PBS co-payment for anyone with a Medicare card to $30 down from $42, will help put $130 million back into the pockets of hardworking Australians.

I enjoy receiving updates on how much this measure has been taken up by my community in Bennelong. Already since the announcement of that policy, locals have saved almost $1 million on over 81,000 scripts handed out in Bennelong. The significance of these investments and initiatives cannot be overstated. They're more than just policies; they represent a genuine commitment by this government to fix Medicare after the decade of neglect from those opposite. By rebuilding general practice, tripling the bulk-billing incentive and making medicines more affordable, we are putting health care back within reach of those who need it most. It's not just about addressing immediate needs; it's about investing in our long-term wellbeing and our population.

Our government's commitment to Medicare is unwavering, and we are determined to make health care more accessible and more affordable for all Australians no matter where you live. This is not just about talking; it's about the action that we've delivered now in two budgets. Labor created Medicare and will always act in its best interest.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

Our universal healthcare system promises all Australians access to a full range of quality healthcare services when and where they're needed without financial hardship. It is the responsibility of our government to provide cost-effective, transparent and fair access to medicines. In recent years, the out-of-pocket costs to patients of GP visits and of medicines have become an increasing burden in a time of severe cost-of-living pressures. For this reason I have supported the Albanese government's decision to reduce the patient contribution to medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. That 30 per cent reduction in cost represents very real and very significant savings for Australian households.

We need our medications to be not just affordable; they have to be available as well. Australia imports more than 90 per cent of its medications. We are reliant on international supply chains. From 1 July new regulations mandate larger onshore stock holdings of some medications in this country, which may help, but we'd also benefit from a review of our sovereign manufacturing capacity and how our government can support it better. While our domestic market is small, we have established supply chains and proximity to Pacific markets. This government should expand our manufacturing capacity, decrease sovereign risk and support our Pacific partners by fostering local manufacturing of medicines.

Many of my Kooyong constituents previously expressed frustration regarding the need for unnecessary and costly visits to GPs for repeat prescriptions and the limits placed on supply in our pharmacies. For that reason I suggested, and was really happy to see the government adopt in the 2023 budget, a change in prescribing laws, permitting up to 60 days worth of medication and 12-month scripts for more than 300 commonly prescribed medications. Those changes will be rolled out in three tranches from September. They will decrease the price of those 300 medications by up to $180 per medication per year. Australians will save more than $1.6 billion over the next four years through the introduction of 60-day prescriptions. As an Independent member but also as a doctor aware of the stress and the cost of medications for many Australians, I am truly proud to have been the first to propose this initiative to this House in this parliament and to have the government respond promptly and appropriately.

We've seen what the government can do when it takes scientific advice and it acts decisively and effectively. We need more of the same in our health care and in our economy. All funds saved by the government through this initiative will be reinvested into community pharmacies. They will strengthen the range and the depth of services provided by those pharmacies, especially in rural and regional settings. Some remote pharmacies will receive more than $90,000 a year in funding from 1 July, and the recent seven per cent increase in the indexation of PBS medications will give pharmacies an average of more than $40,000 a year more in annual funding from our government.

With that federal support should come a commitment to responsible dispensing. The Seventh Community Pharmacy Agreement stipulates the need for transparency, appropriateness and cost effectiveness in provision of pharmacy services supported by taxpayer funds, yet taxpayers are currently paying exorbitant prices for vapes flogged to pharmacies for a fraction of those costs by big tobacco. There are also concerns regarding the conflict inherent in pharmaceutical suppliers owning shares in vaping companies. Our government must continually review federally subsidised prescribing and dispensing to ensure that it always accords with the National Strategy for Quality Use of Medicines.

Our health dollar is finite and precious. All Australians deserve reliable, equitable and affordable access to safe medicines. As an Independent member of this parliament, I will hold this government to that standard.

Tracey Roberts (Pearce, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Boothby. The Albanese Labor government is working hard to deliver the positive change that the nation and the people of Pearce in Western Australia voted for. After the wasted decade under the coalition, we are building a strong foundation for a better future for all Australians by strengthening Medicare. I know families are facing cost-of-living pressures, especially in my electorate, as they have had to think twice before visiting a GP for a regular check-up or refilling regular PBS scripts. For example, an elderly resident of Banksia Grove contacted my office very distressed as she had to change doctors and struggled to find one close by who bulk billed. A Eglinton resident also wrote to me expressing his concern that more than one-third of patients in Pearce can no longer access a bulk billed GP appointment. Many in the Pearce electorate have had to rely on the Dial-A-Doctor after-hours mobile service, which bulk bills, but, as it serves the whole community of Perth, the wait times are often very long.

My electorate is one of the fastest-growing and largest in Australia, growing by 8,000 new residents each year, so access to good medical services is of critical importance. We have a young generation. We have seniors in our community. We have families and singles. So, it's important that Medicare is working as effectively as it could be. I know of one young mother in Yanchep that stayed overnight at a friend's house in Eglinton simply so she could access services for her baby. These, unfortunately, are very clear examples of why the Albanese government is tripling the bulk-billing incentive for some of the most vulnerable people in our communities.

This historic investment will help over five million children and their families to see a bulk billed GP. It will also support more than seven million pensioners and concession cardholders. Together, these groups account for three out of every five visits to a GP. This has been welcomed by the health sector and GPs across Australia and is an absolute win for our most vulnerable citizens. We have also increased rebates more in a single year than the former government did in seven years. In addition to increasing the investment in bulk billing we are investing in a $1.5 billion indexation boost to every single Medicare rebate. This increases the amount that GPs receive for Medicare services, reducing the pressure to charge people more to get the health care that they need.

As for our GPs, they deserve more than our thanks after working tirelessly through the pandemic and continuing on with their good work. That is why we are also investing a further $2.2 billion into reforms that will strengthen Medicare into the future, including payments for GPs to grow their teams, new rebates for long consultations, easier access to telehealth and so much more.

We went into the election last year with a commitment to making medicines cheaper by dropping the maximum PBS copayment to $30. In government, we were given a mandate by the people to deliver on that promise, and we delivered on that promise. Australians have saved $118 million on more than 11 million cheaper prescriptions. This includes 646,963 in the electorate of Pearce. We are also creating urgent care clinics across the country. The urgent care clinic located in my electorate of Pearce will provide convenient bulk-billed medical care that is closer to home for families in our fast-growing outer metropolitan suburbs. I know that many families who have had to wait long hours to receive medical treatment for non-life-threatening issues now will be able to head to an urgent care clinic near them. I welcome the opening of the Medicare urgent care clinic expected to open from 7 August at the Ocean Keys Family Practice in Clarkson, and I applaud Dr Tim Koh and his team of dedicated staff.

Labor built Medicare, and we will always protect it while making it stronger so it continues to work for the people of our great nation. In just over a year, the Albanese government has achieved so much. We have come a long way, but there's still a lot more work to do.

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

It's interesting to come into this chamber and hear members opposite talk about health care, because, as they say, the proof is in the pudding. Those members opposite have for such a long time complained about how, allegedly, we were going to scrap Medicare. We all remember the 'Mediscare' campaign in the 2016 election campaign. Of course, that was all proven to be absolute rubbish, but it doesn't stop them from continuing with their fabrications.

It's really interesting to hear those opposite talk about Medicare and pharmaceuticals because, as I said before, the proof is in the pudding. I want to use a very salient and topical example, and that's the town of Montville. Those opposite are patting themselves on the back and saying how wonderful they are in government for making changes to health care. Well, I can tell you now that there are not too many people in the township of Montville in my electorate who share government members' view about how wonderful a job they are doing. Why? At the beginning of this year, in January, Montville lost its doctor. Ochre Health said that it was no longer economically viable for them to continue to operate in Montville, so, regrettably, they pulled out. They closed down their surgery, and they were the only GP in Montville.

What followed from that? After the Labor Party announced their changes to Medicare and their increase in funding to Medicare, I got on the phone to one of the directors of Ochre Health and said: 'Will this make a difference? Is this enough for you to stay in town? Can you bring a doctor back?' 'No, it won't make any difference,' he said. It'll make no difference to Ochre's business model. They're not coming back. So that was very unfortunate. The people of Montville now no longer have a doctor. What flowed from the fact that Montville no longer has a doctor? People go to see a doctor in Maleny or Nambour.

What that means is that, particularly as a result of the increase in the cost of living and the cost of doing business—which some of those opposite may have heard me talking about in question time today—Montville has just lost its pharmacist. Its pharmacy closed yesterday. Why? Because there's no doctor in town anymore. Natalie Lindner, who was the pharmacist in Montville, specifically said that the change by the Labor government to the 60-day dispensing rule has meant that her business will no longer be viable. Losing the doctor, losing the pharmacy and now having the newsagent talking about closing—these things have a knock-on effect in a small country town.

Those members opposite in the Labor government did no economic modelling whatsoever. They talked to some of the very large pharmacies, but they didn't talk to community pharmacists about the impact that this was going to have. We warned them. The Pharmacy Guild warned them that there would be closures of pharmacies in small towns. Either they didn't listen or they did not care—one of the two—but they were warned that small pharmacies, mum-and-dad community pharmacies, would close. And guess what: the first one closed yesterday, and it happens to be in my electorate, in Montville.

I can tell you now that the people in Montville—the same 775 people who signed a petition that I tabled in the last sitting week—are not congratulating the Labor government on their reforms, on the so-called wonderful work that they are doing in health in this country.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Fisher, if only the 775 members of Montville had been represented by someone in a federal government for 10 years! Maybe if they had been represented by someone in a federal government for 10 years which didn't want to attack Medicare every time the word was mentioned, which didn't want to freeze Medicare bulk-billing incentives, which actually listened to the advice about 60-day dispensing and introduced it in the targeted, staged way that this government is introducing it, with allowances for pharmacists in country towns like Montville which mean that in the first year dispensing revenue that might be lost from 60-day dispensing will be offset and then over four years would step down, maybe Montville would still have a GP and still have a pharmacist!

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

And a newsagent.

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

And a newsagent, yes. Thank you, Member for Boothby. Instead of coming into this place and somehow or other pretending that a government that in its first 12 months has done more to reduce the cost of going to the doctor and the cost of accessing pharmaceuticals than the last 10 years of multiple Liberal-National party governments—maybe, if the member for Fisher actually properly engaged with the needs of his electorate, they wouldn't be in the situation that they are in.

In my community of Dunkley we have a priority primary care centre. We have an urgent care clinic that was started by the state government and is now 100 per cent funded by the federal government, as we promised we would do before the election. There's one in Dandenong. There's one in Frankston, which is my electorate. There's one in Prahran and there's one in Narre Warren. Already since the federal government has taken over funding or established those clinics, they have collectively treated over 20,000 people, according to the South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network. Every day, I am getting feedback from locals from Dunkley who needed to access a GP after hours and now, instead of having to wait hours and hours at the admittedly excellent Frankston Hospital emergency room, serviced by excellent practitioners, people in Dunkley can go to the priority primary care centre and get help for the sprains, the head knocks and the stomach bugs when they need it, and they can be bulk-billed.

When members of the coalition such as the member for Fisher doubt the commitment of people on this side of the chamber to Medicare and pharmaceuticals, which is how he opened his contribution, I just say: be very careful what you say. We have a caucus over here with people who have served their communities as doctors, as nurses and as nurse practitioners. We have a community of people in this caucus who understand what it's like to have to go and get a script filled every 30 days, who understand that the difference between $30 for a prescription and $42 or $43 for a prescription, when you have to get five or six prescriptions at the same time, is a massive cost-of-living measure, is a massive health measure. We represent communities where people don't take medicine that they need, because they can't afford it. The changes to the cost of medicine introduced in January, the changes to the bulk-billing incentive freeze, the changes which will mean that not only can people pick up their prescriptions every 60 days but they can go to the doctor less and pick up the prescription for half the price are good for consumers, and consumers of the health system are by definition people in need.

Pharmacists will survive. Doctors will do better. But do you know who will absolutely be better off? People with not very much money who are vulnerable and in need. They're the ones we're here to protect.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on member for Boothby's motion relating to health care and I'd like acknowledge the incredible work of the former Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, and the former coalition government, who added 2,800 drugs to the PBS, representing an average of 30 per month. I know how hard Minister Hunt worked on doing this in his time in that portfolio. We also saw an increase in Medicare funding from $19 billion to $36 billion a year, and bulk-billing, despite what those opposite say, increased under the previous government from 82½ per cent to 88½ per cent. I am informed we're now seeing bulk billing rates decrease under the watch of the current health minister.

I think those opposite may have forgotten a little bit that this budget of the Department of Health and Aged Care seems to be a bit of a cost-saving measure for the Treasurer. I say that because we see Medicare subsidised psychology sessions halved, Medicare urgent-care clinics pushed back—and I know this personally because one was meant to be in my electorate—and the removal of Fiasp from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in a few months. It absolutely keeps, in particular, young people with type 1 diabetes alive. We see 60-day dispensing, which will cut money out of pharmacies in every town and city across our country, and they are absolutely crying out for help. I'm not talking about big pharmacies; I'm talking about little community pharmacies and the threat of closing. I've had really distressed pharmacists come and see me about that. They are one-person shows and they don't know what to do with the measures that are coming into place through this government.

The government talks a big game on health, but the fact is they're not delivering what Australians need right now. Take the Better Access Initiative as a prime example. The minister announced in December 2022 that he would take the government backed psychology sessions from 20 to 10. On the very first day of this year, those sessions were cut. I know many psychologists who did not get a Christmas break as they saw desperate Australians who needed to use the additional sessions to complete their treatment or because they were rewriting their treatment plans. So many families were blindsided by the Labor health minister's decision. I had crying families come to me with their stories about using up the allocated sessions a few months into the year, and with the cost-of-living crisis they are struggling to provide for their children's mental health needs. I have young people as young as 16 saying that they're now making the decision of whether to put food on the table or to have their psychology sessions, because they don't have the support of their families. This is just not fair.

Fiasp is a fast-acting insulin which 15,000 Australians rely on daily. It is amazing because it's rapid relief for those with diabetes. This is transforming lives and making sure that young people who may have had to sit on the sideline can actually be like normal kids. It means they can get back to playing sport and to their daily life and not have to think about type 1 diabetes every single minute of the day. But, yet again, as another cost-saving measure, we see Fiasp being cut from the PBS, and it was at short notice. People were really blindsided. Patients were given only a few weeks to renew their scripts; they had to get them done within weeks and have them signed off by April. Now we have until October, when it will cost families so much more for this life-saving insulin. In fact, they're probably not going to be able to access it, unless some serious negotiation is taking place behind the scenes. I seriously hope that the outcome will be positive for the thousands of families who need this insulin.

In terms of the Medicare urgent care clinics, Labor made such a big deal of this in my electorate during the election campaign, and they did it to win votes. We were promised that it would be up and running by now, and it has not been delivered in the time frame possible. Paring back and taking away the politics, this was promised to my community. We want the urgent care clinic so people can start using it. It's causing strain on Nepean Hospital, and there has been uncertainty about the delivery. I think that's another broken promise by this Labor government just to buy votes in a marginal seat during an election campaign, and that is absolutely not right.

There's also the government's 60-day dispensing policy. Sunit operates two TerryWhite pharmacies in my community, and he said that he'll have to charge $20 for the Webster packing, instead of $2. These are real people with small businesses supporting our community, and they are suffering with the uncertainty of the cuts to the 60-day dispensing. This is not a government that cares about the health of Australians.

Bridget Archer (Bass, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.