Jenny Ware (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of community pharmacists, particularly in my electorate of Hughes. I also rise to advocate on their behalf in relation to the government's proposed 60-day dispensing policy. The community pharmacy sector is a large and important industry within Australia. It has repeatedly been recognised by successive Australian governments as an integral part of Australia's world-class healthcare delivery system and enjoys a very high level of confidence from consumers.

Pharmacists are uniquely qualified and skilled to provide primary healthcare in many areas, alleviating the burden on our public hospitals and under-resourced GPs as well as providing medical advice and services to many Australians. It is estimated that almost 75,000 Australians work in the community pharmacy sector. There is a community pharmacy in almost every single town in Australia. Many of these towns do not have a GP.

The community pharmacy model is predicated upon its agreement with the federal government, known as 7CPA, which is to expire in June 2025. This provides remuneration guarantees to the community pharmacy sector in return for what amounts to a community services obligation, whereby community pharmacists provide a broad range of health services to the Australian community, either for free or at very low cost. We all know these services. Most of us have availed ourselves of these services. These include delivery of medications, free blood pressure checks, postnatal services—such as baby weighing, advice on feeding and sleeping—the packing and delivery of aged-care packages, the packaging of patient discharge medications from hospitals, and diabetes and methadone education and advice clinics.

Following inundation from my local pharmacists and many from further afield, I held a roundtable discussion to better understand the pharmacists' concerns around the proposed changes to the dispensing regime. I appreciated the attendance by pharmacists within the Hughes electorate as well as briefings from the Pharmaceutical Society of Australia and the Pharmacy Guild. Pharmacists advised me that the government's proposed policy change to the dispensing regime to 60 days for some medicines fundamentally alters the proposed structure, incentives and balance of the community pharmacy model. This puts the future viability of many community pharmacies at great risk.

While hailed by the government as providing cheaper medicines, the pharmacists advised me that the policy will, potentially, benefit only one group of Australians—the consumers of the 325 medicines subject to the policy change. The change imposes a much greater net cost on the Australian community overall. On this side, we want cheaper medicines. We want cheaper medicines for all Australians. However, there are unintended consequences of this change to government policy. It's a change that involved almost no consultation, from the minister, with the stakeholders most affected.

Potential consequences are the withdrawal of free pharmacy services to our most vulnerable Australians. It may also involve the closure and reduction in trading hours of pharmacies, increased costs for patients accessing primary healthcare services, job losses, medicine wastage and potential overdoses by patients now able to stockpile much larger quantities of medications than previously.

It is also, based on independent modelling, likely to lead to the closure of at least 200 community pharmacies, and potentially up to 600 community pharmacies throughout our country. The pharmacists wish to work with the federal government. They have asked that the policy's implementation be suspended to enable an evidence based independent review of the potential consequences of this policy. They've also asked that there be broad engagement with their sector.

To conclude: I want cheaper medicines. Those on my side want cheaper medicines for Australians. However, disregarding an existing arrangement with our community pharmacists, many of whom have relied upon that contract to make financial decisions and plan for their futures, is simply unfair practice. I therefore call upon government health minister Butler to properly engage, consult and review this decision.