Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the biggest weekends of doorknocking for me during the campaign was when I had the pleasure of announcing that Sturt would be getting an urgent care clinic—a walk-up, fully bulk-billed centre residents can go to when they need something urgently but don't need to go to hospital. That weekend, I met Natalie, who works in healthcare administration, managing urgent care clinics in South Australia. When I told Natalie that Sturt would be getting an urgent care clinic—there was not one in Sturt at the time—Natalie let out an audible cheer, because Natalie knows that urgent care clinics work. Over one million visits by Australians tell us that, and that is why we are opening more—50 more, including in Sturt.

Urgent care clinics were new to David, who I also met whilst I was doorknocking in my electorate of Sturt during the campaign. David was elderly and had fallen and injured his hip. He took a while to answer the door, due to his mobility, and when he did answer it and we got chatting, he told me that he was in pain and he couldn't get in to see his general practitioner. I told him about urgent care clinics and that the way they worked was that he could simply attend one on a walk-up basis, be seen by a doctor on a bulk-billed basis and get a prescription for pain medication if one was required. At the time, there was not an urgent care clinic in Sturt, and David's nearest urgent care clinic was in Para Hills, a taxi ride away. Despite that, David said that urgent care clinics sounded 'pretty good', and was very relieved to hear that Sturt would soon be home to an urgent care clinic and that the people of Sturt could access walk-up, bulk-billed services without placing more strain on the hospital system in circumstances where they couldn't get in to see their preferred general practitioner. David was right. It not only sounds like a good idea, it is a good idea. One million visits from the people of Australia tell us that it is a good idea.

Another good idea, as we know, is cheaper medicines, which form part of the suite of measures for making health care more affordable and more accessible to all Australians. Urgent care clinics, more doctors and nurses, more bulk-billed places, more investment in women's health and mental health medical centres, in addition to cheaper medicines, are good for the hip pocket; they are good for the health and wellbeing of all Australians; and, as we know, they are good for the economy, because a healthy population drives a productive and successful economy.

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

I rise today in support of the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025, a bill which will deliver tangible cost-of-living relief to millions of Australians by reducing the maximum Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme co-payment from $31.60 to $25 from 1 January 2026. This is a welcome step. It will save families hundreds of dollars a year, and it will make essential medicines more accessible to those who need them most.

This government has done a lot to make medicines more affordable. In the last term of government, it brought in the 60-day prescription policy, which allows up to 12 months of medication at a time from a single script, with two months worth being dispensed at a time. This was a welcome change, which is expected to save more than $1.6 billion over four years for patients on stable doses of medication living with chronic conditions.

I have to say, though, that we've had relatively low uptake of the scheme to date. Only 21 per cent of eligible medicines were dispensed as 60-day scripts by the end of last year. Despite that, the policy has already saved consumers more than $110 million. If uptake increases to 50 per cent, annual savings could exceed $310 million for patients and $297 million for the government, primarily through reduced dispensing fees. I have to take some credit for this government's savings because I was the first person to raise this issue—the possibility of this policy change in the House—when I asked the minister if he would consider it, in early 2023. I was grateful to the government for considering the measure and adopting it. Like this bill, it was aimed at making things easier for Australians dealing with pretty significant cost-of-living pressures. But, while this bill is a positive move, it is not enough. It is a bandaid on a system which requires comprehensive reform.

As a paediatric neurologist who worked in a public health system for more than three decades, I know firsthand the importance of timely access to affordable and effective treatments. I also understand the frustration of patients and clinicians when access to life-changing therapies is delayed or denied because of outdated, opaque and slow approval processes. The waits are simply too long in our system. The average wait for approval under the Therapeutic Goods Administration is 12 months. For a clinical trial, it's at least a few months—long months when you've got patients desperate to get access to an exciting new possible therapeutic. For PBAC approvals, it's 22 months. For MSAC approvals, it's 12 to14 months. Horrifyingly, the average time for the approval of a new vaccine under the National Immunisation Program—from the time of TGA approval until listed on the NIP—is 1,375 days. That is 3.8 years.

I experienced those timelines firsthand when, after leading world-first clinical trials in children with severe neuromuscular conditions at the Royal Children's Hospital, I had to go, cap in hand, to the TGA and the PBAC and fight to have new medications and gene therapies approved and funded. It took years of advocacy, with families and with pharma, to secure access to those treatments for all Australian children. That is a false economy; we are talking about the health of Australians.

Just last week I met with a constituent who recently tried and failed to have an agent fast-tracked under our PBAC. The agent was actually TGA approved years ago; he was just trying to get it funded by the PBAC. He had spent a million dollars trying to get that approval. It failed because the government would not negotiate significantly on price. He's been offered the chance to reapply under the standard approval pathways, but he asked a very appropriate question: why would he bother? Why would he spend more of his money doing that, with a very limited chance of success? We are not rewarding those who are doing their best to bring new treatments to this country.

I've also heard recently from constituents whose children have been unable to access proton therapy. This is the best form of radiotherapy for brain tumours and many other forms of cancer. Despite attempts to bring it to our country, despite failed attempts by the South Australian and Victorian governments, proton therapy is still not available in Australia. That means that our children with brain tumours have to go overseas to access it, after their parents—these are parents who are under stress, dealing with the critical illness of their child—have had to jump through the endless hoops of the medical treatment overseas program to get them there.

I often hear as well from constituents who are frustrated that they cannot access the medicines they need. I've just spoken in this House about the many constituents who would like to access Novavax vaccines for COVID—can't do it. The PBS listings that were announced in this year's budget are a step forward for women's health. We've been hearing ad nauseum from the government about new listings for oral contraceptives, menopause and endometriosis. That's fantastic, but, if those women's HRT agents are unavailable, they find themselves having to settle for poor alternatives at a higher price. And they're not alone. Hundreds of medications are in short supply in this country at any one point in time. I've heard from palliative care physicians who can't get hold of the right forms of morphine for patients who are in pain and who are dying. I've heard from parents who can't get their kids' ADHD medications. I've heard of people who can't access their cardiac medications and the antibiotics that they want, need and deserve.

Both yesterday and today I've met in the House with vaccine providers, who have discussed their frustration with the barriers to approvals and funding in this country, particularly with respect to the mishmash of federal and state support for immunisation programs. I've often heard in Kooyong and in Canberra from constituents and carers frustrated by the variability of vaccine schedules from state to state and the variable funding of administration of vaccines by councils or by community pharmacists in different territories and states.

The health technology assessment system is the backbone of how we assess, approve and fund new medicines and medical technologies in Australia. The health technology assessment review was commissioned by the department of health in 2021 in response to a report from the joint standing committee on health, disability and ageing. That review was released in 2024. It exposed critical shortcomings in how Australia evaluates and funds new medicines and technologies. Those issues directly affect the speed and ease with which Australians can access novel life-saving therapies. The review called for a more transparent, more timely, more patient centred approach to the evaluation of new treatments. It recognised the need to better incorporate real-world evidence, consumer input and health equity into decision-making.

In response to that review, which was released, as you will remember, in late 2024, the Health Technology Assessment Review Implementation Advisory Group was established in November 2024, but there has been very limited progress since that time. Patients are still waiting. Their parents and the people who care for them are still waiting. Clinicians are still waiting. Researchers and industry are still waiting for action on the HTA review. We cannot afford to wait any longer.

The fact is that the PBS system which we all treasure has recently come under significant and renewed attack from large international pharmaceutical companies which have successfully mobilised the US government to apply pressure here and in other countries with schemes similar to the PBS. Those companies have variously criticised our PBS for allowing generic medicines to compete in the market, for freeloading by contributing insufficiently to the cost of research and development of new drugs and for taking years to approve new medicines and thereby creating a massive backlog of approvals. The Albanese government has rightly defended the PBS, and I think everyone in this place would do that. But the fact is that our therapeutic goods approval bodies would benefit by not being beyond reasonable criticism, because the criticism that they have received is reasonable. They are slow and they are overly administratively burdensome.

So this bill, while it is important, will not address the systemic delays that prevent Australians from accessing new therapies. It will not fix the bottlenecks in the TGA, the PBAC or the MSAC. It will not ensure that our health system is ready to evaluate and fund the next generation of personalised medicines, digital health tools and breakthrough therapies. Cheaper medicines are good, but faster access to the best medicines for all Australians is better. We need a system that recognises the complexity and wonder of modern medicine, one which is agile enough to respond to emerging health needs, one which puts patients, not bureaucracy, at its centre. So, I urge the Minister for Health and Ageing to prioritise the full and urgent implementation of the HTA review recommendations.

I do support this bill, but I also call on this parliament to look beyond it, to build a health system which is not just cheaper but smarter, fairer and faster. Australians deserve more than just cheaper medicines. They deserve the best medicines at the right time at a price that they can afford.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to speak in support of this bill before the House tonight, the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. At its heart this bill is about something simple but powerful: making sure people can afford the medicines they need—not in theory, not in a few years, but right now, in the middle of a cost-of-living crunch, when every dollar matters. This is a bill that goes to the core of what we value as Australians: fairness, equity and the belief that no-one should have to compromise their health because of what's in their wallet.

We know the price of essentials has been creeping up, whether it's at the grocery shop, in the electricity bill or on the fuel gauge. For far too many Australians that pressure has included the pharmacy counter. For many Australians medicines are a significant cost-of-living pressure, affecting women at almost twice the rate of men. In fact, in 2023-24, nearly 1.2 million Australians delayed or did not fill a script because of the cost. That's not just a number. That's real people—mums, dads, grandparents—having to make an impossible choice between their health and their household budget.

I've had countless conversations in Newcastle with people who've told me they've had to delay filling a script or cut tablets in half to make them last longer. Imagine being told by your doctor that you need a full dose to stay healthy and then having to take the risk of halving it because you simply can't afford the next box. That's not how a world-class health system should work. You shouldn't have to gamble with your health just to keep the lights on. That's what this bill is designed to fix.

This legislation is practical and targeted. It will cut the maximum PBS copayment. That's the most you'll pay for many common medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This bill will also keep the copayment freeze for concession card holders going even longer, so pensioners, veterans and others on fixed incomes will know that they're not going to be hit with these price hikes. These are practical changes that mean immediate savings for households, without undermining the pharmacies that are so critical to our health system. This is smart, sensible reform that balances affordability for more than 5.1 million patients with sustainability for providers.

I always like to bring these big national reforms home, literally, and look at what they mean for Newcastle. Since Labor first reduced the PBS copayment last year, Novocastrians have saved more than $10 million from more than 1.2 million scripts, under Labor's cheaper-medicines bill, for a maximum $25 copayment. They'll save millions more. That's pensioners in Wallsend who can now afford every script on the list. It's young parents in Mayfield who don't have to choose between asthma medication for their kids and paying the water bill. It's people with chronic conditions—diabetes, high blood pressure, mental health needs—who can stay on track with their treatment instead of ending up in hospital. We know the flow-on effect: healthier people, fewer preventable hospital visits and a health system that works better for everyone. These are the kinds of flow-on effects we really want to see. When you take the financial stress out of filling a prescription, you improve lives and you take pressure off the hospital system, which is something that every government and every hospital administrator wants to see.

It's worth pausing for a moment here to look at the difference in approach between the Albanese Labor government and those opposite, the coalition, when it comes to health. Labor's record over the past three years speaks for itself: more free and cheaper medicines sooner, with a 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts a concessional patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in, and the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS, with the maximum cost of a general script falling from $42.50 to $30—and, now with this bill, going down even further to just $25. We've had 60-day prescriptions, saving time and money for millions of Australians with ongoing health conditions. We've have the freezing of the cost of PBS medicines, with co-payments not rising with inflation for all Australians for the first time in 25 years. We've had the tripling of the bulk-billing incentives for GPs, helping to keep care affordable and accessible. We've also had the opening of Medicare urgent care clinics right across the country, including one at Charlestown, near Newcastle, so people can get seen quickly without a wait in an emergency department. We are expanding access to life-saving scans and tests under Medicare.

Now let's compare that with the track record of the coalition parties. They froze Medicare rebates for six long years, pushing up GP costs and forcing more people into emergency departments. They knocked back proposals for cheaper medicines when they were in office, keeping prices higher for patients. They cut funding for hospitals and, instead of fixing them, picked fights with the states. Back in my part of the world, they also closed GP Access After Hours services. This was the only access to bulk-billing that many people had in our region.

The difference is crystal clear: Labor strengthens Medicare and makes medicines cheaper; the Liberals and the National Party weakened Medicare and let prices soar. So let's be clear: when you reduce the cost of common medicines like cholesterol tablets, antibiotics, blood pressure meds and antidepressants, you're delivering relief where people actually feel it. This isn't about a one-off bonus or a token gesture; it's money back in people's pockets every single month. And for concession card holders, pensioners, veterans and people doing it tough, that relief is locked in for years. Every dollar matters, especially now, and this bill delivers real, practical help.

I want to take a moment to shout out to the incredible pharmacists and pharmacy teams that we have in Newcastle. They are so much more than dispensers of medicines. These are people who know their communities inside out. They know their customers by name. They notice when someone seems a little off and they check in. They go that extra mile for people who might be struggling, because, for so many, the local pharmacy is the most accessible point of care. In suburbs right across Newcastle, our pharmacies are community health hubs. They're where people go for advice, for their flu shots, for wound care, for emergency contraception and for support in managing chronic conditions.

For some people, particularly those in vulnerable circumstances, the pharmacy might be the only face-to-face health professional they see regularly, and let's not forget the role they played during the pandemic. They kept doors open, provided vaccines, answered questions and calmed fears. They were a lifeline then, and they continue to be so now. So when we talk about cheaper medicines, remember that these are the people who will be administering this important measure. Cheaper medicines only work if there's a trusted pharmacist there to provide them, and in Newcastle we are so lucky to have some of the very best.

This bill is also part of a bigger picture—a vision for a health system that is accessible so you don't miss out on the care because of cost, sustainable so GPs, pharmacists, nurses and hospitals can keep delivering world-class care for generations to come and affordable so people can afford to stay healthy. Labor believes in Medicare as the cornerstone of universal health care, and this bill strengthens that foundation. We're not just responding to the immediate cost-of-living crisis, although that is critical; we're also laying the groundwork for a future where people can get the care they need when they need it without worrying about the bill. That's what Labor governments do. We strengthen Medicare, we make medicines cheaper and we make the health system fairer for everyone.

To my colleagues across the chamber: this is a moment to put politics aside and back something in to make a tangible difference in every single electorate. This bill delivers relief for families and pensioners under cost-of-living pressures. It delivers health outcomes that keep people well and out of hospital. It delivers a stronger, fairer Medicare for the future. This isn't a symbolic vote. This isn't about securing political points. It's about people and about good health outcomes for our communities everywhere.

There are 150 of us here in this lower house, representing millions of Australians, and I am pretty certain there would not be one seat in this chamber that didn't have constituents who want to see affordable, reliable access to high-quality health care under the Medicare system—people who are right now standing at the pharmacy counter, wondering if they can afford every script their doctor has prescribed. They're the people we're trying to help now—people who are choosing between a blood pressure tablet and a bag of groceries, people who are cutting their tablets in half, hoping it will get them through to the next payday. That's the reality for far too many Australians, and every one of us in this chamber has the power to change that reality for the better today.

Health should never be a luxury. It should never depend on the size of your pay packet or the postcode where you live. It should be universal, affordable and accessible for every person who calls Australia home. That's what this bill is about. It's about saying clearly, 'Your health matters more than profits, more than politics, more than anything else.'

Let me say this again: cheaper medicines are not just good policy; they're good economics. Keeping people well keeps them out of hospital. It keeps people at work. It keeps families strong. It takes pressure off an already stretched health system. More importantly, it's the right course of action. A government is ultimately judged by how well it helps those who need a hand, and this bill does exactly that. It makes life that little bit easier. It makes life that bit fairer. It makes life healthier.

To those opposite I say: do not block this. Do not delay this. Do not play politics with people's health. Support this bill. Stand with families doing it tough. Stand with the pensioners and veterans. Stand with every Australian who deserves access to the medicines they need without breaking the bank. That is why I'm proud to support this legislation. It's Labor values in action—fairness, compassion and practical help when people need it most.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this legislation. It's a great privilege to be able to speak on the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. When we think practically about this legislation, I think about it through the lens of the lived reality of so many Australians right now. So many Australians today are struggling with the financial pressure of finding the balance between the cost of their housing, being in a position to afford either their mortgage or their rent and going to the supermarket and being able to fill up a basket of groceries and make choices about whether they're going to be able to pay at the ATM. Then they go on and, of course, make other tough financial decisions about car payments, petrol and essential items, like medicines and going to the doctor. At every point along that transaction journey, people are faced with acute choices about trade-offs and priorities in their life. Nobody ever wants to face a moment in their life where the choice is between their health and wellbeing, the longevity of their life and the fullness of their capacity from being able to afford access to medicines and health care. That is always the basis on which this parliament is seeking to debate health legislation—how we empower people to take agency and responsibility for their health and wellbeing and how we find the right balance so that we can make sure that no Australian ever faces that tough choice.

But there is no point in pretending that, as part of the ongoing conversation around what is sustainable for the future of the country, there is not always tension in this debate, because we know there are medicines that don't get listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Not every medicine that's available is listed by the current government, despite their commentary, nor has every drug been listed by every previous government in the past and nor will every treatment option in the future be listed. There are the realities of the costs and the innovative impacts and experimental nature that they may have. So we always take a sober, balanced approach to say to Australians, 'We need to make sure that we're meeting you to achieve the best outcome we can achieve for every Australian to advance Australia fair'—for want of a better phrase, without wanting to be twee about it.

The current government has said that that price is going to be $25 per script to be able to achieve the best outcome to maximise choice and for people to be able to get access to the medicines they need to manage conditions. The demand is real. Nobody's disputing this. We're living longer, healthier, happier lives. In so many ways, that's a beautiful and wonderful thing. Only a few generations ago, people might have been taken out by conditions which can now be managed as chronic conditions with support or access to innovative medicines that simply didn't exist only years ago. But the PBS comes at a cost, and we want to support Australians to manage that cost.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which is part of a bulk-purchasing arrangement of government, helps millions of Australians every single year afford the medicines they need, where they can go to a simple pharmacy after they've seen their doctor and get a medication dispensed. They can get the support and treatment they need and meet it with a copayment so that they can get the assistance that they need to manage their own care pathway. It's about working with pharmacies, with pharmacists, with their doctors and in particular through primary health care, not just so we get the best health outcomes for patients, though we do manage the best care pathways for patients, but also to reduce the overall cost for the health system and stop the risk over time that people graduate up to the tertiary system and find themselves in hospital.

We all win when people take responsibility for their lives and their healthcare pathways and get the best outcome. That's why the coalition has always been such a strong supporter of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. I remember the time I was last in parliament. One of the most tragic things was when, during the previous terms of Labor governments, they deprioritised listings of medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme because they wanted to prioritise other avenues of the health system to do things like boost the pathways for unions to tax their take at the expense of access to medicines for vulnerable Australians. One of the things that we were proudest to do over that period from 2013 through to 2022 was to increase the volume of medications, often for rarer conditions, for people who were simply left behind by previous Labor governments—rarer conditions that often led, tragically, to a death sentence. There were particular types of cancers or rarer conditions that weren't traditionally part of the mainstream.

We all understand the importance of things like cholesterol medication and other types of statins and the like that are often used by Australians on an everyday basis. But those rarer conditions can often mean not just the slow corrosion of somebody's wellbeing but the very difference between life and death. When those medications are able to be listed because we have a strong economy, a balance sheet and, more importantly, a government that understands that you have the capacity to provide the health services that Australians on the margins need when you have those things in alignment, you build a better nation.

This legislation is before the parliament, and, of course, when it gets voted upon—and it will pass—it will be a moment where we reduce the price to access a script to $25. It will mean that it will reduce the cost-of-living pressure for millions of Australians so they will be able to fill out their scripts. It will mean that they will find it easier in an environment where they will face less pressure on their cost-of-living choices in the short term, but, because real wages, once adjusted for inflation, have not risen for nearly 15 years, so many Australians will still not be getting further ahead. This is just an adjustment to reflect the reality that Australians are not getting ahead, no matter how much and how hard they work.

Yes, it gives hope. But it does not give the long-term, sustainable hope that Australians need so that we can look forward to the future with confidence. The only basis you will have long-term hope for the future is if we have a change of government where we get a reckless spend-athon government off the government benches and you see the return of a coalition government that is prudent, responsible and prioritises putting service delivery for Australians first, that makes long-term sustainability of the budget its priority and that puts Australia in a position of strength and economic growth so that we can deliver the dividends to Australians to be able to afford the access to health and education services—and that includes the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—so that those who are marginalised, vulnerable or in a situation of need are in a position to be able to afford the health services that they so desperately need.

Sitting behind any conversation around access to medicines are so many small businesses. When I go around the electorate of Goldstein, and I talk to many of the community pharmacies in Goldstein, what I hear are the aspirations of so many small businesses. Like all small businesses in the electorate and, of course, across Australia, they're facing real and significant challenges in the current economic environment. They face problems around skills and access to labour. They face challenges around cashflow and, of course, they pay energy bills too. Rising energy costs are a challenge. Of course, regulation and tax are challenges too.

Alright, some pharmacists are doing okay because they studied hard and they put themselves in a position to be able to earn a good income, but that doesn't change the fact that they've made a huge investment in themselves, and, often, they're the very basis of their business. Once you remove them, that community pharmacy can disappear. They're providing a good service not just for themselves but for the community as well. The expectation, increasingly, is that they're providing not just a service on a commercial basis but a public service for the rest of the community, particularly through primary care.

Despite the boasts of the Prime Minister, who comes in here occasionally with his Medicare card and says, 'No matter who you are in this country, no matter where you go, you never need anything more than that', I'm afraid the lived reality of Australians in just about every corner of this nation is that, if you turn up to a doctor's GP clinic at the moment, you definitely need your Medicare card and your credit card—certainly, in the electorate of Goldstein, that's the reality. Therefore, so many people turn to their community pharmacy and say, 'Is there a way you can provide me with assistance and support?' Increasingly, pharmacies are on the frontline of primary-care need. What they need, more than anything else, is certainty and clarity for their long-term sustainability so that they can invest in their own future.

There are people like Simon Rankin from the Sandy pharmacy in Sandringham. He's been a long-term provider in the community and does an amazing job. There are people like Leah Bartolotta at Hampton Discount Chemist, Lili and Aviezer Jaworowski at Dendy Village Pharmacy, Rebecca Nguyen at the Chemist Warehouse in Brighton, Eric Upton at East Brighton Pharmacy, or Simon Kenny and Stephen Morrin at Direct Chemist Outlet in Elsternwick. They've made a huge investment in their own future. There are people like Leah Bartolotta and Damien Gance from the Chemist Warehouse in Elsternwick, Rebecca Tran Nguyen, who's at the Chemist Warehouse in Cheltenham, David Wong at McKinnon Pharmacy & Post Office or Geoffrey Kirschner at Ormond Amcal Pharmacy. There's Malcolm Cosgriff and David Szylit at Beaumaris Pharmacy; Andre Beck at Bayside Pharmacy; Yu-Chun Shao from Gardenvale Pharmacy; Genya and Leon Fleischer from Priceline Pharmacy in Caulfield, Paul Krassaris, who's from Seaview Pharmacy in Beaumaris; Lysbeth and Francis Fong from Bentleigh Centre Pharmacy; Alexander Profus and Richard Needleman from Bentleigh Corner Pharmacy; Steve Zakkas, Azman Haroon and John Huynh from Chemist Warehouse in Bentleigh; Steven Christopoulos and Conor McAntee from Priceline Pharmacy in Bentleigh; Ke Ma, Chaoqun Wang and Bin Zhao from Priceline Pharmacy in Bentleigh East; Paul Pham from Nelson Pharmacy in Brighton East; Allan Bernhart from Hawthorn Road Pharmacy in East Brighton; and Michael Shapp from Soul Patterson Chemist in Elsternwick.

What you hear about from these small businesses in the electorate is about people who are backing themselves and investing in the growth of their community and, more importantly, for the primary care services in their community. And, of course, they're also new Australian success stories in many cases. They're people who have been part of a migration, whether it is the first or second generation, who have invested in themselves and for the future of their community and their success. They just want to get ahead and support others. We should be wishing and willing them on. I would have thought that this parliament would want to provide them with the clarity and certainty to be able to do so, just like patients need certainty from this parliament too.

When I think about the benefits of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, they go so much to older patients in our community as well. So many pensioners I talk to in Goldstein talk increasingly about the trade-offs they are making around access to medicines as part of their broader challenge of cost-of-living pressure, particularly in managing chronic conditions and increasingly managing the realities of co-morbidities across multiple stages of life when people are taking multiple medications, which only increases as people get older.

Many years ago, the Productivity Commission did a study which looked at this and assessed that around a third of a person's entire health expenditure occurs in the last few stages of their life. It's no surprise. People need support. They need care, and they need care within their community. A community pharmacy provides that care and support. But it can only do so if it has clarity and certainty to provide the support that the community needs, to run a viable business, to build the relationships with the patients they so desperately need and, of course, to be affordable and accessible as part of a long-term sustainable solution for our country. The only way we're going to achieve that is if we have a change of government that seeks to achieve the best interests of economic growth and long-term sustainable budget management to deliver the future success of this great nation.

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'I dread when I pick up my medication and there are just a few tablets left because that means I need to refill, and that costs me money I don't always have.' That is what Jess from Airport West told me when we were talking about Labor's plan to make medicines cheaper. Jess lives with a chronic condition and she doesn't have a choice about whether she takes her medication. Without it, her condition worsens. Without it, her quality of life slips away. Jess is not alone. Thousands of Australians live with chronic conditions that demand regular medication: blood pressure tablets, diabetes treatments, asthma puffers and antidepressants. These are medicines that aren't luxuries, medicines that aren't optional, medicines that save and sustain lives.

For too long medicines have been priced as if they were a choice and, too often, people like Jess have had to make impossible choices: Do I refill my prescription or do I pay the power bill? Do I take my medication today or do I stretch it out and hope I can get through the week? Do I put my health first or make sure I have food to eat? In a country like Australia, people should not have to choose between their health and their household budget.

We've heard colleagues talk about 2004—a year of nostalgia, blockbuster movies, iconic songs and the rise of new tech. Do you know what else was true in 2004? Back then the maximum cost of a PBS medicine was $25. Here's the frustrating part: for the nearly two decades since, the costs have kept going up, while the wages of everyday Australians have barely moved. Medicines, bills and rent have gone up; wages have stagnated. This was the reality before Labor came to power in 2022, and that's why this legislation matters so deeply. This government is changing that reality.

From 1 January next year, the maximum cost of general PBS medicines will fall again from $31.60 to $25. For the first time since 2004, medicines will cost no more than $25. That's not nostalgia; that's real relief. That's Labor delivering. As Gretchen Wieners once famously said in the 2004 film Mean Girls, 'That's so fetch.' Let's be clear. This is not a minor shift; this is a 20 per cent cut to the cost of medicines—a reform that will save people in my electorate of Maribyrnong $10 million. For families in Maribyrnong, that's more money for groceries. For students, it's less stress when balancing casual shifts and study. For pensioners, it's the difference between dignity and despair. If you rely on a script each month or if your household has two, three or even four prescriptions to manage, these savings stack up quickly. This is relief where it counts—at the pharmacy counter, in people's wallets and in people's lives. In Maribyrnong, I think of the families on tight budgets in Essendon West, students working double shifts in Moonee Ponds and seniors in Avondale Heights feeling the pressure of fixed incomes. I think of our migrant communities—communities who often face language barriers, cultural barriers and financial barriers to health care. For them, this is not just about cost; it's about fairness, dignity and equity.

Recently, my office spoke with Fatima, a woman in her early 30s from Ascot Vale, who is living with a neurological disorder. Because of her illness, she can't maintain long-term work and the cost of her medications has been a constant strain. Alongside this medication, she also takes antidepressants and together these costs add up quickly. For Fatima, every dollar counts. This price cut isn't just welcome; it's life-changing. These medications aren't luxuries; they're essential to her health, her dignity and her ability to live well. This legislation recognises that. That's the truth. Access to affordable health care is not a privilege or luxury; it's a necessity.

This legislation is another chapter in Labor's long story of building, strengthening and defending Medicare, and undoing the damage from the decade that came before us—a decade of cuts and a decade of neglect. It was a decade of government that never truly understood that health care is not a commodity; it is a human right. Since 2022, Labor has been repairing that damage. On medicines alone, we've already delivered the biggest price cut in PBS history, from $42.50 down to $31. We've introduced 60-day prescriptions, saving people time, money and hassle. We've reduced the number of concessional scripts needed before hitting the PBS safety net, meaning free or cheaper medicines sooner, and we froze the PBS co-payments for pensioners at just $7.70 until 2030. That's Labor's record, and, with this legislation, we go further. Not only does Labor protect Medicare; we continue to strengthen it.

Now some have asked if this will stop pharmacies from offering discounts on top of the price cut, and the simple answer is no. Discounting will remain. Pharmacies in Moonee Ponds and on Keilor Road and Military Road will all keep supporting locals with affordable medicines while being a part of this bigger solution. Lauren, a local pharmacist in Flemington, welcomed me into her store and proudly showed me how she and her team are part of the solution. She spoke with passion and genuine care for her community, highlighting the specialist services like compounding medicines and delivering vaccination programs in aged-care homes. Lauren told me how excited she is about this legislation and how it will benefit the people of Flemington in her community and build on the other reforms like the 60-day prescriptions and the freezing of the co-payment. What struck me most is how she has transformed a tiny shopfront into a community focused pharmacy—one that deeply cares for the people it serves and is driven by genuine desire to improve their health in practical, everyday ways. Lauren, like so many healthcare professionals, is the backbone of Medicare, and we must work with Lauren and all healthcare professionals to keep strengthening it. That's what partnership looks like. That's what practical reform looks like. ,

The principle guiding this government is clear: no Australian held back, no Australian left behind. Yet, for too many, health care has been a source of great stress. Too many people have skipped a script to cover rent. Too many parents have delayed refilling a prescription so they can buy school uniforms. Too many Australians have ignored chronic conditions because the costs were just too high. That's not Medicare. That's not who we are. That is the Americanisation of health care. That is a legacy of those opposite.

By lowering medicine costs, we're not just helping people make ends meet. We're keeping people healthier. We're keeping people out of hospital. We are helping people stay in the workforce, support their families and live longer, better lives. Cheaper medicines aren't just good for the household budget. They're good for our health system. They're good for our economy. They're good for Australia.

This is bigger than just medicines. This is about Medicare, which is a Labor creation. That green-and-gold promise, that universal shield, means that, no matter your income, no matter your postcode or background, you can see a doctor and get the treatment you need to live a healthier and happier life. Medicare is part of our identity. It's part of our story, and this government will never stop protecting it, strengthening it and renewing it, because that's what good governments do. They listen and they deliver.

Today this parliament takes another step forward—a step that helps Jess in Airport West refill her medication without fear, a step that helps Fatima in Ascot Vale manage her prescriptions and pay her next utility bill, a step that helps Lauren in Flemington continue to deliver affordable medicines to her proud local community.

This is Labor delivering for all Australians. This is Medicare protected and strengthened. This is the power of government working for everyday people. I commend the bill.

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Maribyrnong just spoke about a government that is focused on strengthening universal health care. I want to present a slightly different version of what's happening in a community not that far from Maribyrnong, in south-east South Australia in my home town of Mount Gambier. But, before I do, the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025 commendably, and with bipartisan support, reduces the cost to clients of filling prescriptions. I say 'commendably', and, of course, it has bipartisan support in this place. But those opposite spent much of the last term telling us it was a real cost-of-living saving, and it is a cost-of-living saving. It's just perhaps unfortunate that, at the same time people were being told about a saving on their prescriptions, their energy bills were doubling and tripling, not to mention their mortgages et cetera. But let's park that for a moment.

Let's talk about the community of Mount Gambier. It's in my electorate of Barker, it's South Australia's second-largest city and it's not that far from Melbourne—at least in relative terms. There are four clinics. I received a call this morning from a local journalist from the ABC, saying, 'Mr Pasin, are you aware of the circumstance where all four clinics in Mount Gambier have closed their books?' I don't know if those opposite understand what 'closing their books' in a medical clinic represents, but let me give you a real-world example. Your child's sick. You're new to our community. Thankfully, our community is strong and vibrant, and people are coming to our community. You pick up the phone and you ring clinic No. 1. The first question is, 'Are you a client of this practice?' 'No.' 'Well, we can't see you; we're full.' You pick up the phone and ring clinic No. 2. You're presented with the same question. Same response. Same outcome. Clinic No. 3.

By this stage, you're probably feeling a bit stressed. But you ultimately get to clinic No. 4, and they say 'Sorry; we've also closed our books.' And those opposite will say: 'That's fine; we've got a solution for communities like yours, Mr Pasin: urgent care clinics. We opened one of those in Mount Gambier.' And, true, you did, those opposite, to much celebration and acclaim for the relevant minister, who himself is a South Australian and who I am sure is aware of the community of Mount Gambier. But do you know what happened in June of this year? The urgent care clinic in Mount Gambier closed. It's currently closed. You can get on your device and type 'urgent care clinic Mount Gambier', and it says 'temporarily closed'. It's been temporarily closed since June. The operator that those opposite decided should run that facility fell into administration, and the administrator, after running the troubled urgent care clinic for four months—by the way, this urgent care clinic was never open for the hours that it was meant to be open—ultimately closed it. So in Mount Gambier, if you are looking to see a GP, you can't go to the four clinics. Their books are closed. You can't go to the urgent care clinic. It's literally closed. So what do you do? I don't know. When I was asked that question by an ABC journalist today, I said, 'I don't know what you do right now, but I can tell you how we've got here.' He said: 'How? Why?' I said, 'Obviously, there are issues with the urgent care clinic.'

But let me take you back to 2022. A newly crowned Labor government was elected and the Minister for Health appointed, and his very first action as federal Minister for Health—the people of Mount Gambier do want him to help, by the way—was to change the distribution priority area for GPs. Now, how is that relevant, you might say. Let me put it this way. Our nation determined over the course of this debate around GP shortages—the member for Grey has joined us, and he would know more than most. This issue is as acute—in fact, it's more acute in his electorate than in mine. When it's becoming an issue in places like Mount Gambier, it's an issue everywhere across regional South Australia. Like I said, Mount Gambier is the second-largest city in South Australia. Over the course of this debate, we have determined that certain areas in our country and, in the case of the member for Grey and in my case, in our state are in need of special assistance when it comes to attracting a GP workforce. And so we've created these special zones. They mean that foreign doctors could be encouraged to come to Australia on visas, but they would need to practise inside those zones.

As I said, the very first action for the Minister for Health in 2022 in his official capacity was to change that priority area distribution list. What he did was include Adelaide. That is in the priority list. On the day that came into effect, the office managers of two of the four clinics I mentioned earlier in my contribution rang me and said, 'Tony, we just want to tell you what the read-world impact is of the decision that's just been taken.' I said: 'Don't tell me. Doctors have tendered their resignations.' That was exactly what had occurred. Of course the only thing tying those foreign doctors to our community was the obligation that they practice in those areas. That was the point of the legislative instrument. If you make it that Mount Gambier, Millicent or any other regional town starting with 'M' that might be in the member for Grey's electorate are treated the same way as Adelaide, of course a number of the small number of GPs that we have relative to our population size are going to make that decision.

Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Melrose!

Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Melrose—there we go. And do you know where these doctors went? They went to Marion, in Adelaide—that very disadvantaged local community! I mean, please! But that is the consequence here.

Those opposite will get up, as the member for Maribyrnong just did, and give us a fantastic dissertation about universal health care and how important it is and how this was a great Labor legacy. What the member for Maribyrnong didn't say is that, over the term of the last government, bulk-billing rates actually went down.

Now, I'm loath to mention bulk-billing rates in my contribution because almost no-one in my electorate is able to access a bulk-billed GP consultation; they're very difficult to get hold of. The reality is that the majority of people pay gaps, and, in some cases, very substantial gaps. Personally, I think it's a real flaw in this system that I could be a well-heeled individual living in a well-heeled suburb of Adelaide and could drive 15 minutes to a bulk-billing clinic, and yet I could be one of the poorest South Australians, living in a very marginalised community a long way from services otherwise, in a community like Mount Gambier where the urgent care clinic is closed, and I could have to fork out a $40, $50, $60 or $70 gap. Someone needs to explain to me the equity of that, because it doesn't feel that equitable to me.

Far be it from me to be that member of parliament who grumpily points out all the problems. I'm going to suggest a solution, and that is to undo what the Minister for Health and Aged Care did in 2022 when he stripped Mount Gambier of its special status, and, as a result, GPs left that community—a community that, as I've said previously, is the second largest in South Australia. But I'd remove Adelaide from that distribution priority area designation. A capital city shouldn't be in that category. It is unfair to ask communities like mine to effectively compete with a city of 1.4 million people. That's the first thing the minister for health could do.

The second thing the minister could do is to expedite the reopening of the urgent care clinic in Mount Gambier. As I said, it has been closed since June. There is a tender process going on, but let's get it done and get it done quickly. As an aside, I should tell you that, as to the local PHN, when they told me that they were going to allocate it to a particular individual, I warned them that I thought allocating it to an existing GP practice with limited doctor numbers would lead to challenges, and indeed that's what happened. But he could expedite the reopening of the urgent care clinic in Mount Gambier.

The final thing is this—and this is directed at everyone in this place. There are so many young people studying in regional South Australia. I'm sure the member for Grey knows some brilliant young students in his communities; I certainly know some in mine. I know how passionate they are about health and health related studies. But too many of them, even with high ATARs, are culled away from the process of studying medicine because they're subjected to subjective testing: 'interviews', the GAMSAT testing for aptitude and these things.

Having grown up in a regional community and having left it to study because the degree I wanted to pursue wasn't available in the community I grew up in, I can tell you that the strongest links are those familial and friend based relationships that draw you back to a community. The member for Grey's one example. I'd suggest to you, the member for Barker's another. Having got my degree, I was working in Adelaide. All my friends were living in the regions. At one point I simply walked into the law firm I was working in, sat down with the partner I was working for and said, 'I'm off home.' He said, 'For how long?' I said, 'Forever.' He said, 'Don't be silly. You'll be a partner in this law firm one day.' I said, 'That's not where I want to be, champ. I want to be home, with my people.' I give that example, not dissimilar to the member for Grey's experience, because young people who grow up in a regional community are much more likely to return to it after their studies.

I appreciate that we're doing our best to educate our young people in medicine and other health disciplines in regional communities, and that is admirable and we should do more of it. But the very first thing you need to do if you want more rural generalists practising in the country is to give the opportunity to country kids. Give the opportunity to more country kids. I'm not saying that every single one of them will return and become a local GP or, even better, a specialist living in and operating their practice in regional South Australia. But I'm confident you'd massively increase the chance of that taking place. I think it's something that we need to do more of. There's no paucity, can I tell you, of young people who are smart, with the right attitude and aptitude, living in regional communities, who want to do this. So it's incumbent on all of us. We can't solve this problem long term without more GPs.

I end my contribution with what I said at the beginning: cheaper medicines have bipartisan support. I don't want to end up in a situation where the only health care available in some communities is from the local pharmacist, but that is the case right now. I began by talking about that new arrival to Mount Gambier with the sick child, ringing around the four clinics and being told there was no room at the inn. Right now, the only place they could go is their pharmacy. I'm glad they can, but it's not good enough.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Cheaper medicines are literally saving lives. Cheaper medicines mean Australians doing it tough don't have to choose between filling their shopping cart, filling up their petrol tank and filling a script. The plan to make cheaper medicines even cheaper is a tangible cost-of-living measure being delivered by the Albanese Labor government. We are delivering cheaper medicines for all Australians because the size of your bank balance shouldn't determine the quality of your health care.

I'm delighted to be part of a government that is delivering the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. We're winding the clock back 20 years, because, from 1 January next year, PBS prescriptions will cost Australians no more than $25, which was the cost of a script in 2004. I'm proud to be part of a government that has introduced 60-day prescriptions, saving time and money for millions of Australians with an ongoing health condition. I'm so proud that this government has frozen the cost of PBS medicines—through co-payments not rising with inflation—for all Australians for the first time in 25 years. This means pensioners and concession card holders in my electorate of Gilmore, which has one of the highest numbers of age pensioners of any electorate in the country, will continue to benefit, with their PBS medicines to cost $7.70 until 2030. Residents on the New South Wales South Coast have already benefited from Labor's cheaper medicines, saving $12.5 million on the cost of their scripts during our time in government.

Our 60-day scripts have been a huge success, with more than 2.3 million scripts dispensed in Gilmore. People in my electorate and right across the country who are living with conditions like high cholesterol, osteoporosis, diabetes, epilepsy, glaucoma and Parkinson's disease are saving money and saving time. And fewer trips to their doctor and pharmacist means freeing up more GP appointments. We know how busy our health workers are, especially in rural regional areas like mine.

Aussie families, including children, are benefitting from our cheaper medicines. Since 1 April, children with brain cancer have had access to affordable treatment options under the PBS. Glioma occurs in the brain and spinal cord and is the most common cancer of the central nervous system in children. Symptoms can include seizures, headaches, vision changes, memory loss, poor balance and difficulty walking. Around 130 Australian children each year are expected to benefit from the listing of Tafinlar and Mekinist, which work together to slow down or stop cancer cells from growing. Without the PBS subsidy, these families could be burdened with paying more than $178,000 for just one year of treatment. Imagine the devastation of having your child diagnosed with brain cancer, having to quit your job, pay medical costs and also pay for travel and accommodation if you live in a regional area like mine, then having to find tens of thousands of dollars for medicines to save your child's life. What an absolutely massive help these PBS listings are for parents dealing with the trauma of caring for a child undergoing brain cancer treatment.

Since 1 March, Australians with Cushing's syndrome or with leukaemia and women needing contraception or menopause support have also had access to new and expanded cheaper medicines under the PBS. Previously, there was no PBS alternative for the treatment of Cushing's syndrome. The listing is expected to benefit around 75 patients each year. Without this subsidy, they might have had to pay around $119,000 per year of treatment. The listing of Blinctyo will be expanded to treat more patients with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, a type of blood cancer. Without a subsidy, patients might pay around $229,000 per course of treatment.

Osteoporosis is chronic disease which make   s bones more likely to break, and the addition to the PBS of Evenity as a first-line treatment for severe osteoporosis will benefit around 9,000 patients each year. Without the subsidy, patients might pay around $4,800 per course of treatment. Now, eligible patients will pay a maximum of $31.60 per script or just $7.70 with a concession card. From 1 January, they’ll pay no more than $25 per script.

OMJJARA, a cancer drug discovered by Melbourne scientists, is one of only a handful of Australian drug discoveries to be approved for use in the United States and Australia and is now PBS funded. It is now available on the PBS for the first time to treat myelofibrosis, a rare and debilitating bone marrow cancer in patients. Around 1,900 patients accessed a comparable treatment for this condition in 2024, and, before the PBS subsidy, they paid around $70,000 per year of treatment.

After losing my dad to coronary heart disease when I was just 21 years old, I know it is vitally important that Australians have ready and affordable access to the latest treatments. Sadly, heart disease is Australia's No. 1 killer, with one life claimed every 12 minutes. Cardiomyopathy covers a number of diseases that affect the heart's ability to pump blood around the body which, if left undiagnosed and untreated, can lead to heart failure. That's why I'm so pleased that we've added two new treatments, Camzyos and Vyndamax, to the PBS, which will benefit around 5,000 people each year. These life-changing medicines are now more affordable thanks to the Albanese Labor government.

I'm so delighted to be part of the first federal government with a majority of women in Australia's history and proud we are delivering more choice, lower costs and better health care for women with new and amended PBS listings for women's cancer medicines, contraception, endometriosis, menopause and IVF treatments. For too long, women have struggled to get support in health systems that were not built for them. The Albanese Labor government is changing that. Women have asked our government to take their health care seriously, and we have listened. We know that women often have complex and expensive health needs across different stages of their lives. These conditions impact on their ability to work, raise a family and even stay in relationships.

A new contraceptive pill hasn't been listed on the PBS in more than 30 years. Yaz and Yasmin are some of the most commonly used contraceptive pills. From 1 March, one in three Australian women aged 18 to 39 who use the combined oral contraceptive pill will save hundreds of dollars each year. On 1 May, Slinda, a progesterone-only pill that can be used by women who cannot take contraceptives with estrogens, was listed on the PBS for the first time as a new contraceptive option. More than 100,000 Australian women who, without subsidy, might pay more than $250 for a year of treatment will benefit from this listing each year. After more than 20 years, three new menopausal hormone therapies will be listed on the PBS, which will benefit about 150,000 women who otherwise might pay between $400 and $670 a year.

We know about one in seven Australian women suffer from endometriosis, and it is just fantastic that they now have access to Ryeqo, a new treatment option for patients who cannot get adequate relief from other hormonal treatments and painkillers. Without the subsidy, women could pay more than $2,700 for a year of treatment. For some women, one of their greatest dreams is to become a mother, and facing the double burden of fertility issues and financial barriers to IVF can be heartbreaking. We are changing that. Australian women undergoing IVF now have access to earlier and more affordable fertility treatment, with the Albanese Labor government funding the use of Pergoveris from the earliest stage of their IVF journey.

Sadly, one in seven Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. Last year, more than 3,000 Australians died from breast cancer. That's nine people every day. It's really great news that Australians diagnosed with a type of metastatic breast cancer now have access to a life-prolonging treatment under the PBS. Enhertu provides a new treatment option for patients who have this advanced stage cancer that cannot be removed surgically or has spread to other parts of the body. Around 1,700 Australians who, without subsidy, might pay more than $160,000 for a course of treatment are expected to benefit from this listing each year.

Ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cause of death from cancer among women in Australia and, tragically, only half of the women diagnosed with ovarian cancer will survive five years after diagnosis. Symptoms can often be confused with other health conditions, so many women are diagnosed with advanced disease when the cancer has spread and can be difficult to treat. The listing of Lynparza on the PBS has provided an additional treatment option for around 200 women a year. Without subsidy, niraparib would cost patients around $130,000 per course of treatment.

These listings build on Labor's record $573 million investment in women's health and will improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of Australian women. Adding these medicines to the PBS will provide doctors with more options to care for their patients and ensure Australians can access the latest treatments. Reducing the general patient co-payment from $31.60 to $25 will benefit Australians now and into the future. This is a more than 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will save Australians more than $200 million each year. Four out of five PBS medicines will become cheaper because of our government's $689 million investment. Pensioners and concession card holders will continue to benefit from the freeze on the cost of their PBS medicines, with the cost frozen at $7.70 until 2030.

The Albanese Labor government has committed to keeping medicines cheaper for Australians, helping to ease the cost-of-living burden on households and helping people live healthier lives for longer. I support this bill because there's no doubt that, for many years, meeting the needs of people in my electorate of Gilmore has been a real challenge. I know that. That's why I've been working really hard to improve our local health services as part of our wider commitment to strengthening Medicare. I'm proud to have lobbied for and opened the doors of the Batemans Bay Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, which has provided more than 17,000 patients with free urgent but non-life-threatening care over the past 20 months. We're extending the hours of the Batemans Bay clinic. This afternoon—I think it's just gone out—tenders are being called for the operation of a new federally funded Medicare urgent care clinic in Nowra.

It's so important to provide free access to health care for people with just their Medicare card. The urgent care clinics take so much pressure off our busy hospital emergency departments and local GPs. We've opened a free walk-in Medicare mental health centre at Moruya, and we're elevating the Nowra mental health hub to a full Medicare mental health centre which will provide locals in the Shoalhaven with the free mental health care they and their family need. It's so important that we have headspace at Nowra, Batemans Bay and, most recently, Kiama to support our young people.

As a woman and a mum, I was so pleased to secure funding for the new South-Eastern NSW Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinic at Milton, which is really helping women from right around the South Coast access the care they need with just their Medicare card. I'm really proud to see this clinic helping women in our community, and it's paving the way for an additional 32 clinics opening across the country that will provide specialist support for conditions like endometriosis, IBS, prolapse and heavy or painful periods.

In other exciting news, construction is underway on Australia's first Aboriginal owned birthing-on-country facility, which will provide a culturally safe midwifery service on the South Coast. As the member for Gilmore I am certainly proud to have delivered many health services for my region, because health care is something that I've always been passionate about and will continue to fight for.

Alison Penfold (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in favour of the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. As I said many times during the election campaign, and as I've said since I was elected, there are more instances than not when this place comes together to agree on good policy and good initiatives. Too often, our work in this place is judged on the argy-bargy of question time. This breeds cynicism, a chasm that this parliament must try and bridge. This bill, this policy initiative, is one of those occasions where MPs from across the chamber are coming together, and I'm pleased to be able to lend my support for cheaper medicines for Australians.

We are fortunate in this country to have the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and, for the most part, the means to pay for it—something I hope Australians never take for granted. There are many places in the world where the cost of medicines is out of reach for their citizenry and out of reach for their governments to afford to pay for it. Here in Australia, over 5,200 medicines are subsidised by the Australian government to make them affordable and accessible when and where they are needed. Under the PBS, patients contribute a general co-payment towards the cost of their PBS subsidised medicine, with the Commonwealth paying the remainder of the cost. This year, the co-payment is currently $31.60 for general patients, with this bill seeking to reduce the PBS general co-payment to $25. The amendments contained in this bill are in line with the commitment made by the coalition at the last election to guarantee cheaper medicines and lower the PBS co-payment to $25. It will ensure Australians have more affordable access to medicines and treatments they need at a time when health care has never been more expensive.

As a 54-year-old woman experiencing menopause, my hormone replacement treatment medicine has become a godsend for functioning like a normal person. Before I went on HRT, night sweats and hot flushes were the bane of my existence, keeping me awake through the night, tired during the day and a little panicked when the heat would rise through my body and distract me from the work at hand. It was embarrassing and at times debilitating, but, with my medication, these symptoms no longer haunt me. Around three million women are in the age bracket for menopause, so the menopause medicines listed on the PBS—including the two I take, which were only added to the PBS in February this year and are now to become even cheaper—will hopefully make a big difference to them, as they have to me.

Of course, the reduction in the co-payment has to be taken within the broader context of the cost-of-living crisis facing Australians. While the government is giving with one hand, it is taking from the pockets of everyday Australians in so many ways. This government's policies have seen electricity prices up by 32 per cent, gas prices up by 30 per cent, rents up by 20 per cent, insurance up by 35 per cent, food up by 14 per cent, health costs up by 15 per cent and education costs up by 17 per cent. Anglicare reports full-time, minimum-wage workers are left with just $33 a week to get by after essentials. That's not a cost-of-living crisis; it's a cost-of-survival crisis.

Lyne is the oldest electorate and one of the poorest electorates in this country, and these statistics are very real and felt acutely there. I know that so many people are having to make difficult choices they simply shouldn't have to make between putting food on the table and putting the heater on during the day in winter. 'Which medicines are absolutely necessary? Which ones are not?' More families are being forced to delay or avoid refilling their scripts or seeking health advice, because they just can't afford it under this government. In fact, eight per cent of Australians delayed or went without their prescription medication in 2023-24 due to cost concerns. We all want this initiative to land in the pockets of hardworking Australians, but my concern is that it will be washed away by other, ever-increasing price rises created by this government's policies—policies like its pursuit of intermittent power that will cost trillions, do nothing to deal with climate change, damage our natural environment and only make our country weaker and poorer.

The PBS forms a critical component of Australia's health system. It is a scheme that has largely had bipartisan support. Both Labor and the coalition have made improvements to it over time. In government, the coalition made 2,900 new or amendment listings on the PBS to provide more Australians with affordable access to potentially life-saving or life-changing medicines and treatments. This was at an overall investment of around $16.5 billion. By listing these medications on the PBS, we ensured that Australians had access to affordable, life-saving medications that would otherwise have cost them thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of dollars without the subsidy.

The coalition were committed to our long-held policy of listing all medicines on the PBS that were recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee when we were in government. This is in stark contrast to the Albanese government, who stopped listing new medicines on the PBS last time they were in government, because they simply ran out of money. Their poor economic management meant they did not list on the PBS new medicines for severe asthma, chronic pain, schizophrenia, blood clots, IVF, endometriosis and prostate conditions. The Albanese government has now repeated history by imposing a cap on the number of medicines that can be considered for listing on the PBS, leading to harmful delays. In November last year, almost 50 medicines were deferred from consideration for listing on the PBS on the government's watch, creating further delays for patients waiting for affordable access. This is because the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, the expert body that recommends medicines for listing on the PBS, implemented a cap on the number of medicines it could consider for listing at each meeting. They did this because they have not been adequately resourced under this government. There is no doubt that this mess has caused delays for patients waiting to access potentially life-saving or life-changing new medicines and treatments at an affordable price.

We're also seeing some concerning delays in the listing of new medicines for women's health on the PBS under this government. Before the election, the government announced the listing on the PBS of an important medicine for endometriosis, Ryeqo, which was good news for women suffering from this chronic condition across the country. However, Ryeqo had been recommended for listing on the PBS more than a year before the government made this announcement. This means that the government waited more than a year to list a potentially life-changing treatment for women suffering from endometriosis. That's just not good enough. It's absolutely critical that Australian women have affordable access to the medications and treatments they need, especially right now, as they face record-high healthcare costs.

Health is one of the major concerns on the mind of Lyne residents. In my discussions on doorsteps and at my weekly mobile offices, it is one of the most often raised issues, next to the state of the roads across the Hastings, Mid North Coast and Hunter regions and, more recently, the impact of the May flood and help with the recovery. I'm very concerned about the level of access to health services across the Lyne electorate. From access to a GP to services offered at local hospitals, it's clear that we need more investment by the New South Wales state government and the Australian government in local health services.

During the election, after listening to the concerns in my electorate, I called for an urgent care clinic in Taree. Sadly, the government refused to match it. It was no easy decision to single out Taree, given the demand for such a facility from a number of Lyne communities. Prior to making my public commitment for an urgent care clinic in Taree, I spoke at length with the member for Myall Lakes, Mrs Tanya Thompson, MP, about her work in securing funding for a New South Wales government funded urgent care clinic in Forster. I fully back the community's call for a public hospital in Forster, but it's clear that, while there is a Labor government in New South Wales, Forster will never see it.

An urgent care clinic for Forster and Tuncurry communities under either the state or federal model of delivery could be a stopgap until a change of government. My view was that I would seek Commonwealth funding for it if the member for Myall Lakes had been unable to secure state government support. I knew she was working hard to do so, and it's great news for our area that she was successful with her persistent lobbying and advocacy for the funding of a Forster-Tuncurry health facility. I note the member has today called for the Minns government to provide more details on when it will be delivered. Dollars in the budget don't deliver services in a community. At this juncture, however, me doubling up on a funding commitment would be unfair to other locations in my electorate in desperate need.

I also explored the potential for a federal urgent care clinic for Bulahdelah. Through my work with the former member for Lyne, the Hon. Dr David Gillespie, I was well-aware of the community's push for a multipurpose centre over many years. I know that Bulahdelah needs additional primary-care services with its elderly population and, through the work of the Bulahdelah and District Health Action Group, led by the amazing Ann-Marie Barry, it had been actively advocating for an MPS facility. But, with the sale of the old nursing home to the Stroud Community Lodge and its commitment to reopen it, the MPS model became much harder to fund. Further, the federal government's urgent care clinic model requires a larger population base as compared to those delivered by the New South Wales state government. As such, I support the delivery of a state funded urgent care facility in Bulahdelah.

This led me, ultimately, to my decision about Taree. Bulk-billing rates over the last three years have fallen by 10 per cent. It's becoming harder to see a doctor urgently and Manning Base Hospital needs respite to focus on more critical care, particularly with the disruption from the redevelopment. An urgent care clinic could provide urgent relief and better support the urgent primary-care needs of locals with the added benefit of bulk-billing. I've spoken with the Hunter New England and Central Coast Primary Health Network regarding the urgent care clinic in Taree, and they've confirmed to me that Taree is a location they support. I called for the urgent care clinic in Taree as part of my first speech, imploring the government to work with me to deliver one.

I followed up with a request to the Minister for Health and Ageing in writing to seek his support in attaining an urgent care clinic for the Manning. The response from the minister was disappointing, with the Albanese government committing $1.4 billion over seven years to establish and operate a total of 137 Medicare urgent care clinics, while leaving a gaping hole between Coffs Harbour and Newcastle, a healthcare chasm that my electorate sits squarely and the middle of and, undoubtedly, must bear the brunt of. The letter from the minister, which I have here, details a phone line that's meant to replace the urgent care clinic—hardly the sort of service that the government has been spruiking in this parliament since we returned. Whilst the response from the minister's office was disappointing, I am hopeful and I look forward to working with the minister to bring about this goal, and I welcome any opportunity for collaboration in order to see the realisation of an urgent care clinic for the people of Lyne.

I recently met with representatives of the Great Lakes carer support group to discuss the potential for a Medicare mental health centre in the Lyne electorate. The volunteer group supports parents, family members and friends dealing with people with mental health challenges and the lack of services in the Great Lakes area. The stories they shared with me about the lack of support were heartbreaking. People in desperate need of support were turned away from the base hospital, with nowhere to go to get the urgent care they need. So many families are struggling to deal with their loved ones' mental health issues, like suicide attempts, without support. A person has to reach crisis point before there is any support available. There are now no permanent psychiatrists at the Manning Base Hospital mental health unit. Nimoola House doesn't have the resources it needs to provide community based care. The group believes a Medicare mental health centre could bridge the gap in services, but, just like with the urgent care clinics, the government seems to have missed our area on the map, with no centre between Coffs Harbour and the Central Coast. Again, I hope the government will engage with me to work towards a service on the Mid North Coast.

A great deal more than this single piece of legislation is required to improve the health outcomes of the people of my electorate. Indeed, a great deal more than this legislation is required to ease the immense economic pressures that burden Australians. But I recognise that this is an important measure that will be of benefit to a great many people, and I therefore commend it to the House.

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to contribute to the debate on the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. As members of parliament our job is pretty simple when you strip it back. We are here to improve the lives of the people that we represent. One of most direct, practical and effective ways to do that is to make it easier for people to get by—to make life cheaper. And that's exactly what this bill does.

We are a country that takes pride in our healthcare system. We love the fact that, no matter where you live, no matter how much money you earn, you can get the care you need. We are proud, proud to the point of patriotism, that, when you walk into a pharmacy to pick up your script, you can get the medicine you rely on without being sent broke—because access to medicines should never, ever be a choice between going broke and staying alive.

The reason we have been able to do that and the reason Australians can access medicines that are cheaper than they are almost anywhere else in the world is the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the PBS. It puts a cap on the cost of listed medicines so they stay affordable, reliable and within the reach of every Australian. Right now, the cap is $31.60. If you have a script for a PBS listed medicine, that is the most that you will pay.

It is already a great system, but we can do better. This bill reduces the cap down to $25. That means that, when you pick up a PBS medicine, you will not pay any more than $25. Now, $6.60 might not sound like a lot at first glance, but let me put it into perspective for everybody here. If your sixpack of beer dropped down from $31.60 to $25 overnight, the whole country would be rejoicing, wouldn't they? People would be lining up around the block! To put it another way, if you need three scripts a month, under the current cap you would be paying $95 a month. Under this new cap, it drops to $75. That's almost $25 of savings every single month. Over a year, that's more than $230 back in your back pocket. That's $230 you could put towards your electricity bill, your rego or your groceries, or just having a bit of breathing space. And that's just for one person. Across the country, this adds up to more than $200 million saved by Australians every year. That is not a small thing. That $6.60 really does make a big difference. That's what a real difference looks like.

Think about it this way. This is a 20 per cent cut to the maximum cost of a PBS medicine. We all know what happens when there's a 20 per cent off sale at the shops; I know my wife does. Try finding a park for the Boxing Day sales. People will battle traffic, wait in lines and fight over car spots to save 20 per cent on clothes and TVs. Unlike the Boxing Day sales, this is not just a one day special. This is a permanent 20 per cent saving on something that you actually need—your health. In some ways, this is the closest thing to time travel we can give Australians.

The last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25 was back in 2004, the year Facebook launched. That was back when most of us were walking around with flip phones and the indestructible Nokia 3310s, and I didn't have this luscious beard. We've come a long way since 2004, but it's about time medicine prices went back there.

This bill builds on the work that we have been doing since 2022 to make medicines cheaper. In 2023 we delivered the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS, slashing the maximum cost of a general script from $42.50 to $30. I know firsthand how much that change meant because people tell me about it when I'm in and around the Hunter. I'm sure they do in your seat, too, Deputy Speaker Freelander.

Take Henry, one of my constituents. Henry is on six regular PBS medications, for diabetes, cholesterol, blood pressure, arthritis pain and stomach issues. Before 2023, Henry was paying $42 per script. That added up to $255 per month, every month, just on medications. This is not a great spend. This is not a luxury. This is the cost of managing health and staying alive. When we dropped the price to $30 per script, Henry's monthly bill fell to $180. That was a saving of $75 every month or $800 every single year, and it completely changed the way he managed his health and also his finances. He told me that in the past, when money was tight, he would skip the pain medication to save a bit, putting himself in way more pain than he had to. That meant flare-ups, less mobility and more stress. Now, because of that change, he doesn't have to skip his meds. He can afford to take the treatment his doctor prescribes for him. In fact, with the money he saves, he has even starting paying for a fortnightly physio session to help him manage his arthritis. He tells me he's walking most days now and feeling better than he has in years. That is the power of cheaper medicines. They have not cured Henry's condition and never will, but they have given him the tools to manage it. They have given him dignity, independence and a better quality of life. When this $25 cap comes in, Henry will save even more. Who knows—he might even be at the start line of a marathon before long.

Let me bring this home to the Hunter. We have families in Cessnock who are already making tough choices about which bills to pay first. We have pensioners in Kurri Kurri who are stretching every dollar of their fortnightly pay. We have young families in Singo juggling mortgage repayments and childcare costs. And across Lake Macquarie, in Morisset and Toronto, I meet people every week who tell me the cost of medication is one of their biggest worries.

When the price of a script drops from $31.60 to $25 it will be a genuine relief for these families. It means a mum in Dora Creek can afford both her asthma inhaler and her kids' new school shoes. It means a retiree in Wyee doesn't have to skip blood pressure medication to keep the lights on. It means a young tradie in Branxton can pay for the pain meds he needs to keep turning up on the tools every day of the week.

This is not abstract. This is not numbers on a page. This is real money in the hands of real people in our communities, and it makes a massive difference. But we have not stopped there. We have introduced 60-day prescriptions, cutting the number of trips to the pharmacy in half for people with chronic conditions. That saves money and, very importantly, that saves time, because we are all time-poor as well; we all know that. That's why that is so important. We have frozen the cost of PBS medicines so that co-payments will not rise with inflation. This is the first time that that has happened in 25 years. We have delivered more free and cheaper medicines sooner. We have reduced by 25 per cent the number of scripts concessional parents needs to fill before the safety net kicks in. We have locked in a freeze on concession medicines costs so pensioners and concession card holders will not pay more than $7.70 a script until 2030. This makes a huge difference to the households that are already stretched by the cost of living. Because we are committed to cheaper medicines, four out of five PBS medicines are now cheaper. That's thanks to the $689 million investment from our government—an investment that goes directly into the lives and the pockets of ordinary Australians.

It is important to note that this bill also protects discounting pharmacies that currently offer discounts. They will still be able to do that even with the new $25 cap. That means consumers can still shop around and benefit from competition and pharmacies can continue to offer better deals for their communities. So this is not just a win for patients; it's also a win for pharmacies, who play a vital role in our local communities, especially in regional and rural areas, like mine in the Hunter.

We have heard the phrase 'new year, new me'. I know I've said it a few times—ignored it many times too, but I'm trying to do better here! In 2026, it's going to be a new year and a new PBS because, on 1 January 2026, this change comes into effect. It will be no more than $25 for a PBS script. Unlike most new year's resolutions—I'll put my hand up for this—this one is guaranteed to stick because, with the support of this House, it will be the new law of the land.

This is Australia. In this country we believe in affordable access to health care, and affordable medicines are a vital part of that. If you rely on medication to manage a condition, you live your best life. Your ability to access it should never depend on how much money is in your bank account. It should depend on the fact that you are an Australian and you have a government that puts people, not the profits of big pharmaceutical companies, first. This bill makes medicines cheaper. It eases the cost-of-living pressures. It helps people live longer, live better and just be around for our families and our loved ones. That's why I proudly commend this bill to the House.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I want to talk about my friend Ken. Ken lives in Yeronga in my electorate of Moreton. Ken is a long-term resident of Brisbane's south side. Ken raised his family on the south side in Brisbane and Ken is a bastion of our community—someone who has been deeply involved across the community for many, many years. Ken is also one of the millions of Australians who rely on medicines every day. That's what this bill is all about. Those who rely on medicines deserve to have accessible and affordable health care.

When I talked to Ken about what cheaper medicines meant for him and his hip pocket, he told me that he saves $62 every month. That's not with this legislation in place; he already saves $62 every month from Labor's position, from Labor's legislation that already makes medicines cheaper. People across Moreton have already saved $9,700,000 because of a Labor government when it comes to cheaper medicines.

The Albanese Labor government's primary focus is providing cost-of-living relief, and we are delivering on that promise day in and day out. This legislation, the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025, will implement a cost-of-living measure that benefits everyone. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, or the PBS, is the mechanism that enables this. All of us here have experienced the positive impact of the PBS, from cheaper everyday medicines, to life-changing access to very expensive medicines, to 60-day scripts saving us both time and money.

In preparation for this speech tonight, I decided that I would call my dad, because my mum is a diabetic and my dad—who has recently been through cancer and recovered, after a long bout of chemo—has also been in the wars a bit, having pneumonia following that bout of illness. What happened when I talked to my dad is: he said, 'Why do you want to know?' He then said: 'I take a lot of medicines and I don't know what they are.' But when we spoke for a little bit longer, he eventually got to the place where he started to talk about the medicines that he could remember himself and mum taking, and this is the list that he could get out. He said that they take Nexium; he said that mum takes Diamicron, Diabex and Glyxambi. And, when we looked each of those up, they are all PBS medicines. So, despite the fact that he couldn't remember what medicines they necessarily took—and this is something that many people in our community face—what was clear is that his medicines and my mum's medicines were cheaper because of a Labor government. The formerly expensive medications such as the ones that my mum and dad take are made affordable thanks to the PBS.

The current co-payment for a PBS medicine is $31.60 and from 1 January 2026, my dad and you, Deputy Speaker, my mum and I and everyone sitting in this chamber tonight will pay no more than $25 for a PBS medicine. In fact, millions of Australians will benefit when they purchase their everyday medication.

The PBS is a crucial part of Labor's ongoing commitment to making health care affordable, and its creation is central to the Labor story of social care, fairness and equality, because, when it comes to PBS medicines, when it comes to the accessibility and affordability of health care, it is what Labor does. It's in our DNA, it's in our bones, it's in our blood. And Labor has always taken a very clear stance that health care should be affordable and accessible.

The Curtin Labor government first attempted to legislate to subsidise various antibiotics in the mid-1940s, but it was deemed unconstitutional by the High Court. The Constitution was subsequently amended, paving the way for the Chifley Labor government to introduce an initial version of the PBS in 1948. At this time, free medicines for pensioners and 139 life-saving and disease-preventing medicines were made free of charge to the general public. This initiative was reflective of core Labor values and a vision for a fairer Australia—one where every person, regardless of their financial circumstances, could live with dignity and with security. In 1953, the PBS was established under the National Health Act, which this bill amends, and in 1960 the PBS became more comprehensive, offering a wide range of medicines.

The legacy of these decades of work is that we cannot imagine Australia without a PBS and its provision of affordable medicines to all, because the PBS is not only something that is cherished in this country; it is something that is the envy of the world, ensuring that medication and health care are things that you don't have to worry about when it comes to your hip pocket. It is our responsibility to uphold and build on this legacy—to ensure that the PBS remains sustainable and continues to support Australian families.

When we talk about threats to health care in this country, the biggest threat to health care in this country has always been those sitting on the other side of this chamber. When you compare the legacies of Labor and the coalition, what becomes clear is that Labor has always prioritised health care and, whether it's PBS medicines, investing in Medicare or making sure that women's health care is prioritised, it is Labor that has always led the way. When you compare those legacies, you can see an incredibly stark difference, because, while Labor was creating Medicare, we know that the LNP and those opposite were cutting from health care, while Labor was investing in bulk-billing, we know that those opposite were trying to introduce a copayment, and while Labor is ensuring that everyday health care is being made accessible, whether that be through urgent care clinics, increasing bulk-billing or making sure that medicines are cheaper, those opposite are continually cutting from critical health services that Australians rely on every day.

It's a goal that is echoed in the 2022 National Medicines Policy, which has the aim of providing 'equitable, timely, safe and affordable access to high-quality and reliable supplies of medicines and medicine related services for all Australians.' Medicine affordability is the foundation of Labor's approach and the objective of this bill. As at end of June 2024, there were 930 medicines being subsidised by the government. That is 930 individual, accessible, high-quality, safe and affordable medicines. In recent months we've seen numerous additional medicines added. These include medicines for breast cancer, diabetes, endometriosis and depression, to name just a few.

The financial relief is significant. Around 8,500 Australian women suffering from endometriosis could save more than $2,300 a year from the listing of specific medicines on the PBS. Similarly, around 50,000 women a year who use Yaz and Yasmin contraceptive pills, which are now on the PBS, will pay nearly one-quarter of the original amount annually from 1 January.

It's incredibly fitting that the member for Cooper is in the chamber today, because the member for Cooper was absolutely instrumental in bringing forward a half-a-billion-dollar investment in women's health—the largest investment that this country has ever seen. I had the great privilege of hosting the member for Cooper in my local electorate in Brisbane, in Fairfield. What we did in Fairfield was talk with people in their homes. We talked to them about what investing in health care like that meant, we talked to them about the largest investment in women's health and we talked to them about how life changing it was to invest in oral contraceptives, to invest in support for menopause and to invest in making sure that women's health is a top priority.

Around 150,000 women will save up to $370 per year from next January with the listing of three new menopausal hormone therapies. These are just a few of the examples of the cost-of-living relief that the PBS and this reform will provide.

For some, the PBS listing is even more meaningful. It is simply life changing and potentially even life saving. Under the PBS, medicines that were prohibitively expensive become affordable. This is the case for patients with prostate cancer, who, without the subsidy for Talzenna and Xtandi, would have to pay over $100,000 per course of treatment. The medicine Retevmo is used to fight a type of non-small cell lung cancer, and under the PBS patients avoid a course of treatment that can cost $280,000. And there are many more examples. My apologies, Deputy Speaker Freelander; I definitely messed up the pronunciation of that medicine!

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

I think you did it very well.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But can I tell you: you do not need to be able to pronounce what the medicine is to get the $25 cap on cheaper medicines, and that's important.

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

Indeed.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The PBS is not an exclusive club. All Australian residents who hold a current Medicare card are eligible to access the PBS. Citizens of countries with reciprocal health arrangements, such as New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, are also eligible. The numbers clearly illustrate the scale of the PBS. In 2023-24, over 226 million subscribed subsidised prescriptions were dispensed. The government contributed $17.7 billion, and patients contributed $1.6 billion. The patient co-payment contributes to the sustainability of the PBS. This bill is the Albanese Labor government's fifth wave of reform to ensure that medicines are cheaper. It cuts the costs of PBS medicines. The last time medicines cost no more than $25 was in 2004, and 2004 was a long time ago. It was a time when Shannon Noll was at the top of the charts; some think he still should be! For me, it was a time when I was at university, wearing pleated denim skirts. While some things should come back, not all of them should!

In July 2022, the Albanese Labor government implemented a $480 million reform: the 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts a concessional patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in. This has seen pensioners save over $500 million. General patients also benefited, with a decrease of around $80 to their threshold. A $625 million investment in January 2023 enabled the government to announce the largest cut to the cost of medicines in PBS history. And, to start this year off, Labor froze the costs of PBS medicines, with co-payments not increasing with inflation for the first time in 25 years.

All of these measures strengthen Medicare. All of these measures stand alongside Labor initiatives to increase rates of bulk-billing, to train more doctors and nurses and to open more urgent care clinics. At last count, there were 87 across the country, and there are plans for an additional 50. I'm delighted to have an urgent care clinic on my patch in Oxley and another just across the road at the PA Hospital. These are health initiatives driven by Labor that help people every day. They are health initiatives that make sure that people have access to more affordable health care every day.

The PBS is a trusted and essential part of our national fabric, and it is a Labor invention. It is Labor that has always prioritised health care. Whether it's Medicare, cheaper PBS medicines, expanding bulk-billing, making sure that women's health is at the forefront of our funding or making sure that everyday people have access to health care, it's part of who we are and part of what Labor will always do for this country.

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

I thank the member for Moreton, and I must say your pronunciation is so good, you are clearly a future health minister.

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025, also known as the cheaper medicines bill. Let me take you back to 2004. Unlike the member for Hunter, my beard was there, though less grey and still remarkably patchy. I had more bounce, my favourite song was 'From the Sea' by Eskimo Joe and, at the time, I was still playing basketball in the NBL. I would ask the people of Australia not to hold this against me, but I was playing for the New Zealand Breakers. If it makes you feel any better, we won significantly less than we lost.

The other important thing about 2004, though, was that it was the last time PBS medicines cost no more than $25. Under this bill, the maximum cost of medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefit Scheme goes down from $31.60 to $25. When these changes come into effect on 1 July 2026, we will be delivering on a key commitment made at the last election. I can tell you this will be welcomed by many locals in my electorate and right across the country. When I was on the doors, at the markets or just talking to people in the streets, there were always people coming up to me to talk about how hard the cost of living was and how that impacted their health. To the many locals in my electorate concerned about the cost of living, let me say this: we hear you. I hear you. The Anthony Albanese Labor government hears you and responds.

This is why the government has been working hard to address some of the key challenges facing Australian households. We've already legislated tax cuts for all Australian taxpayers. We've delivered cheaper child care. We've brought in more funding for GP bulk-billing. We've provided help to people to pay their energy bills, and work is well underway to help more Australians buy or rent their own home. We've overseen raises to the minimum wage for workers across the country. We're protecting flexible working arrangements and penalty rates. In the last sitting, we passed a 20 per cent cut to HECS, a change that, I will remind everyone, the Liberals didn't feel the need to vote for. There's also work underway to support more cheap and clean energy. There's a commitment to punish supermarkets who are price gouging. Delivering cheaper medicines is one part of this larger push from our Labor government to help make the cost of living manageable.

It is also a change that will make a lot of difference to the lives of people who are reliant on medicines. This is what the bill will mean. There will be a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of PBS medicines, which will save Australians over $200 million per year. Four out of five PBS medicines will become cheaper because of our government's $689 million investment. Pensioners and concession card holders will continue to benefit from the freeze to the cost of their PBS medicines, with the cost frozen at its current level of $7.70 until 2030. That's the cost-of-living support Australians expect and deserve. It's the Australian idea of the fair go, allowing people to live with dignity and not be afraid of the fixed cost in their lives that medication can represent.

This bill builds on the important work the Anthony Albanese Labor government has already done to make medicines cheaper—that's right; we have form. In July 2022, we announced more free and cheaper medicines sooner, with a 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts a concessional patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in. In January 2023, we announced the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS, with the maximum cost of general scripts falling from $42.50 to $30. From September 2023, we started delivering 60-day prescriptions, saving both time and money for millions of Australians with ongoing health conditions. Most recently we announced the freezing of the cost of PBS medicines, with co-payments not rising with inflation for all Australians for the first time in 25 years. In my electorate of Leichhardt alone, this has meant that people, as of 31 July 2025, have saved over $8.8 million under our cheaper medicine policies. That is the nitty-gritty of the numbers. They make the policy. I don't live in a policy; I live in Leichhardt, and there are real-world applications to this.

Think about that for a moment—$8.8 million. That is money back in people's pockets, money that people can spend to take their family to the movies or to make sure that their kids' Christmas is a little better, not dealing with that stress. They don't have to be afraid if something happens to the car or the hot water system blows up or, in the case of Cairns, the air conditioner goes on the fritz, which is much more serious! It's reducing stress in life. As we know, if your health is poor and money is tight, it can make recovery harder. This bill helps address that. It's assisting people living in remote places like my electorate only having to travel once every 60 days into town, rather than a monthly pick-up, for their prescriptions—saving time and money and keeping people at home longer.

Spend any time in any remote community and people will tell you they live in the best place on earth. This gives people more time where they want to be. It's new medicines on the PBS and a focus on women's health, an area that has been ignored for far too long. It is giving women the care they need and deserve. New contraceptive pills have hit the PBS. So have treatments for perimenopause, giving women an ongoing conversation regarding menopause and HRT and allowing further understanding of issues such as endo.

People with complex and chronic conditions will be supported by the PBS safety net kicking in sooner. This will provide peace of mind that the bills won't keep piling up in what can be a very, very trying time. We have made investments in primary health care, including community controlled entities, which deliver culturally appropriate care—because we know that primary health care is the guardrail at the top of the cliff, not the ambulance waiting for you at the bottom. This now includes a commitment to mobile cancer screening on the cape and a focus on work preventing FASD. People's dignity is at the forefront of every decision made. People don't want to feel punished for having a health condition, because you should never have to choose between your meds and a meal. These are the real-world outcomes that are benefiting people right now—benefiting them physically, emotionally and financially.

It's work like this that shows why Australians trust Labor to make Medicare stronger. Labor built Medicare, Labor protects Medicare and, now, Labor is expanding Medicare, with $8.5 billion committed to ensure more bulk-billing, cheaper medicines, hospitals funding and urgent care clinics right across the country, including a new one for my area in the northern part of Cairns. There's better access to health care for women, those from the LGBTIQA+ community, people living in regional, rural and remote communities and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It's better health care. This is what Labor governments mean. This is what they've always meant. It's who we are. It's also what we continue to fight for.

Let us not forget the alternative, though. There is a reason the public don't believe the Liberal and National parties when they say they support Medicare. It might be that there have been massive funding cuts to hospitals under previous Liberal-National governments. It might be that previous LNP governments in Queensland decimated the public service, including front-line health workers. It might be that every time we have a Liberal-National government they always have the same fever dream and seek to privatise Medicare. Leaving the Liberal and National parties in charge of Medicare is akin to leaving Jason Voorhees in charge of summer camp. Just like Jason, the Liberal and National parties are quiet, but give them a chance and they will cut and slash everything they can. In both cases I very much doubt that the Australian public wants to clean up the mess left behind. The Liberal and National parties have shown time and time again that Medicare and our health services are not something that they are willing to support or value. As Maya Angelou told us, 'When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.' Australians aren't fools. They know the Liberal and National parties are not focused on their health.

I couldn't believe during the campaign how many people came up to me worried about what might happen if the Liberal and National parties won and what they might do to Medicare. If you are in an emergency, you want a well-funded and high-quality health system. If you have a chronic condition, you want primary health care when you need it. If you are comparing the pair, there really is no choice. Only a Labor government will make Medicare stronger and health care more affordable.

Like I said before, there are a lot of ways we are doing this and will continue to do this, be it the urgent care clinics, which have been a roaring success, or more funding for bulk-billing, more support for the LGBTIQA+ community to allow them access to health care or making sure culturally appropriate care is available to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. All of these things and so much more will build up a better healthcare system and a stronger Medicare.

This bill is to deliver more cheaper medicines and, really, it's just the important next step. Cheaper medicines are good for your hip pocket and good for your health, and your health is the most valuable thing you will ever have. The PBS has always sought to ensure the medicine you need is available at the price you can afford, and now this bill ensures that ideal moving forward, that that quintessentially Australian ideal of the fair go continues. This bill is critical to helping deliver cheaper medicines and more cost-of-living support for Australians. This bill will ensure that people are able to maintain dignity and that they never have to choose between meds and a meal. I commend this bill to the House.

Emma Comer (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to begin with a story about Mary, a single mother of two living in Kippa-Ring. Mary manages a chronic condition and fills four PBS prescriptions a month—one for herself and the others for her children. Under the current system, that's over $1,500 a year just for essential medications. With the new $25 cap she will save $300 annually. That is the difference between covering the medicines her children need and stretching her already tight budget even further. I met a veteran in Bracken Ridge named Joseph who had a concession card and had been paying just $7.70 per script. That rate has been frozen until 2030, protecting him from rising costs and allowing him to plan his finances without the fear of unexpected rises.

These stories show how policy translates into genuine relief and how savings that might look small in isolation can add up to real freedom, peace of mind and financial stability. I am proud to champion this reform in parliament. It reinforces what I've always believed—that health care should be not a privilege for the well-off but a guarantee for all, regardless of income.

Starting from 1 January, the people of Petrie will be able to fill their PBS prescriptions for less, a change that will make a real difference for people with diabetes, high blood pressure, chronic pain, mental health conditions and so much more. Imagine walking into your local pharmacy, like TerryWhite in Margate, where Chris Campbell and his incredible team have been serving the community for years. They know their customers by name. They know the medications their patients rely on, and they go above and beyond to make sure everyone receives the care and guidance they need.

I had the pleasure of visiting Chris and the team recently, and I was truly impressed. They walked me through their pharmacy, showing me not just the prescriptions but the personal connections they have built with their patients. Community pharmacists have tough conversations with their patients every single day—patients who are having to choose between filling their scripts or paying for groceries. I saw firsthand the care and compassion that Margate Terry White show to their patients when explaining dosages, offering advice and supporting families in ways that go far beyond filling a script. Their dedication is incredible, and their passion for helping the community is clear in every interaction.

It's moments like this, in meeting local heroes like Chris and seeing the human side of health care, that make policies like the $25 PBS cap feel even more powerful. It's not just numbers on a page; it's about people being able to afford the medications they need and local pharmacies continuing to provide exceptional service without compromise. I left feeling inspired and excited to work further with them, to hear more of the stories about the difference affordable medicines are making to their patients and to keep advocating for initiatives that support both our local healthcare providers and the families they serve.

This is this is community in action, and the savings are remarkable. Australians will save up to $6.60 on each prescription. Collectively, over the next four years, the cut will put $689 million back into the pockets of patients. The money being saved isn't going to the check-out counter at the chemist. Instead, it's helping people pay their bills and cover their mortgages. These savings will quickly make a difference, especially for patients with multiple regular prescriptions for essential medicines. These are the people who need it the most. For every script filled under this policy is a small act of relief. When you add it up—millions of scripts and millions of dollars saved—it paints a clear picture.

This is a government that is delivering meaningful, practical change, not slogans nor empty promises but real relief for millions of Australians right when they need it the most. This is what good policy looks like—real, tangible savings, millions of times over for people who need it the most. In Petrie, we are hardworking families and pensioners. Modest income households make up a large part of the community. This policy will put health care within reach. Whether you rely on one medication or several, the new cap ensures that you are not going without to afford the medication you need.

PBS medications have not cost $25 since 2004. I don't know about you, but I was ten years old back then, and life looked a little different. In 2004, my mum would yell at me: 'Get off the internet. I need to make a phone call.' We were still burning our favourite songs onto CDs, and most of us were still on MSN Messenger poking our friends with nudges. If you had a mobile phone, it probably flipped open, and you had to press the number 7 once, the number 2 twice and the number 7 again four times just to type out PBS. The year 2004 feels like a lifetime ago. That's also how long Australians have been waiting for medicines to be this affordable again. Thanks to Labor's reforms, from January 2026, we will be winding back the clock, not on technology, thankfully, but on the price of PBS medicines. They will be back to the cheapest they've been in more than 20 years. This time you won't need dial-up internet to access this benefit.

It is very rare that you see prices go backwards. Year after year, costs usually go up, not down. That's true for most things in life, whether it's rent, groceries or petrol. For decades, the cost of filling a script has crept higher and higher. That's why this reform is so remarkable. Labor isn't just slowing the rise; we're turning it around and bringing the cost of medicines down. That means that, for the first time in a generation, Australians will walk into their pharmacy and pay less than they usually do. Think about that for a moment. At a time when families are under pressure from the cost of living, the Albanese Labor government is doing something unusual, something that goes against the grain. We're making medicines cheaper, not more expensive. This is one area where the government has delivered concrete relief where it matters most: right in your medicine cabinet.

The PBS is deeply important to both our government and Australia. It is one of Australia's most important health programs. It ensures that every Australian can access essential medicines at the price they can afford. Without the PBS, Australians would face the full cost of life-saving medications—costs that could be hundreds or even thousands of dollars year. Why is this so important? It is because medicines aren't a luxury. They're often the difference between a full, long, healthy life and suffering. The PBS is the cornerstone of fairness in our healthcare system. It doesn't just treat symptoms; it protects families, reduces stress and gives Australians peace of mind knowing that help is there when they need it most.

Australia is fortunate to have the PBS, because many countries without a system like this struggle to make medicines affordable. In so many countries patients often pay hundreds of dollars for a single prescription, and it's not uncommon for people to skip or ration their medicines simply because they cannot afford them. Families are forced to make the impossible choices between medicines and other essentials. The PBS protects Australians from that harsh reality. It guarantees that, whether you live in Narangba, Woody Point or Deception Bay, you can get the medicines you need without breaking the bank. It's not just a safety net; it's a lifeline, a guarantee of fairness and a reason why Australians can stay healthier and live longer. In short, the PBS is more than a scheme. It's a commitment that health care is a right, not a privilege, and that no Australian should ever be left behind when it comes to medicine.

The PBS supports Australians and has for close to eight decades now. We are proud of our track record of not use just maintaining but strengthening this system, delivering Australians access to the best medicines available from around the world at affordable prices—prices that we're making even more affordable. The PBS isn't the only healthcare initiative we're strengthening. We've tripled the bulk-billing incentive, ensuring that more families can see a GP without worrying about the bill. We're building more Medicare urgent care clinics so Australians can get care closer to home instead of waiting for hours in a hospital emergency department. We're investing in the biggest expansion of our health workforce in history, training the next generations of doctors, nurses and midwives. These aren't just policies; they are practical, lasting changes that mean that, when you and your family need care, you will be able to get it.

Affordable, accessible, universal—that's Labor's vision for health care, and it's a vision we are delivering. Accessible health care is who we are. In my electorate, peninsula residents will shortly be able to walk into the Medicare mental health centre and get the mental health support they need without spending a cent. All you need to access this local mental health support is your Medicare card.

One of the most important protections we have delivered is for those who need it most: our pensioners, our veterans and our concession card holders. Right now they pay just $7.70 for a script under the PBS. Under Labor, that cost will remain frozen right through until the end of the decade. That means that, no matter what pressures hit household budgets, the most vulnerable in my community can fill their prescriptions knowing that the costs won't go up. For someone living on a fixed income, that certainty is priceless. I think of a pensioner in Bald Hills living on a fixed income, the carer in Mango Hill balancing household bills or the veteran in North Lakes managing chronic pain. For each of them, this freeze is peace of mind. In Petrie, more than 40,000 people hold a concession card. That's tens of thousands of pensioners, seniors, veterans and people on low incomes who rely on affordable medication. For them the Labor government's decision to freeze the cost of the PBS concession scripts at $7.70 until 2030 isn't just good policy; it is a lifeline. It means security. It means certainty. It means that they can go to the pharmacy knowing that the price of their medication won't creep year after year. When you add it all up, that's tens of thousands of households in Petrie who will be healthier, more secure and less stressed because Labor is putting people first.

Take Rose, a Redcliffe pensioner who wrote to my office. She fills six scripts a month for arthritis and other health issues.

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

Order. The member will be given the opportunity to complete her speech at a later date.

Debate interrupted.