Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

I think the principle is that, if you are capturing the whole 12 months, we are not trying to predict certain behaviours that the players in this market may exhibit if we were reducing that data collection period. I think the first principle is that you require a full 12 months of data in order to make an informed decision about what the price should be.

I take your point that there are many medications used by people that are not relevant to fluctuations in burden of sickness—the normal winter event, for example—but I think to ensure validity of the data 12 months is required. Your fundamental question is if it is being done through regulation then that could change in the future, and I think the answer to that is yes.