Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Superannuation, Financial Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government and the medicines industry have co-developed a comprehensive package of reforms to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—the PBS. This is in recognition that the sustainable delivery of world-class access to medicines requires a close partnership between the government and the Australian businesses and industries which supply, distribute and dispense the millions of medicines needed and used every day by Australians.

These reforms have been designed to meet current and future challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ever-expanding treatment options for patients. The reforms are also designed to address the impact of global medicine shortages that have interrupted the supply of medicines that are the mainstay of treatment for some of the most common health conditions in Australia, including medicines for high blood pressure and diabetes, and medicines for mental health conditions such as depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The new five-year strategic agreements with Medicines Australia and the Generic Biosimilar Medicines Association will ensure Australians gain access to new breakthrough medicines as early as possible. It will also deliver robust and uninterrupted supply of medicines that Australians need and use every day, and keep the PBS on a long-term, sustainable footing.

The industry agreements will achieve this by securing commitments from the medicines industry and the government to deliver new savings from improved statutory price reductions which will be reinvested in the PBS. The reinvestments will in turn help to make headroom on the PBS for the listing of new medicines and the holding in Australia of greater levels of stock of commonly prescribed and older medicines, which in recent years have become susceptible to global medicines shortages.

The measures in this bill are in addition to significant policy and process improvements outlined in the strategic agreements with Medicines Australia and the Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association. I thank members for their contributions to the debate on this bill.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.