Jenny McAllister (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor government is committed to strengthening Medicare and to delivering cheaper medicines. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme provides timely, reliable and affordable access to necessary for medicines for all Australians, and it has no better friend than the Albanese government. We are supporting all Australians with cost-of-living relief, and this bill is one of the many ways we are providing more-affordable medicines to Australians. General patients will save more than $200 million each year.

The contributions that have been made here today and in the other place tell us so much about why this is important. We've heard, firsthand, accounts of the sacrifices too many Australians make—sacrificing their health by spacing out prescriptions or cutting doses to make them last longer. But, thanks to Labor's plan, the maximum amount a general patient will pay will be $25 per prescription from 1 January, plus any applicable premiums. It provides immediate cost-of-living relief to patients without a concession card while also ensuring that the PBS remains a sustainable investment for government that doesn't come at the expense of priorities like listing new medicines, like investment in other essential health services such as bulk-billing, and like a competitive and sustainable pharmaceutical market. This bill delivers on a significant commitment made prior to the election. It builds on earlier actions undertaken by the Albanese government to deliver cheaper medicines, and it helps strengthen Medicare and improve the health of all Australians.