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

Before I begin answering, I indicate that Senator McCarthy tells me that we are also welcoming the Northern Territory's deputy opposition leader, Mr Dheran Young, in the gallery. I welcome him here today.

It's a great question, Senator Polley, because the Albanese government is slashing the cost of medicines. That is providing real relief for families across Australia. It's why, earlier this year, the government passed the cheaper medicines bill. From next year, people will pay no more than $25 when filling up a prescription on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. That is a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of medicines under the PBS. It will save Australians more than $200 million a year. The people who need help most, like Australian pensioners and concession card holders, will have the cost of their PBS medicines frozen at just $7.70 until 2030.

But that's not all. We are doing so much more because we want the PBS to be the best it can be, offering more Australians effective and affordable treatments. It's why a month ago, on 1 October, Australians affected by breast cancer, by rare kidney disease and by a range of other conditions received critical cost-of-living relief, with access to even cheaper medicines on the PBS. Take for example TRUQAP, which treats locally advanced or metastatic breast cancer that cannot be removed by surgery. Without listing on the PBS, a course of treatment of TRUQAP would cost a patient more than $98,000. Now we are delivering savings for up to 3,000 patients who will benefit from this PBS listing. And, for the first time in 30 years, we have listed new contraceptive pills on the PBS, because this is a government that listens to women right around the country who've told us they want more choice over their contraception.