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

Thank you, Senator Brown. Since 1 January, I think you'll all know, there's been a lot of discussion about the year 2016 and there have been a lot of senators jumping on this trend—the difference between 2016 and 2026. I'd actually suggest that the date we should be talking about is probably 2004, because that is the last time that PBS medicines were as cheap as they are now.

From 1 January this year, families are paying no more than $25 when they are filling a prescription on the PBS. That is a 20 per cent cut in the maximum cost of medicines under the PBS. It means that Australians will save more than $200 million a year. We've also frozen the cost of PBS medicines for pensioners and concession cardholders. That cost is frozen at its current level of $7.70 until 2030.

But, as Senator Gallagher has already reminded the chamber, every single one of these measures was opposed by the Liberals, by the Nationals and by One Nation. They have been so busy focusing on themselves, looking for political angles and focusing on their internal factional arrangements. If they had got their way—if the Liberals, the Nationals and One Nation had got their way—the maximum PBS general patient copayment would be more than $50 in 2026. I'll be really clear. Under those opposite, people would be paying twice as much per script as they are paying now, and it tells you everything about their priorities. They have got a lot of agendas, but helping Australian families is not one of them.