Jordon Steele-John (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

In the time I have today, I want to begin my speech on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill will enable qualified registered nurses, known as nurse prescribers, to work to their full scope of practice and support patient access to faster, more affordable, quality health care. Nurses have been pushing for this reform for a very long time. This is a change that is long overdue, and we must acknowledge that, historically, the role of nurses has been underappreciated and underutilised within our healthcare system.

The Greens are pleased to support this reform. This reform comes at an important time. To share the impact of this change, I'd like to quote Rebecca Manski, who gave an interview to the ABC. Ms Manski is a registered nurse in a rural New South Wales community who is training to become a nurse prescriber. She said:

Patients will feel validated that they're being heard and that their conditions are a priority to manage.

Earlier treatment, or prompt treatment, is going to reduce the likelihood of an unnecessary hospital admission

Patients feeling heard, having timely access to health care, earlier treatment and fewer hospitalisations—these are all good things, especially as we are seeing more and more people unnecessarily coming to spaces within the healthcare system that they need not be in, with additional unnecessary costs to them as members of our community in the context of a cost-of-living crisis.

The Consumers Health Forum today launched the results of their first National Consumer Sentiment Survey, which has found that while people generally trust the health system they cannot afford it. According to the report, 50 per cent of people avoided necessary health care in the past year because they could not afford it. This is completely unacceptable in a nation as wealthy as ours, and I'm pleased to be enabling nurse prescribers to treat the community and provide the community with essential medications that will help alleviate some of the cost burden people face.

To get the full benefits of this change, nurse prescribing needs to be implemented not only in hospitals but also in primary healthcare settings, such as local clinics and aged-care settings. This is critical. When this bill went before a Senate enquiry, many submissions made to the inquiry were largely supportive of the change, and I'd like to amplify some of those submissions.

Firstly, there's the Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association submission, and I will quote it:

Nurses play a critical role in providing essential health care access, managing complex and chronic health conditions and keeping people out of hospitals which is particularly necessary where there is limited or no access to a regular general practitioner.