Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025. I do so because the bill takes steps to improve our health system by removing fees imposed on the pathology sector for certain categories of applications. It directly responds to the findings of the 2022 health portfolio charging review, which made it clear that current fees were misaligned with the broader Commonwealth charging framework. This reform is both sensible and necessary. It provides meaningful relief for the pathology sector, reduces red tape and supports the efficient delivery of essential health services. By repealing these fees it helps ensure that laboratories can focus more on delivering high-quality accurate testing services without being bogged down by unnecessary administrative burdens. Let me be very clear: the coalition support this bill because we understand the crucial role pathology plays in our health system. Whether it be diagnosing cancers, managing chronic illness or detecting infections, accurate pathology services underpin nearly every element of modern health care. The bill will maintain stringent    accreditation and quality-assurance standards to ensure continued public confidence in Medicare-eligible pathology services. Importantly, this bill has the backing of key stakeholders in the pathology sector, including the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Australian Pathology and Public Pathology Australia.

While this is a positive step forwards, it does not make up for the broader failings of this government when it comes to Medicare. Under this government it has never been harder or more expensive to see your doctor. Let's look at the facts. Since Labor came to power Medicare bulk-billing has fallen by 11 per cent. GP bulk-billing has dropped from over 88 per cent to 77 per cent, a fall that equates to 40 million fewer GP visits in the past year alone. Out-of-pocket costs to see a GP have skyrocketed. According to the government's own national accounts these costs are the highest on record. More than 1.5 million Australians avoided seeing the doctor last year because they simply couldn't afford to go. This is a damning indictment of a government that promised to strengthen Medicare. Remember what the Prime Minister said in the election campaign? He looked every Australian in the eye and said:

Under Labor all you'll need is your Medicare card, not your credit card.

The reality of everyday Australians tells a very different story. Millions of Australians are pulling their credit card out to pay for essential health care, and those credit cards are being charged the highest amount on record. They are paying more than they've ever paid before. What's worse is that the department of health's own incoming government brief, released under FOI, estimated that nearly a quarter of GP clinics would not bulk-bill. The Prime Minister must have known this when he made his now infamous Medicare stunt campaign. At a time when Australians are struggling with the rising cost of living they're being forced to pay more to see a GP than they ever have before. In fact in the month of May, the month of the election, while the PM was travelling across the country with his Medicare card in his pocket, Australians paid a combined total of $166 million at the GP—just in that month. In the past year alone Australians paid more than $2 billion in out-of-pocket costs to see their GP. This is the Prime Minister's $2 billion lie.

While Labor treat Medicare like their political plaything, the coalition remains focused on ensuring families can get affordable and timely access to health care. We have a proud record on delivering Medicare. Funding increased every year under the coalition, growing from $18.6 billion in 2012-13 under Labor, to more than $30 billion in 2021-22. And bulk-billing was higher under the coalition; when we left office it sat at around 88 per cent. We also invested in the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, listing 2,900 new or amended medicines, and made cheaper medicines a reality for thousands of Australians.

And we made mental health a national priority. Labor's track record on mental health, on the other hand, is a complete failure. They slashed Medicare funded mental-health sessions in half, against the advice of experts and their own reviews. They abolished the National Mental Health Commission. They've defunded the National Suicide Prevention Research Fund. And, under their watch, access to Medicare mental-health support has dropped to a 10-year low, while demand has never been higher.

So, once again, while we support this bill, Australians deserve better from their government. They deserve a government that tells the truth about Medicare and that actually delivers on its promises. The coalition will continue to hold the Anthony Albanese Labor government to account on Medicare, on the cost of living and on access to affordable care. We support this bill, but we will not be silent on the broader failures of this government, which are leaving Australians worse off. We will support the bill.

Dorinda Cox (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in strong support of the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025. This is not just a technical adjustment to the Medicare schedule. This is about strengthening one of the cornerstones of our health system and making sure that it continues to deliver affordable and high quality care for Australians today but also for generations to come.

Pathology is the quiet achiever of modern medicine. It is often invisible to patients, but it's also absolutely critical to the decisions that doctors and specialists make every single day. Around 70 per cent of clinical decisions depend on pathology. That is in fact a staggering figure—seven out of 10 people. Whether it's confirming a diagnosis, managing a chronic condition or ruling out something more serious, pathology underpins the trust that we place, as Australians, in our health system. Think about the blood tests that guide diabetes management. Think about the cancer screenings that allow us to act early, when treatment is most effective. Think about the diagnostic tests that help us fight infections or respond quickly to outbreaks. Pathology is central to prevention, to early detection and to treatment. Without it, modern health care simply does not function.

Yet, for too long, the funding arrangements that support this essential work have been frozen in time. Some of the schedules that dictate the pathology services that are funded are decades old. They reflect models of care that absolutely do not exist anymore. They lock in inefficiencies. They create unnecessary red tape. And they place financial pressures on providers, and, ultimately, those pressures don't just sit with the providers; they land on patients, through delays, reduced access and the creeping fear that there may be, in fact, extra costs. This bill tackles that problem head-on. It repeals outdated schedules. It brings funding arrangements into line with modern clinical practices. And, most importantly, it ensures that Medicare is financially sustainable, so that patients can continue to access affordable care without the fear of being left behind.

I want to be very, very clear on this point. This legislation doesn't take services away. It does not make pathology less accessible. It does not undermine Medicare. In fact, it does the opposite. It protects access by making the system simpler, fairer and much more transparent. By removing outdated structures, we are making it easier for providers to navigate the system—one less prone to administrative confusion and far more capable of supporting high-quality patient care. And that's good for doctors, it's good for nurses and, most of all, it's good for all patients.

The timing of this reform matters. Our population is growing, and it's also ageing. More Australians are living longer with multiple chronic conditions that now require ongoing monitoring and management. The burden of chronic disease is rising, and, with that, so is the need for consistent, reliable and affordable pathology services. At the same time, Australians are facing increasing pressures on the cost of living and the complexity of health care. The reforms in this bill mean Medicare can continue to rise to meet those challenges. They allow us to direct resources where they are most effective, in prevention and early diagnosis. We all know that it's not just about good health policy; it's about good economic policy. Every dollar we spend preventing diseases saves much more down the track in hospital admissions, emergency care and lost productivity.

I want to acknowledge the process that has led to this legislation. This is not reform for reform's sake; it has been carefully considered and informed by extensive consultation. This has been led by providers, medical colleges, professional associations and patient advocates. They have all been at the table. Their expertise has shaped these changes, ensuring that what we legislate here is practical, evidence based and workable on the ground. That is how reform should be done—with respect, with rigour and with a focus on the outcomes that make a real difference to people's lives. At its heart, this isn't just about balance sheets or technical schedules; it's about people. It's about the mother who can get her test results quickly enough to start treatment early. It's about an older Australian whose chronic condition is managed so that they can remain independent and well in their own home. It's about a family that doesn't have to worry about whether they can afford a test that a doctor has ordered because Medicare is there to back them in. That is what this bill is protecting. That is what modernising Medicare means.

Medicare is one of the greatest achievements of our nation. It is built on the principle of fairness. Your access to health care should depend not on the size of your wallet but on your needs. It's about universality, it's about dignity and it's about knowing that when you or your loved ones need care, it will be there. Labor built Medicare, Labor has always defended Medicare and Labor will continue to strengthen Medicare because we believe that health care is a right, not a privilege. This bill is another chapter in that story, and it shows that we are not content to let Medicare stand still. We are making sure that it evolves with the times. We are making sure that it remains strong enough to face the challenges of the 21st century. We are making sure that it stays true to its founding principles of fairness, universality and access for all.

The choice before us is clear. If we fail to act, outdated funding structures will continue to waste resources and create inefficiencies. Patients will pay the price through longer waiting periods, reduced availability or creeping costs. But if we support this bill, we deliver a stronger Medicare—one that is simpler, fairer and better prepared to meet the health needs of all Australians. This is about practical reform. It's about commonsense reform. It is reform that is guided by our values here in Labor. I commend the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025 to the Senate. It is the right step at the right time, and it is reform that strengthens Medicare for us today, for tomorrow and for the generations who will rely upon it after us.

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

I'm pleased to speak to the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025. I lead my contribution by sharing that the Greens will be supporting this bill, as this bill will relieve some of the pressure that the pathology sector is currently experiencing. It will remove some small administrative fees—an important step, as the health portfolio charging review identified that administration fees had not been reviewed since they were initially introduced and that the fees cost more than the actual administrative cost of approving the relevant applications. However, this bill does not fully address the issues threatening bulk-billing of pathology services in Australia.

One of the things we can be so proud of in this country is that almost all pathology services are bulk-billed. Universal access is something that is much treasured by our community, and it must be maintained. I have spoken to pathologists across the country, and it is clear they are struggling to continue to provide bulk-billed services. This is because their Medicare rebate has been subject to a decade-long indexation freeze. Pathologists are raising the alarm. They couldn't be clearer that we have travelled far down the slippery slope towards an out-of-pocket cost system to access pathology services. Given the key role that pathology plays in diagnosis, in monitoring and in the management of health conditions, it is essential that pathology remains a bulk-billed service.

We are seeing people skipping regular appointments, prioritising their kids' appointments over their own health or not following up on test results because going to the doctor is too expensive. It is disgraceful that, in a cost-of-living crisis, when people are choosing between going to the doctor, paying rent and putting food on the table, the government think that this bill is enough to declare mission accomplished, enough to pat themselves on the back this evening for a good day's work. The Greens are pleased to see the government adopt part of our plan to incentivise bulk-billing more broadly, but that will not be enough alone. The RACGP surveyed 283 GPs in March, and 66 per cent said they would not change their bulk-billing rates at all as a result of the changes to bulk-billing incentives, while only six per cent said they would switch to fully bulk-billed.

The RACGP has been calling for a raise of the rebate for longer GP appointments in addition to bulk-billing incentive changes, saying this move would 'halve the out-of-pocket costs' for people who are not being bulk-billed. Yet this government has failed to support our community to access longer appointments. People with chronic illnesses, women, people with intellectual disabilities and so many other cohorts of people in our community benefit from increased access to longer appointments, and the changes put forward by this government are not going to make this happen. If the government were serious about cost-of-living relief, they would implement the entirety of the Greens plan to make sure everyone could see a GP for free, including raising rebates for appointments over 20 minutes.

In conclusion, the Greens will be supporting this bill, but we would like to see the government take serious action on affordable health care by keeping pathology bulk-billed and ensuring everyone can see the GP for free.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025 removes the fees imposed on the pathology sector for certain categories of pathology applications. The coalition supports this bill. It is a response to the findings of the 2022 health portfolio charging review, addressing the misalignment of fees charged under the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) Act with the charging framework, as well as providing fee relief and reducing administrative burden on the pathology sector. The bill will also maintain a high level of confidence in the accuracy of Medicare eligible pathology services by continuing to require service providers to meet requisite accreditation and quality assurance standards.

Medicare under Labor has been quite a significant problem. We all saw the rhetoric around the election campaign, but the coalition is very concerned about the disingenuous nature of that rhetoric, particularly as we know that the current state of bulk-billing is much more dire than the government would admit. Medicare bulk-billing has fallen 11 per cent under this government. It has fallen from 88 per cent to 77 per cent. There were 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits in the past year alone, and those that have to go—not just with their Medicare card but with their credit card—are actually paying more out of pocket. Not only are there less services being bulk-billed; when families or individuals are going to the doctor, the gap is higher when they have to pay that gap.

This data doesn't come from us. This data comes from the government's own national accounts. This is a sad reality of our current healthcare system. It forced more than 1½ million Australians to avoid seeing their GP last year, because they couldn't afford it. This was one of the regular things that I heard last year or over the past 12 months, particularly over the election campaign, when I was talking to people who were struggling with Australia's cost-of-living crisis. There were two things that they were telling me on repeat: that it was two expensive to go to the doctor and that they were making decisions about which medications they were going to have or if they would stretch out their medications because they were far too expensive.

I've spoken to a number of mums over the past year who have said, particularly as the winter cold, flu and respiratory illness season has been upon us, that they've had to make decisions about delaying their own medical appointments so they can actually afford to take each of their children to different medical appointments. I think when somebody has to actually delay their own medical treatment or their own medical investigations it's a very sad state of affairs. For a mum to have to do that, I think, is terribly unfair. Not only looking after your sick children but having to delay your own medical visits is unacceptable in my view.

Instead of being honest with Australians about this concerning situation, Anthony Albanese has been waving his Medicare card around as a disingenuous stunt to try and distract us all from his failures. I don't think that that's quite right, and I think that Australians see past that. They want to see some action. They don't want to see the Prime Minister waving around his Medicare card and saying, 'That's all you need.' Most people who have gone to the doctor over the past couple of years know that they needed their credit card as well as their Medicare card. I'm not sure why the Prime Minister isn't being open and transparent with Australians about the state of Medicare, but we are focused on ensuring that struggling families have timely and affordable access to the medical treatments that they need and to their local GP.

When I talk about the Prime Minister and his rhetoric around only needing your Medicare card, not your credit card, this wasn't something he just said once or twice. He actually said that 71 times. On 71 separate occasions he has said to Australians, 'You just need your Medicare card. You don't need your credit card,' when the lived reality of Australians is very different to that.

In addition to that the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's incoming government brief, released under freedom of information, estimates that a quarter of GP clinics across our country will not bulk-bill, despite all of the Albanese Labor government's promises. So it's 25 per cent of clinics won't provide bulk-billing at all. This data from the health department shows that millions of Australians will absolutely still need their credit card as well as their Medicare card when they go to see their GP. The Minister for Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, has now tried to backtrack from the Prime Minister's promises by saying they never said they would be 100 per cent bulk-billing. I'm not sure how you can on the one hand say, 'All you need is your Medicare card,' and then, on the other hand, say, 'We actually never said there would be 100 per cent bulk-billing.' To me, they are the same thing. They're just different words. 'You only need your Medicare card' would be 100 per cent bulk-billing. But now Minister Butler is saying that the government never said that there would be 100 per cent bulk-billing. On that basis I'm not quite sure what 'You only need your Medicare card' actually means. The Prime Minister certainly said, many, many times, 'One card covers it all'—not your credit card, just your Medicare card. Either the Prime Minister was mistaken or it was a stunt. I'm not quite sure which is worse. I think it would probably be worse if it were a stunt. If it were an honest mistake and the Prime Minister stood up and said, 'I got that wrong; I was very wrong; you actually do need your credit card as well as your Medicare card,' then we could perhaps move on.

While the Prime Minister was out waving his Medicare card around during the election campaign and propagating what we can only assume are these false promises, Australians paid a combined $166 million in out-of-pocket costs at the GP in the month of May alone, and I'm assuming many of them used their credit card. Let me repeat that. During the month of May, during the election-campaign month—the election was on 3 May—Australians paid $166 million in out-of-pocket costs in visits to the GP. This was at the same time we had our prime minister holding up his Medicare card, saying, 'This is all you need.' Well, it's clear that in the month of May we also needed an extra $166 million.

In the past year Australians have paid more than $2 billion in out-of-pocket costs. That is more than $2 billion charged to Australians' credit cards or taken out of their bank accounts or charged to their debit cards or taken out of the piggy-bank—but not their Medicare cards. That $2 billion did not come from anybody's Medicare card, and they paid this to access essential health care at their doctor's office. I don't know what we can call this aside from a $2 billion lie. I don't know what we call it.

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

Ten years of neglect from a coalition government.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pardon? I didn't hear.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Interjections are disorderly.

Maria Kovacic (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I might repeat it because I can't remember where I got to. That's more than $2 billion charged to Australians' credit cards over the past year. That's $2 billion that people had to pay out of their pockets over the past year because their Medicare card was not sufficient to pay for their visit to the doctor. I think any type of falsehood is egregious, but I think when it comes to falsehoods in relation to medical treatment, where it's something that people don't choose to do but something they have to do, is actually even more egregious.

Australians aren't stupid. They know that they need to have their credit card or debit card or some cash when they go to the GP because the Medicare card is not enough. But what the Prime Minister has done here is create false expectations in the minds of Australian families at a time when they are already struggling under a cost-of-living crisis. That is quite appalling because he's giving them false messaging at a time when they can least afford it. It's not on something they may like to buy or something they may like to spend their money on but on their health care, which is something that they need to spend their money on. But now they're having to make decisions on whether they can actually afford it or not. What he has proven by doing this is that he really does not understand the cost-of-living pressures that everyday Australians are under. That in itself is a very, very sad thing.

I finish by saying that the coalition's record on Medicare is something that we are very proud of. Medicare bulk-billing was higher under the coalition. Regardless of what those opposite want to say, the numbers don't lie—88 per cent is more than 77 per cent, whichever way you want to cut it. In the coalition's last year, 167.2 million free GP services were delivered. This is 61 million more than under the previous Labor government.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to add a few words to the debate on the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025. While the coalition does support the passing of this legislation and will support the bill passing through the Senate, I think it is worth putting on the record, from my perspective in Tasmania, the dishonesty that the government has managed the health portfolio with over the last three and a bit years. In fact, their approach to health in particular has followed the same path for a considerable period of time. We've had 'Mediscare' campaign after 'Mediscare' campaign perpetrated by the Labor party going back as far as 2016. The real problem is that they're prepared to run a scare campaign but they're not prepared to base it on fact.

The last campaign, where the Prime Minister stood up on 70-odd occasions and said the only thing that you will need to go to the GP is your Medicare card, demonstrates how low the Labor Party are prepared to go in misleading the Australian people with respect to health services. We know that 23 per cent of Australians will need more than their Medicare card, yet the Labor party, on 71 occasions, perpetrated the falsehood that all you would need when you went to the GP was your Medicare card. The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing have put on the public record that 23 per cent of Australians will need more than their Medicare card; they will have to produce their credit card as well. Yet this is not what the Labor Party say when they're standing up publicly.

They like to try to deflect the blame from themselves. They like to attribute the blame to the coalition. Yet the statistics are very clear that Medicare bulk-billing was 11 per cent higher under the coalition than it was under the Labor Party. They try to deflect the blame to somebody else, as they do in so many things. We heard this during question time today, when the Labor Party were talking about home care. They neglected, in any of their answers, to talk about the fact that the waiting list for home-care packages had dropped, from an unacceptable high of 129,000, down to 28,000—a reduction of over 100,000 people on the waiting list. The waiting time had dropped, from an unacceptably high number, to 30 to 90 days for a home-care package at any level. Under the coalition, someone looking for a high-needs package would get it within 30 days. None of that was mentioned by the government. Dishonestly, it was not mentioned by the government today under questioning. They try to pretend that the period of time where significant progress was made on home-care packages doesn't exist.

The great shame that the Labor Party should feel is that they squandered the hard work and the investment from the Australian people into home-care packages. The number of people on the waiting list got down to 28,000, and the waiting time was 30 to 90 days. There are now 87,000 people waiting. It has more than tripled under Labor because of their lack of investment. The waiting time has blown out, from 30 to 90 days, to 15 months for a level 4 home-care package.

It's outrageous. They continue to perpetrate the falsehood that they care about senior Australian people, yet their actions completely and utterly belie that. It's simply not true. They throw around phrases and clauses from the interim report and the aged-care royal commission, but they neglect to say in respect of the aged-care royal commission that the Labor Party still has not put on the record a full response to the royal commission. They still have not done that, and they won't. They don't have the courage and they don't have the moral fibre to stand up on the fact that their complete failure on home-care packages has seen the waiting list blow out more than threefold, from 28,000 to over 87,000. Then we learned last week that there are 120,000 people who are waiting for an assessment, which means those waiting for home-care packages number over 200,000 people. It is an absolute outrage that that is occurring.

But we see that all through the Labor Party's management of the health system. We've seen that all along. They're not prepared to stand up and take responsibility for their own failures. They refuse to acknowledge that the bulk-billing rate has dropped from 88 per cent to 77 per cent under their watch. They try and blame it on someone else. They try and deflect to somewhere else. It's a continuation that they perpetrate as part of what they're doing.

Then they had the gall to go to the election making the promise that the only thing that you'd need when going to the GP is your Medicare card, not your credit card. That's a promise they made 71 times, and yet they know that it is not true. There were no qualifications around the promise. There's plenty of evidence to demonstrate that the commitment was, 'All you will need to go to the GP is your Medicare card, not your credit card.' But, even as the Labor Party said that, they knew it wasn't true, and now there's every excuse under the sun as to why it's not the case.

The coalition has a very proud record with respect to supporting high-quality medications going into the Australian health system. In fact, we undertook a major review of medications available on the PBS, and we listed more quickly than the Labor Party has a whole range of medicines. We shouldn't forget that the last time they were in government they stopped listing because they ran out of money because they can't manage a budget. We are seeing the spending. Australians should be very, very cautious about the unbridled spending. The government don't want any guardrails. They don't want any discipline placed around the way they spend the Australian people's taxes. They just want to keep on rolling it up. That's what they do—spend. And, of course, then they will come after more of your money. Spend and tax—that's what the Labor Party do.

With respect to the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025, while the opposition support this particular piece of legislation, we offer a sincere word of caution to the Australian people. We need to be very, very careful when the Labor Party are speaking in respect to the health system and the promises that they make with respect to the health system because there is a sordid trail of broken promises from this government of broken promises in relation to health, aged care and energy prices. The list goes on and on.

In relation to being open and honest with the Australian people, we heard earlier in the day that the pricing for the NDIS has been sought by this chamber, and the government won't release it. They promised to be an open and transparent government. How's that going? I can tell you my constituents who are concerned about what's happening with the NDIS don't believe that that's the case. They are very concerned about what's going on. Quite frankly, releasing that information is fundamental to the trust the Australian people have in the NDIS system in the same way it is with releasing hospital costs done by the same organisation and also in the same way that the costings assessed for the aged-care system need to be released so that people can understand what the assessment is and then benchmark that against what's actually being supported through the system.

This history of broken promises from the Labor Party, this litany of broken promises from the government of broken promises, needs to be well and truly understood by the Australian people. The coalition will continue to do what we've always done: work responsibly with regard to measures that are brought into this place, making sure that the government is put under pressure to be open and transparent where they should be with costings for the review of NDIS payments and other things, including aged care. In that context, we'll also support this piece of legislation, and I'm pleased to put my contribution in that context onto the record tonight.

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

It is interesting to hear coalition senators try and rewrite their own history in relation to Medicare, because the truth—and I think the Australian public know this—is that, when we came to government in 2022, it had never been harder or more expensive to find a doctor, bulk-billing was in freefall and it was after a decade of cuts and neglect. It is why we came to government determined to strengthen Medicare. In the first term of parliament, we delivered more doctors, more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines. We opened 87 Medicare urgent care clinics. The truth is that Labor established Medicare and it is only Labor that can be relied upon to protect it.

That, of course, provides context for the bill that's before the chamber at the moment, but the Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) (Repeal) Bill 2025 is rather more specific than many of the contributions in what has been a wide-ranging debate. I thank senators for their contributions. The bill before us relates to the fees imposed on the pathology sector for certain categories of pathology applications. This bill will reform the pathology charging arrangements applying to those categories. The Health Insurance Act 1973 requires Medicare-eligible pathology services to be rendered by or on behalf of an approved pathology practitioner in an accredited pathology laboratory operated by an approved pathology authority. Under these arrangements, a practitioner is required to sign an undertaking to the minister that they will comply with the requirements of the legislation and certain administrative arrangements and pay an acceptance fee to become an approved practitioner. The proprietary laboratory must sign an undertaking and pay an acceptance fee to become an approved authority, and a laboratory premises may be approved as an accredited laboratory by the minister after an application has been submitted with relevant supporting documentation and the accreditation fee has been paid. The accreditation requirements impose obligations on approved practitioners, accredited laboratories and approved authorities to undertake to meet or to demonstrate compliance with quality-assurance standards for pathology services provided under Medicare.

The Health Insurance (Pathology) (Fees) Act 1991 specifies the fees which must be paid for the acceptance and approval of approved practitioner, approved authority and accredited laboratory applications. The approval of these applications allows the providers of pathology services to be identified in the Services Australia billing system as approved providers of Medicare-eligible services. The current pathology charging arrangements were reviewed as part of the 2022 Health portfolio charging review, which identified that these arrangements do not align with the Australian government's charging framework. Removing the fees applied to the three categories of applications through the repeal of the pathology fees act will resolve this misalignment with the charging framework. It will also provide the pathology sector with fee relief and a reduced administrative burden; however, it will preserve the high level of confidence in the accuracy of Medicare-eligible pathology services by retaining administrative requirements, including accreditation obligations.

I thank senators for their contributions to the debate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.