Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Goldstein, who has been a great advocate for GriefLine in his electorate and a great advocate for the listing of new medicines, and has also been a great advocate for action which will help deliver a strong economy. He knows his economic history, and I think he would know the history of the PBS and some of the things that have happened in recent years.

But, interestingly, yesterday I realised that there are some who don't know that history. I read a transcript from the member for Ballarat who was asked a question at the Press Club about whether or not Labor would list medicines recommended by the PBAC if they were ever in government again. She said, 'Look, it has been, frankly, terrific to see that the government'—our government, that is—'has been listing medicines'. And then she went on to say 'in the same way that Labor did in government', and then went on to guarantee that they would list the medicines 'as we did in government'. That was a bit of a surprise to me. I had to dig out the 2011 budget statement, and it was a statement authorised by the Assistant Treasurer, amongst others, and the then Assistant Treasurer is now the Leader of the Opposition. That statement said that, due to fiscal circumstances:

… the listing of some medicines would be deferred until fiscal circumstances permit.

As the Consumers Health Forum and 59 other organisations said at the time:

Affordable medicines and vaccines that save and prolong lives are being denied to some of the most vulnerable chronically ill Australians by a short-sighted decision by the Government to disregard the recommendations of PBAC.

That is what they did when they were in government.

Fortunately, fiscal circumstances are strong under this government and they will always be strong. That's why when the PBAC recommended the listing of Tagrisso, in mid-December, we were able to announce a month later that that medicine would be listed as of 1 February. Tagrisso is a wonderful medicine. It is a new medicine which treats lung cancer for those with a genetic condition that causes it; people who have never smoked, in the overwhelming majority of cases. And what that means—as the Prime Minister and the member for Deakin and I were able to say on the day when we met with Bruno, who has been through the clinical trials on this, and who has his life back and is able to be a dad because of this medicine—is that 400 other patients, in a $69 million listing, will save up to $90,000 per year through this new medicine that is on the PBAC. That means they have a shot at life. That means they have a shot at being their full selves. Under us, if the PBAC lists it, we will always list a new medicine, and we will do that because we have a strong economy.

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