Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting to have the shadow minister, Mr Bowen, give his opinion on where the PBS is at. However, the work we're doing on the PBS, bringing new medicines onto the scheme each and every month, is something the federal government are exceptionally proud of. The opportunity for us to have this structure has been put together in a bipartisan way. Both sides of politics have had a hand in developing the PBS to make it assume this role within Australian society. Our drug companies are given the opportunity to go away and develop, and to introduce new drugs onto the market that are going to find a way to make lives better for people who have a whole raft of ailments.

However, over a period of time, these subsidies are taken away and generics have the opportunity to flood the market at a much more affordable price. But in that time where these drugs are put on the market for exorbitant amounts, it is with the recommendation of the board that these drugs are put onto the PBS. So we're very proud of the work that we have done and we plan to continue with this work. Adding extra billions of dollars to most of our budgets in the last few years has seen billions of dollars added to the PBS to ensure that more and more drugs are going to be able to be put on the market—

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