Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker, and it is a pleasure to see you, my neighbouring MP, in the chair; it's always good to see a friendly face and a fellow Queenslander. I'm sure we look forward to returning to the Sunshine State and enjoying the rest of the week up there after the parliament rises this evening.

The National Health Amendment (General Co-payment) Bill 2022 amends the National Health Act to reduce the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme general co-payment by $12.50, commencing from 1 January 2023. The bill reduces the PBS general patient charge by allowing pharmacies to apply an optional discount to the PBS dispensed price of certain PBS medicines with a Commonwealth price between the new co-payment of $30 and the current co-payment of $42.50.

We support this bill but note that it is copying coalition policy. I've just spoken in the Federation Chamber about the Social Services and Other Legislation Amendment (Incentivising Pensioners to Downsize) Bill 2022, which is another initiative of the federal coalition government that the current government have appropriated and adapted and introduced as a bill in this new parliament. I don't begrudge them that. There is no monopoly on good policy. If the government wishes to implement the policies of the previous government, then I encourage them to do so. We can give them plenty more good policies from this side of the House which we would welcome their adapting and implementing.

We want them to do well. They are our government: we want them to do well and we want Australia to do well. We'd encourage them to continue to use the playbook established by the previous government to grow Australia's welfare and to grow Australia's communal support and how we're assisting our citizens. Hopefully, we can be as one on that. It was the coalition's policy to reduce the co-payment back to 2008 levels, a policy that, obviously, was adapted by the Labor Party ahead of the recent election. There are of course no intellectual property rights in politics, and I encourage the government to copy away. I welcome the government putting forward this bill, which will largely enact a coalition policy.

We all recall that under the last Labor government they had to stop listing medicines on the PBS because they couldn't afford it, a direct result of poor management of the budget. They also slashed funding for mental health support and tried to rip funding out of medical research. Today, I want to take the opportunity to compare that to the coalition record.

We had 2,900 new or amended listings on the PBS. That represents an overall investment by the government of $16.5 billion. The coalition government established the landmark $20 billion Medical Research Future Fund, which has funded 722 projects by last count. Medicare funding, of course, grew from $19 billion in 2012-13 to $31.4 billion in 2022-23. The GP Medicare bulk-billing rate reached a record 88.8 per cent, up from 82.2 per cent under Labor. And, of course—a more recent development following the pandemic and the disruption that we all had to our daily lives, to medical provision and even to the operations of this place—we saw the government introduce permanent and universal telehealth. More than 100 million new telehealth services have been delivered at the last count I have information of. I'm sure the new government might be able to update us on some of those statistics, but the last count I had was that over 100 million new telehealth services had been provided to over 17 million people.

The former coalition government also doubled funding for public hospitals, from $13.3 billion in 2012-13 to $27.2 billion in 2022-23. That is certainly reflective of the investment that I've seen within the electorate of Bowman. We've had a record level of investment in the Metro South local health network, and there are also a number of critical projects at Redland hospital that we've gotten federal funding for. I certainly don't think there was that level of investment under the previous Labor government, but I hope the new Labor government will look with positive eyes on any projects that I put forward in relation to health investment in my neck of the woods—or, indeed, in your neck of the woods, Mr Deputy Speaker Vasta; I'm sure it would be most welcome.

The provisions of this bill were announced as a cost-of-living relief measure, but Labor has taken its time to implement the bill, which won't commence until next year. While a useful cost-of-living measure—I certainly accept that—it is the only cost-of-living measure the government has announced while in office, and they must do more.

The bill follows through on Labor's promise to cut the PBS charge by $12.50. This was a policy, as I mentioned, that was introduced in response to the coalition committing to a $10 reduction. It's another case of this government copying coalition policy and, certainly, a little bit of one-upmanship there with an extra $2.50. It's reminiscent of some commitments that were made during the recent federal election. I recall one within my electorate, where a $100 million commitment for a road project was trumped by a $110 million commitment the next day. I'm sure these things happen; I can't complain, and I absolutely welcome it.

The coalition has always been, and always will be, committed to ensuring that Australians have access to affordable medicines whenever they are needed. We have a strong track record regarding timely access to effective medicines, treatments and other services. I'm keen to remind the House that, while in government, the coalition listed no less than 2,900 new and amended medicines on the PBS. I will repeat that number: that's 2,900 new and amended medicines on the PBS. I was going to try to list them today, but I know we have time constraints; we do want to get away from here at some point and, of course, a lot of those medicines are very difficult to pronounce and I wasn't intending to make a fool of myself in this chamber! But that's almost 30 new medicines a month, if you do the calculations. Following consultation with all components of the pharmaceutical supply chain, the coalition shifted drugs to be listed in line with the recommendations of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, ending the negative impact of government bureaucracy in this space.

So the coalition certainly has a proud track record of making medicines more affordable. I've noted that some of the contributions from those on the government benches would have you believe otherwise, but when you go through those numbers that is a very proud track record. I've certainly seen the impact that this has had firsthand in the division of Bowman. I've seen the impact these policies have had and the differences they've made to local households. But I know there's certainly a long way to go in terms of affordability of medicines.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia does excellent work. They recently supplied me with research undertaken in my electorate which found some very interesting statistics, and I want to share some of these today. One is that 25 per cent of adults in the Bowman electorate have delayed the purchase of prescribed medicines because they could not afford them. That's quite a high percentage. Then 13 percentage of adults in Bowman have gone without prescribed medicines because they could not afford them, and 41 per cent of women in Bowman aged 35 to 55, and without a concession card, have struggled to pay for medicines in the past three years. And then 74 per cent of adults in the electorate of Bowman were concerned about the affordability of health care.

These statistics are quite high, comparatively; I had a look at some of the other electorates across the country which the Pharmacy Guild of Australia conducted some research in. I have an older demographic in the Redlands; traditionally, we have been a retiree area. I think that, while not anywhere near some of the other regional electorates in Queensland, which have much higher aged cohorts, we certainly have an older demographic in terms of a suburban seat. So it's a very real concern for the people in my electorate and we certainly welcome this bill. This is because it will assist them in being able to purchase these medicines and also assist in preventing the erosion of the value of their dollar in such high-inflation times. That's an issue which is not going to go away any time soon.

This bill will make a real difference to these Australians. Approximately 19 million Australians will be eligible for savings under this bill. Total savings for consumers is calculated to be almost $200 million per year—that's certainly not an insignificant saving for Australians. It's an important step to ease the cost-of-living pressures, and the bill has potential to help in that regard. In 2020-21 nearly 70 per cent of people were supplied at least one PBS medicine. That's quite a remarkable number. I was surprised at how high that was.

The Pharmacy Guild of Australia, the Australian Patients Association, Chronic Pain Australia and Musculoskeletal Australia have issued a joint press release welcoming this bill. I want to refer to that joint press release because I think it's quite illuminating. Having worked for a number of different industry associations, I know how difficult it can be at times to get stakeholder groups together to support anything, let alone a bill in front of the parliament. I want to have a little look at that press release. This is a very significant endorsement of this policy. It's from 1 May and it quotes the National President of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, Professor Trent Twomey, as saying:

On behalf of patients, we and our partners the Australian Patients Association, Chronic Pain Australia and Musculoskeletal Australia are thrilled that both major parties have now committed to making medicines more affordable if they are elected.

Of course Labor, who were then in opposition and are now in government, followed the lead of the coalition government and adopted this policy. It continued:

A bipartisan commitment to address the cost of prescription medicines is a win for patients around the country who have been doing it tough …

…   …   …

This announcement is an acknowledgement of the importance of medicine affordability at a time when Australians are struggling with the cost of living.

I note that word 'bipartisan', and I'll come back to that in a second. Another section of that press release was attributed to Fiona Hodson, who is the President of Chronic Pain Australia. Fiona wrote:

The reduction in the co-payment will be welcome news to the one in five Australians living with chronic pain. Medicine affordability is a key issue for these patients as they manage their complex and chronic conditions.

I note there all these wonderful advocacy groups who offered their support for strong bipartisanship on this issue. This was pre election.

Whilst I was on duty here last night I noticed—with wonder—some of the statements made by Labor members. There certainly wasn't a spirit of bipartisanship. You'd be forgiven for thinking that the former government had cut medicines from the PBS rather than having an additional 2,900 new or amended listings, an investment of $16.5 billion. You'd be forgiven for not thinking that Medicare funding grew from $19 billion in 2012-13 to $31.4 billion in 2022-23 or that Commonwealth funding for public hospitals grew from $13.3 billion to $27.2 billion.

I note that one speaker last night even tried to accuse the Liberal Party of having opposed a measure by John Curtin—a measure that predated the existence of the Liberal Party of Australia! You would expect that sort of partisan theatre in question time—in half an hour's time—but not when you're speaking to a bill that is a carbon copy of coalition policy. I will wrap it up now because I have about 30 seconds left.

This bill will achieve a welcome outcome—$200 million of savings in subsidies that are accessible to 19 million Australians. It builds on the great work of the former Liberal-Nationals government, a government that listed more than 2,900 new and amended medicines on the PBS. I encourage the government to immediately outline what further actions they're going to take to relieve cost-of-living pressures, particularly in relation to combating inflation. This is a good start, but more is required.

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