Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Robertson for his question and also for hosting me and the member for Dobell last week along with Dr Ian Charlton, a great GP on the Central Coast, to announce the expressions of interest opening for the 14 urgent-care centres that we've promised to deliver this year in New South Wales. I also know just how hard the member for Robertson campaigned on a promise to deliver the people of the Central Coast cheaper medicines at the election last year.

We have delivered on that promise. In July we slashed the safety net threshold for millions of pensioners and concession card holders by 25 per cent so that now across a year, on average, pensioners and concession card holders will pay no more than $5 per week for all of their medicines needs, no matter how many medicines they take. In September we cut the price of more than 2,000 brands of medicine, delivering $130 million back into the pockets of hardworking Australians. In November, the Minister for Social Services delivered on our promise to give more self-funded retirees access to a seniors health card that would give them access to cheaper PBS medicines and bulk-billed GP visits. The Minister for Social Services has reported that, already, more than 10,000 self-funded retirees now have a seniors health card in their wallet who didn't have that before November. But the centrepiece of our cheaper medicines policy was delivered on 1 January, when we delivered the biggest cut to the price of PBS medicines in the 75-year history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—

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