Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am particularly pleased to speak to the member for Fisher's motion on why people will spend less on medicines under Labor. It is ironic that those opposite put up something about the cost-of-living issue and yet all they can come up with are scare tactics and complaints. The change referred to in this motion was one announced as part of this month's budget, when the health minister—and my electoral neighbour and colleague—Mark Butler, announced that the government would be introducing 60-day prescribing and dispensing for stable, ongoing conditions. What this will mean, in effect, is cheaper medicines for at least six million Australians who take one or more of the 320 common medicines safety-assessed by the PBAC for this scheme. The list of medicines includes common medicines for blood pressure and cholesterol as well as other regular ones, and patients will save up to $180 a year per medicine. Those on healthcare cards will save $43.80 a year per medicine. The change brings Australia into line with comparable countries like the UK, France and Canada. New Zealand has had 90-day dispensing for over two decades—the world didn't end!

This change was a recommendation of the independent Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in 2018 and was ignored by the former government. It's a recommendation that could have saved Australians millions of dollars a year for the past five years, but it was ignored.

Let's be clear, the purpose of the health budget is to improve the health of Australians. Overseas evidence shows that longer dispensing times is not only safe but it actually increases medication compliance by up to 20 per cent. Why would this be? When medications are affordable, people are more likely to be able to take all of their medicines regularly as prescribed. Each year, over a million Australians delay or go without medication because they can't afford it. Secondly, if you're going to have a gap in your medication, it's likely to be at the end of your script because, perhaps, you haven't been to your GP on time or, perhaps, you haven't been to the pharmacy to refill it. Gaps in regular medications have impacts on the management of chronic conditions and risk factors. This is good policy.

There's another great benefit of this move to longer dispensing times. That is, patients won't have to attend their GP to get prescription renewals so regularly, and this means GPs will be freed up to see other patients. We all know how hard it is to get in to see a GP after six years of Medicare rebate freezes under those opposite impacted the number of doctors choosing to become GPs. So this move is clearly the right thing to do for patients.

However, I acknowledge that it has impacts on community pharmacists, and I have spoken to many of them. Community pharmacy provides an important and essential role in our system, and I know the minister for health is committed to ensuring this remains the case. The Australian health system is a blended public and private system, and it's important to the health system as a whole that we have a strong community pharmacy sector. However, we don't have unlimited resources and the health budget needs to make decisions in the best interests of Australian patients. We are a country with an ageing population and a rising prevalence of chronic disease. Demand for health services is rising, and we need to make sure that the system is efficient. This policy aims to address an inefficiency in the health system that sees Australian taxpayers and patients pay more for essential services than they need to, it ties up GPs for script renewals and it drives poorer health results from medication non-compliance. This change affects 1.5 per cent of pharmacy revenue.

Crucially, every dollar saved by the government through this change will be reinvested in community pharmacies. Pharmacists have increasingly become providers of immunisation services. They will be funded to reach out in aged care for pharmacy reviews. Some states are running trials or inquiries into prescribing rights for pharmacists for certain medications or conditions. This will require a change of business model for community pharmacy, but pharmacists and, yes, the pharmacy owners have been crying out for expanded scope of practice for years, and this health minister is looking into it. To be clear, the minister is looking into it because the entire health system needs a rethink, needs change, in order to meet the changing and growing needs of Australians. Perhaps the Pharmacy Guild should return to the negotiating table.

Every year nearly a million Australians are forced to delay or go without medicine that their doctor has told them is necessary for their health because they can't afford it. This will fix that.

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