Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I do not agree with the motion, but I do find it very difficult to criticise a man who has earned the respect of all in this place and certainly many, if not most, in his own electorate—it would be most, because he keeps getting re-elected! To the member for Macarthur: well done. I have been on trips overseas, and I know that he puts people's health first and foremost, whether they are in Papua New Guinea or here in Australia. I will also acknowledge that I am the only speaker in this debate who is not a doctor. I will acknowledge that.

The Australian Medical Association would have been very pleased with and proud of the three previous efforts. The AMA, which for some reason did not support a rural medical school network when it was first proposed by—we'll say the National Party, but it was the coalition—remained opposed to it and vehemently opposed the notion of a medical school network. This will put doctors in the bush, getting their training from start to finish. That is going to be a game changer that will be transformational for rural and remote areas.

This is about our pharmacists, who in many cases, particularly in remote Australia, are the only frontline medical professionals in those centres. They deserve every bit of support. We've heard members opposite and the member for Kooyong talking about what Labor has done in this space when in government previously, yet I well recall being in my first term, from 2010 to 2013, when Labor took medications off the PBS schedule because they'd run out of money. They'd run out of somebody else's money to put them on, and they took them off the schedule.

Don't just take my word for what is before us tonight. Let's hear from Claire Robertson, a pharmacist proprietor of Blooms the Chemist in Sturt Mall in Wagga Wagga. She says that the 60-day dispensing is likely to increase the current medicine shortage, resulting in patients and community members being unable to access the medication they need. She says it has the potential to result in medicine-hoarding. She says it means there will be more medicines in the home, and this may lead to increased risk of overdose. She says it will exacerbate our already overburdened healthcare system and will impact pharmacies' ability to deliver best-practice healthcare. She's right, of course.

Luke van der Rijt, Michael O'Reilly, Tom Adamson and Darko Bogdanovic, the proprietors of Southcity Pharmacy in Wagga Wagga, said: 'Minister Butler has dismissed this policy as something that won't have an effect on community pharmacy, but as you can see from the numbers,' which they correctly worked out, 'this is, quite frankly, categorically incorrect. I think everyone is now aware that this policy will cause numerous medications to go out of stock. Even if the medication is available, the pharmacy will be under such financial pressure that they won't have the cashflow to hold stock for the community. Wait times to get prescriptions will blow out two days.'

Victor Vo is a small-business owner of two pharmacies in Ariah Park and Ardlethan the Riverina electorate, both rural towns located in the Temora Shire. He is absolutely concerned about equitable, timely, safe and affordable access to high-quality and reliable supply of medicines and medicines-related services for all Australians, and with ensuring that medicines are used safely, optimally and judiciously, with a focus on informed choice and well-coordinated person-centred care. Yet he is very concerned that this policy does not achieve the objectives that he sets out to do as a health professional and, indeed, that probably even the government would like to perform.

Wendy Patey is a constituent from Boree Creek and Lockhart Shire and therefore the Riverina electorate. She phoned my office to say that this policy is ludicrous. She fears it will lead to the closure of the small pharmacy at Urana, and if that happened the people of Boree Creek would have to drive to Lockhart or Narrandera to have their prescription filled. Diane McGill from Pleasant Hills in New South Wales is also very concerned and wrote to us with some very personal issues about the medication that she is on. She is also concerned for her local friendly pharmacist.

I have spoken to Trent Twomey from the Pharmacy Guild and he, like many, is very concerned that this is going to force the closure—they say—of chemists, who provide such a valuable service, particularly in rural, regional and remote Australia. I ask the government to reconsider this.

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