Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I find it passing strange that here we are talking about consideration in detail for health, aged care and sport, and the two senior ministers in this portfolio are nowhere to be seen. We have a government that have been carrying on about openness, transparency and accountability yet they can't be bothered to be in this chamber to answer the questions that the members on this side of the chamber are putting to them. I want to start off first by saying that the government made it clear in last May's budget that they are not supportive of the small-to-medium businesses, given the changes they have made to the dispensing arrangements for pharmacies.

I recently hosted a roundtable of several community pharmacies based in my electorate for them to voice their concerns about the expected impacts. I have heard the member's contribution earlier of a $180,000 impact on some pharmacies and that is about the figure these pharmacies shared with me. But the second part of that story—that is the one that the government doesn't talk about—is that these community pharmacies, in order to keep their doors open, are going to make a range of decisions that will impact on our communities negatively. They are either going to shed staff, many of whom are women, reduce services, which will impact on members of my community, they are going to increase the cost of items in the pharmacy or they will start charging for services they presently deliver for free. So for those opposite to sit here and say this is going to save people money, they are kidding themselves. They are kidding themselves, because the Australian people will now pay more or get less service as a result of their changes.

I think it is an absolute disgrace. In addition to that, as I have seen in my electorate from a discussion I have had with a non-PBS pharmacy around the opioid treatment program, again, there was no consultation—zero. These people are going to potentially close their doors and the several hundred clients they have on the opioid treatment program will have to go somewhere else or will not be able to find services. I have checked with most of my pharmacies around my electorate that do provide those services. Some will potentially take on some more clients, others will not.

For the other part that I want to address in this, I will ask a couple of questions on the health side. Firstly, can the minister guarantee there will be no supply issues, including shortages, to Australians for their chronic conditions? Can the minister confirm that community pharmacies will not be negatively impacted by this change? And, most importantly, will the minister provide a guarantee that no pharmacies will close because of this policy announcement negatively impacting my community?

I want to touch on another matter that these portfolios cover: sport. The Minister for Sport has been quite liberal in her use of the terms 'legacy' and 'leaving a legacy for the future' over the past 12 months. When I look at the funding allocations for sport in the budget, I wonder what legacy this government actually wants to leave. Why, on 27 May, did the minister refuse the AOC's pre-budget submission request for $18.3 million to assist Olympic and Paralympic athletes in their qualification for the Paris Olympics next year? There is less than a decade to go before the Brisbane Olympic Games, and our athletes' ability to maintain their high performance standards is critical to a successful team.

The government seems happy to provide $240 million for a vanity project in Hobart, but why hasn't the minister addressed the Olympic and Commonwealth games funding shortfall of $200 million per year identified across the forward estimates to 2032? It's our athletes that set the standard, and this government is letting them down. Why is the government not providing the funding necessary for our Olympians, our Paralympians and many of our other sportspeople in the minor sports to succeed and represent our country the way they truly want to?

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