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

I thank the member for Lyons. I know that two years ago he promised his community in Tasmania that we would make medicines cheaper, and we have been busy delivering on that promise that the member for Lyons made. In July 2022, within a couple of months of being elected, we slashed the maximum amount that pensioners and concession card holders would pay for their medicines in a given year by 25 per cent—by a full quarter. A few months after that, we cut the price of around 2,000 brands of medicine. A few months after that, on 1 January last year, we delivered the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the 75-year history of the PBS. That measure alone will save general patients around $250 million in medicine payments every single year. A bit after that, we allowed doctors to prescribe around 184 different common medicines for ongoing chronic conditions for 60 days supply rather than just 30, saving patients time and money and freeing up some desperately needed GP consults.

Last night, not to be outdone, the Treasurer delivered $4.3 billion in new initiatives to make medicines cheaper. This includes new and amended listings on the PBS that give Australian patients access to the best treatments available in the world at affordable PBS prices—like Verzenio, listed just this month. This is the first new treatment for common forms of early breast cancer listed on the PBS in 15 years. Even when successfully treated at first, one in three of these patients will see that cancer come back, often in far more deadly forms, but Verzenio dramatically reduces the risk of that cancer returning. It's now available, we think, to around 2,400 patients every single year at no more than $31 a script instead of the going price of $97,000 per patient per course of treatment.

Speaking of co-payments, last night the Treasurer in his budget also froze co-payments for one year for millions of general patients and for up to five years for pensioners, for seniors health card holders and for holders of other concession cards. It is absolutely terrific cost-of-living relief from the Treasurer for life-changing medicines.

This is all obviously a world away from the approach of those opposites. Remember: 10 years ago this week, the Leader of the Opposition, when he was health minister, tried to jack up medicine prices by as much as $5 a script. He tried to make medicines dearer, while we make medicines cheaper. (Time expired)

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