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

All along we have been committed to a triple bottom line in community pharmacy: cheaper medicines for patients, better health care for patients and, importantly, a strong community pharmacy sector. That is why we reinvested every single dollar the Commonwealth saved under 60-day scripts back into community pharmacies.

This year, for example, for the first time, pharmacies are able to deliver flu shots to pensioners and shingles vaccines to pensioners completely free of charge, paid for by the Commonwealth. It's also why we agreed to bring forward negotiations for a new agreement. Today, we delivered on that commitment, signing a new five-year agreement with the Pharmacy Guild of Australia. This new agreement makes medicines even cheaper again, by freezing medicine co-payments for patients for up to five years, increasing the number of free medicine Webster-paks that pharmacies can deliver by 50 per cent, paid for by the Commonwealth. Importantly, this new agreement sets up a strong, secure foundation and future for the thousands of community pharmacies—hardworking pharmacists all across the country—who play such an important role in the health of our nation.

I want to thank the Guild, and I want to thank our department's negotiating team for their hard work. This was a robust negotiation, and so it should be when you're trying to achieve a triple bottom line. Those opposite would have had us give up at the first hint of pressure. Those opposite would have had us leave patients high and dry, as they did in government time and time again, making them pay more for their medicines, not less. But we were determined to deliver an agreement that was good for patients and good for community pharmacy, and today we delivered on that commitment.

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