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

I thank the member for Chisholm. Two years ago, the member for Chisholm promised her community that we would make medicines cheaper, and over the past two years we've been busy delivering on that promise.

In just the first three months of government, we slashed the maximum amount that millions of pensioners would pay for their medicines across a given year by 25 per cent. In the first 12 months, we delivered the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the 75-year history of the PBS, a cut that saves general patients more than $20 million each and every month. In our first 18 months, we finally allowed doctors to prescribe common medicines for chronic disease for 60 days rather than just 30, saving patients lots of time and even more money. And, in our first 24 months, we've made more than 200 new and amended listings to the PBS, giving Australian patients access to the world's best treatments at affordable PBS prices.

Those listings include three high-cost listings included in the Treasurer's budget last month, like Camzyos, which is a new treatment for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a condition that thickens the heart muscle and blocks blood flow, causing chest pains, shortness of breath and swelling right through the body. One patient, Dionne, told us that this condition made it impossible for her to exercise and made it a struggle even to take her dog for a walk. But, after taking Camzyos, Dionne told us, 'I've got my life back.' After the Treasurer's listing, almost 4,000 patients every year will get their life back. Instead of paying $30,000 for this treatment, they'll just pay PBS prices. PBS prices under this budget, as well, will be frozen for up to five years, as part of the agreement that I signed earlier this week with the Pharmacy Guild and in legislation that I introduced into the House of Representatives this morning.

This latest cheaper-medicines measure alone will save patients almost half a billion dollars in co-payments over the next five years. And we know on this side that cheaper medicines are good not just for the hip pocket—although they obviously are—but also for your health, because they make it much more likely that people will take the medicines they need. That is why it's so hard to comprehend how the Leader of the Opposition can justify trying to jack up the price of medicines by up to $5 a script in his horror health budget he delivered 10 years ago, almost to the day. The Leader of the Opposition tried to make medicines dearer. We're busy making them cheaper.

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