Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the members for their contributions to the debate on this bill. The National Health Amendment (Supporting Patient Access to Cheaper Medicines and Other Measures) Bill 2024 will support a strong pharmacy sector, deliver cheaper medicines and boost pharmacy services across the country. The Albanese government has already saved Australians more than $370 million on the cost of their medicines.

This bill supports the implementation of the Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement by delivering on the commitment to establish an additional community supply support payment for eligible supplies of pharmaceutical benefits made by approved pharmacists. This will provide a means through which the Commonwealth is able to provide the necessary level of support to community pharmacies for the dispensing of PBS medicines, and ensure continued access for Australians to these medicines without increasing the cost to patients.

This bill will provide more equitable access to cheaper medicines for all patients by replacing the optional $1 discount with a reduction in the patient co-payment for all patients. This will be achieved by freezing the indexation of the PBS general patient co-payment for one year and freezing the indexation of the PBS concessional patient co-payment for five years. This will mean that the cost of PBS medicines will remain constant.

The government is committed to all Australians being able to access high-quality health care. This includes timely, reliable and affordable access to necessary medicines through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

I remind members of how central the cost of medicine is to the budgeting in every Australian household. When I worked in community pharmacy, I would have patients come in with a handful of prescriptions, asking me as a pharmacist which prescription they could avoid filling or delay filling. I've also had parents, having visited the GP with two sick children, asking if they could get just one antibiotic prescription filled to share between them.

Our government understood this pressure from the day we took office, and, under the leadership of the Prime Minister and the health minister, we are delivering real cost-of-living relief across the country. This bill means all Australians will have more equitable access to cheaper medicines. As a pharmacist, a local MP and an assistant health minister, I commend the bill.

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