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

I thank the terrific member for Lingiari for that question. She knows Australia has one of the best medicine systems in the world, underpinned, of course, by the PBS, another great Labor legacy that was opposed tooth and nail at the time by the Liberal Party. In just two years, we have made more than 200 new or expanded listings on the PBS.

This month, we listed the first ever immunotherapy cancer jab, Tecentriq, which treats lung and liver cancer. Different immunotherapies, as I think we all know, are offering cancer patients new hope and longer lives, but those patients spend literally hours and hours in hospitals receiving their treatment through intravenous drips. Now, for the first time, Tecentriq will be available for more than 4,000 patients through a very simple injection delivered at home or in a GP clinic, saving more than 60,000 hours of hospital time every single year. Without PBS listing, this convenient, life-saving injection would cost $120,000 a year, but now it will be available at affordable PBS prices

Of course, we've been making those PBS prices even cheaper. In our first three months, we slashed the maximum amount that millions of pensioners pay for their medicines every year by 25 per cent; in our first 12 months, we delivered the biggest cut to the price of medicines in 75 years; and, in our first 18 months, we finally allowed doctors to prescribe certain common medicines for 60 days supply rather than just 30. Cheaper medicines have made a real difference to millions and millions of Australians. But we know that household budgets are still under very real pressure and we know we need to do more, which is why we've also decided to freeze the price of PBS medicines for up to five years, which will save Australians another $500 million in their pockets.

But we also know that this progress in making medicines so much cheaper is under real and direct threat from those opposite. The shadow Treasurer last week, of course, confirmed that he doesn't support any of our investment in cheaper medicines—part of his $315 billion in secret cuts that are coming our way.

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