Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the government's decision to cut funding from the Inborn Error of Metabolism Program, affecting children suffering from PKU, a rare genetic condition that requires a specialist low- or no-protein diet. Prime Minister, I met some of these children and their families in Canberra today. Your Minister for Health, unfortunately, did not. When will the Prime Minister reverse his budget cut of more than $250 a month from these 900 families across Australia?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was asked this question yesterday and I did my best to answer it then, and I will do my best to answer it better today. Not for a second does this government want to leave people in the lurch. My understanding is that, in the time since the Howard government introduced this particular program, there has been much more access to regular foods that will deal with people who have this protein condition. The sorts of foods that are suitable for people with this particular condition are much more widely available. But the other point I make is that this program, which, as I now understand it, is worth about $3 million a year, is more than compensated for by some $19 million to $20 million a year that we spend on drugs for people with this condition. I am confident that one way or another this government is doing its best to look after people with this condition.