Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm actually quite pleased to see the group we've got here in the gallery. As I came in, I thought it was a religious sect, but it's actually the Pharmacy Guild! This is actually for you, and I didn't know you were here.

We have a real problem with what's happening to dispensing fees in regional areas. This is causing massive problems. If we don't have the frontline capacity of chemists, then in many towns we have no frontline capacity whatsoever. What happens in places such as Scone? If we lose the local chemist in Scone, who does the dispensing for the local aged-care facility? This has not been thought through. This is causing massive problems.

I am being continually approached in my office by so many chemists—like the good people we have in the gallery here today—and what we have to do is get the government to understand that this policy change has created massive problems. It shows a distinct misunderstanding of how regional Australia works. We do not have the chemist supermarkets of the cities. We do have local family chemists. If they lose their capacity to earn a buck from dispensing fees, we will lose that chemist. And, when that chemist is gone, there is nothing that is going to take its place. It's good to see you people here today. I ask you to consider the consequences of your government's actions, to revise the decision you've made, to come back and to secure the frontline health facilities that are so essential in regional parts of Australia.