David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. We all support cheaper medicines but the government's new dispensing rule is asking community pharmacies to pay for it. Will the minister provide modelling that demonstrates no community pharmacies will see job losses or closures under this policy?

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

I relish yet another opportunity to talk about this government's commitment to cheaper medicines. We went to the election last year promising to deliver cheaper medicines to millions of Australian patients. In July last year we managed to cut the safety net for millions of pensioners by 25 per cent. The maximum amount pensioners will pay for all of their medicine needs across the year is now only $5.05 per week. We cut the price of 2,000 brands of medicine in September, delivering $130 million back into the pockets of hardworking Australian patients. And, as I might have said once or twice at this dispatch box, on 1 January we delivered the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the 75-year history of the PBS.

We know there is more to do, which is why we accepted advice from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee that had lain on the table for five years to allow 60-day dispensing of medicines for chronic disease. That's very common across all of the countries to which we usually compare ourselves. These are medicines that people are on for years and years, if not decades.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause. The Leader of the Nationals is being highly disorderly before his call to start speaking at the dispatch box. I give the call to the Leader of the Nationals on a point of order.

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's on relevance. This is a very tight question; we've been very patient. It goes to the heart of the minister providing the modelling that demonstrates no community pharmacies will see job losses or closures. There's nothing about cheaper medicines. It was about the modelling of pharmacies that he's going to destroy.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! Resume your seat.

Government members interjecting—

Order! Members on my right! The member for Macarthur is warned. I'm going to hear from the Leader of the House. I think I know where this is going.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the point of order: the Leader of the National Party just said that the question said nothing about cheaper medicines. The first sentence of the question was, 'We all support cheaper medicines.'

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There was a question in there, but there was also a preamble around cheaper medicines, in particular about the government's dispensing rules and asking pharmacies to pay for it. So, obviously, if that's part of the question, the minister is entirely in order to talk about that. Standing order 104 is pretty clear about how ministers are being relevant. I'm listening to him carefully. If he strays off the topic and doesn't refer to the question, he'll be pulled back into order, but I'm going to listen to make sure he is relevant. The minister has the call.

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

I thank the Leader of the Nationals again. I contest the supposition in the opening sentence that all of this parliament is committed to cheaper medicines. As I said, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee gave the former government advice in 2018—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Nationals has asked his question.

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

that that government should consider 60-day dispensing for common medicines for chronic disease. That's very common across the countries to which we would usually compare ourselves—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If the Leader of the Nationals interjects again, he will be removed from the chamber.

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

reflecting the changing nature of the patient profile with much more chronic disease, which means that patients are on the same medicine for year after year, sometimes decade after decade. They don't have to traipse up to the pharmacy every single month or traipse up to the GP every six months.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The minister will pause. The Leader of the Nationals will leave the chamber.

The member for Maranoa then left the chamber.

The member for Wright will follow soon if he continues with that. The minister has one minute remaining for his answer.

The member for Riverina will cease interjecting so I can hear from the minister in silence.

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

The Leader of the Nationals said we all support cheaper medicines, but, when that advice was provided to the former government five years ago, they decided to do nothing about it. Instead, they required all of those millions of patients to traipse to the pharmacy every single month and, over those intervening five years, pay hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars in co-payments that the advisory committee overseeing the PBS said were unnecessary. This is a policy that will halve the cost of these chronic disease medicines for millions of patients. It's a policy that will improve their health. We have said that every dollar saved by the Commonwealth will be reinvested into community pharmacy. We're in the process of finalising the detail of that, talking with pharmacy groups across the sector, particularly focusing on smaller rural pharmacies to make sure that the impact on those rural pharmacies is mitigated. We want a viable community pharmacy sector. Instead of politicising this issue, maybe the opposition should work with us.