Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Aged Care. How is the Albanese Labor government ensuring Australians have access to life-changing medicines on the PBS after a decade of cuts and neglect? Why is it important to make medicines cheaper?

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

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

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy will cease interjecting.

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

Let's face it: Liberal governments have form in this area. The Howard government in their final term jacked up the price of medicine scripts by $5 for general patients, and the Leader of the Opposition, when he was health minister, tried to repeat the trick by jacking up scripts again by $5. We on this side of the chamber will keep doing whatever we can to responsibly help Australians with the cost of living, including through more bulk-billing and cheaper medicines.