Ruth Webber (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I remind the minister that the PBAC recommends to the minister; it is cabinet that makes the decision. I also remind the minister that the company offered the government a 30 per cent discount on the cost of the vaccine. Is the minister aware of comments this morning by his colleague Senator Ferris that the decision not to fund the cervical cancer vaccine was ‘embarrassing’? Isn’t it also embarrassing that at the same time as the government will not fund the Gardasil vaccine the industry minister, Mr Macfarlane, is promoting it through Invest Australia as an ‘investment in scientific excellence’? Why won’t the government take the opportunity to help prevent the spread of cervical cancer among Australian women in the future by funding the Gardasil vaccine immediately?