Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. The article outlined an alarming rip-off. Why is the Rudd government paying pharmacists between 50 and 80 per cent more for generic drugs under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme than the pharmacists are paying for the medicines? For example, can the government explain why they are paying pharmacists $58.99 for each 80-milligram prescription of the drug Simvastatin when chemists are paying only $18 per packet?