James McGrath (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The objective of the location rules is to encourage a widely distributed network of PBS pharmacies that matches the demographic spread of the Australian community, and I'm advised that there is certainly evidence that the distribution has improved. Since June 2013, the pharmacy-to-population ratio in rural localities has in fact been better than the pharmacy-to-population ratio in urban areas.