Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Watt is right—this is not a proud achievement of your government, Senator Watt. This is not a proud achievement of the former Labor government. Why? Because, Senator Watt, you stopped listing life-saving drugs on the PBS. You stopped, as a government, listing life-saving drugs on the PBS because you did not, as a political party, understand the benefits of a strong economy. In 2011 the party that you belong to, when it was in government, had to put in black and white in the 2011 budget papers that the listing of some medicines would be deferred until fiscal circumstances permit. And guess what, colleagues: fiscal circumstances under the coalition government have permitted the listing of life-saving drugs on the PBS. We will always understand the benefits of a strong economy, in particular when it comes to listing life-saving drugs— (Time expired)