Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's drug dispensing changes are putting the delivery of vital health services at risk in my home state of Tasmania. There are genuine fears that pharmacies in regional communities will be forced to close, reduce opening hours or lose staff who enable local pharmacies to offer countless hours of free advice, support and services to their communities.

Like most senators and members, I've been approached by dozens of local pharmacists who don't know if they will be able to keep their pharmacies running and afford to keep all of their valued staff, because of these changes. Appallingly, they are saying that they cannot get hold of their local Labor members to discuss their concerns, even in southern Tasmania, where the Labor member for Franklin is also the Minister for Small Business. She is fast gaining a reputation as the minister for avoiding small business.

Making medications cheaper for Australians in a worthy goal, one that the former coalition government consistently delivered on. But this new proposal by the Labor government leaves many pharmacists wondering how they will keep their businesses going or open on weekends or keep staff employed. I've heard multiple stories over the past few weeks of pharmacy staff literally saving lives by recognising a customer who came in feeling unwell and needed an ambulance right away, or by administering an EpiPen to someone having a severe allergic reaction. If pharmacies are closed or the queue is longer because there are less staff, those people might have never received that help when they needed it most. The Labor government needs to listen and urgently rethink this proposal.