Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Pratt for the question. As I said in my earlier answer to Senator Chandler, we do understand that many Australians are doing it tough, as cost-of-living pressures bite into household budgets, which is why we have looked carefully at areas where the government can take pressure off those cost-of-living pressures. This is why we are acting and have acted through the October and the May budgets to provide cost-of-living relief where we can, targeted and timed so that it does not add to the inflation pressures we are seeing across the economy.

One of the key actions we are taking in this area is to make medicines cheaper. It was a key election commitment of this government and, on 1 January this year, for the first time in the 75-year history of the PBS, the general co-payment was reduced from $42.50 to $30. Already, in less than seven months, Australians have saved $118 million on nearly 11 million cheaper prescriptions. It is why we have introduced the new nationally consistent Opioid Dependence Treatment Program that means tens of thousands of Australians will finally get the same benefit that every other Australian gets for PBS medicines. From 1 July they will pay the PBS co-payment on these vital medicines and save up to $200 per month.

As we announced in the budget, from 1 September, we are also introducing 60-day prescriptions for more than 300 medicines that will benefit six million Australians with ongoing health conditions, giving them twice the medication for the cost of a single script. This policy was recommended by independent clinical experts at the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee back in 2018, advice that was ignored by the previous government. Sixty-day prescriptions is the norm in so many countries and it is undeniably good health policy.