Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Bilyk—two consecutive questions from Tasmanian senators about health in that great state. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is a vital lifeline to affordable medicines for millions of Australians. Labor introduced the scheme and will continue to support it.

In July 2020, we lowered the PBS safety net threshold by 25 per cent. This means pensioners and other concession card holders will pay just $5 a week, on average, for all of their yearly PBS medicines. In the first six months of 2023, 940,000 concession card holders reached that threshold, meaning that they won't pay a single cent for their PBS medicines for the rest of the year.

In fact, Australians have saved $180 million on more than $16 million of cheaper prescriptions over the period January to September 2023. In your home state of Tasmania, Senator Bilyk, $4 million has been saved on 337,000 cheaper scripts. In the ACT, $4.5 million has been saved on 400,000 cheaper scripts. In New South Wales, $56 million has been saved on five million cheaper scripts. In the Northern Territory, $1 million has been saved on 100,000 cheaper scripts. In Queensland, $35 million has been saved on $3 million worth of cheaper scripts. In Victoria, $46 million has been saved on four million cheaper scripts. In my home state of South Australia, $12 million has been saved on one million cheaper scripts. Unlike those opposite, Labor believes in affordable medicine and easing the cost-of-living pressures. (Time expired)