Anne Ruston (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition supports the bill that is before the chamber, the National Health Amendment (Technical Changes to Averaging Price Disclosure Threshold and Other Matters) Bill 2024, because the bill clarifies the operation of the National Health Amendment (Enhancing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) Act 2021. The 2021 amendment act provides improved pricing arrangements and more reliable supply for older and low-cost medicines that can be more susceptible to medicine shortages. This is related to the minimum stockpile holding requirements, which require companies to hold a minimum of either four or six months of stock in Australia for certain PBS medicines referred to as 'designated brands'. As part of this measure, the Australian government supported the investment by the medicines industry in managing supply chain risks through the MSR through one-off price increases to improve the viability of low-cost medicines. In addition, the designated brands are protected from price disclosure reductions through thresholds, which ensure the price reductions occur only when there is significant discounting in the market or when there is sustained discounting over a period of time.

The bill before us today clarifies the operation of the act which relates to designated brands subject to the price disclosure thresholds. The bill includes only technical amendments, which are intended for the avoidance of doubt and do not alter the operation of existing provisions which have been in effect since 1 July 2022. The introduction of the 2024 bill follows a recent Federal Court action by a generic medicines company. While the Federal Court dismissed the case, this amendment addresses the potential risk that the timing of a price disclosure reduction could be invalid. The coalition will support this bill because it clarifies the provisions of the 2021 amendment act, which was brought in under the former coalition government and forms part of the important strategic agreements we made with the pharmaceutical industry.

Whilst we support this bill, we are disappointed by the Albanese Labor government's lack of action on the health technology assessment review, which also forms part of the strategic agreement with Medicines Australia. The review was designed to reflect that, whilst we need affordable medicines and treatments available here in Australia, we also need to ensure timely access to new developments as they become available. That balance between affordable and timely access is critical for those patients who have no time to wait.

The government was supposed to have released the final report of the HTA review at the end of last year, but it sat on the minister's desk for months. The coalition does welcome the release of the final report last week, which was terribly long overdue. We're now working through the 236 pages of the report and its recommendations. We recognise that, whilst we need safe and affordable medicines and treatments available here in Australia, we also need to ensure timely access as new developments become available. However, I remain seriously concerned that, without a commitment from the government with set timeframes for implementation, we will see this review end up, like so many others, collecting dust on the minister's desk.

Australia's HTA system must be evolved to keep pace with advancements in medical technology seen across the globe. We know patients' lives depend on it. It has also become clear that we are falling behind the rest of the world, where other countries are able to make approvals at a much greater speed than we can currently here in Australia. Australia's current HTA processes were not designed with the current technological advancements in mind and need to be updated for the modern realities of health care. We need to evolve our system to keep pace with the rapid evolution of technology that is so critical for the care of Australian patients.

Addressing this issue will have a wide range of benefits for patients, their families and the entire health system. This is critical right now as Australia's healthcare system faces significant pressures at every point of the system. Our hospitals are overrun and ambulance ramping is at record highs in states across the country. Primary care is at a crisis point, with Australians facing record challenges in getting access to affordable GP appointments.

The Albanese government has failed Australians over the past two years, as the cost of going to the doctor has skyrocketed and bulk-billing rates continue to plummet. They have plummeted by 11 per cent. In fact, it has literally never been harder or more expensive to see a doctor. Data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare shows that Medicare is covering the lowest percentage of GP fees on record, which means that Australians are paying the highest amount of out-of-pocket costs.

This is having serious consequences as Australians are having to make the difficult choice between going to a GP or paying their bills in the middle of this cost-of-living crisis. That is why, last financial year, we saw 2.4 million fewer GP services provided to Australians. Workforce shortages are also impacting on almost every area of the system. This is an area where the government continues to refuse to take urgent action. There needs to be real and urgent action to ensure that all Australian patients have access to the care that they need, when they need it and where they need it, including by addressing the challenges with affordable and timely access to new medicines and treatments to take some of the pressure off our health system.

This bill also reflects the importance of stockholding requirements as shown by the recent severe medicines shortages that are occurring under this Albanese government's watch. The recent shortage of saline IV fluids in Australia posed a serious risk to the operations of our healthcare system. Saline IV bags are absolutely critical to the emergency health care provided to patients in Australian hospitals, but doctors in every hospital around our nation were told to ration the amount that they were using on their patients.

When asked about this issue in question time last month, Minister Gallagher admitted that the Albanese government had been aware of this impending shortage since May 2023. It was shocking to hear the minister confirm that the government had known about an impending shortage for more than a year and had failed to take any action during that time. The Albanese government refused to show leadership on this national shortage and, instead, lied, deflected and refused to take responsibility. Overseas drug regulators including the FDA, the European Medicines Agency and New Zealand's Pharmac confirmed that they have minimal to no issues with their national supplies.

So the government had more than 12 months notice of an impending shortage, and no other country around the world has experienced supply issues of the same scale as Australia. This was clearly a crisis of the government's own making, and it demonstrates the importance of ensuring we have effective measures in Australia to safeguard Australians' access to essential medications.

The opposition will support this bill, which forms part of an important strategic agreement that the coalition achieved with Australia's medicine industry for the benefit of patients around the country.