Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I give notice that, on the next sitting day, I shall move:

That the provisions of paragraphs (5) to (8) of standing order 111 not apply to the following bills, allowing them to be considered during this period of sittings:

Better and Fairer Schools (Information Management) Bill 2024

National Health Amendment (Technical Changes to Averaging Price Disclosure Threshold and Other Matters) Bill 2024.

I also table statements of reasons justifying the need for the bills to be considered during these sittings and seek leave to have the statements incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The statements read as follows

Better And Fairer Schools (Information Management) Bill

Purpose of the Bill

The Bill will amend the Student Identifiers Act 2014 to enable the assignment and maintenance of unique identifiers for school students by the Student Identifiers Registrar and authorise the collection, use and disclosure of those identifiers in specified circumstances.

Reasons for Urgency

Implementation of unique student identifiers (USIs) for all Australian school students is a national initiative agreed by the Australian Government and all state and territory governments under the current National School Reform Agreement (NSRA).

The bill provides for the allocation of Schools USIs backed by strong privacy protections. First Ministers and Education Ministers have agreed that expansion of USIs to school students is needed to support a better understanding of student progression and to improve the national evidence base. The first use of the Schools USI will be as a data element within the Student Data Transfer Protocol (SDTP), supporting the sharing of information when a student moves between schools and systems. The SDTP is a key element in the response of governments to recommendations of the 2017 Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.

This Bill must be passed in the 2024 Spring sitting period to ensure that all Australian Government arrangements for the Schools USI are completed by the end of 2024 in line with commitments made under the NSRA, which terminates at the end of 2024. With the completion of Commonwealth legislative amendments by the end of 2024, jurisdictions will be positioned to make their own legislative changes to allow USIs to be issued to school students in their state or territory. Without the passage of the Commonwealth legislation in the 2024 Spring sittings, progress on national implementation will be delayed.

National Health Amendment (Technical Changes To Averaging Price Disclosure Threshold And Other Matters) Bill

Purpose of the Bill

This Bill clarifies the operation of section 99ADH(6)(b) of the National Health Act 1953 (the NH Act),which forms part of a test for when a price disclosure reduction may occur following sustained discounting across related brands of medicines. The amendments clarify that for a brand to be subject to a price reduction under 12.5% average unadjusted price reduction test, that a price reduction cannot have occurred as a result of calculations using data from the 3 consecutive data collection periods used in the test. The amendments will apply retrospectively and prospectively to ensure the understanding of the provisions is consistent with the Parliament's intention when it passed the Amendment Act, removing any possible doubt as to how these provisions have operated to date, and how they will continue to operate.

This Bill also clarifies the date on which a brand will become a designated brand as the result of satisfying section 99ADHC(1)(a) of the NH Act (which relates to older medicines which are listed on the PBS). This Bill clarifies the time period referred to by 'previous data collection period' in s99ADHC of the NH Act, and makes clear the policy intent in relation to older medicines that a brand becomes a designated brand, subject to the minimum stockholding requirement in the NH Act, and receives the benefit of more protective price reduction thresholds and floor price protections, all from the same date.

Reasons for Urgency

Price disclosure reductions to certain medicines listed on the PBS may occur on 1 April or 1 October in each year, based upon whether the relevant thresholds in section 99ADH of the NH Act are met for a reduction to occur. These price reductions result in savings to the Commonwealth and to patients, and ensure that the price which is paid for multi-branded medicines listed on the PBS more closely reflects the price at which medicines are sold in the market.

This Bill amends section 99ADH of the NH Act to clarify understanding of the provisions reflective of the policy intent. The policy intent of the relevant provision (as enacted) is made clear in the Explanatory Memorandum for the National Health (Enhancing the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme) Amendment Act 2021 (the 2021 Amendment Act). The Explanatory Memorandum expressly states that, for relevant brands, 'there will be no further price reductions under the Act unless, over a period of three consecutive data collection periods (1.5 years), the brand is discounted on average by 12.5% or more without taking a price reduction, or if the brand is discounted by more than 30% in any one price disclosure cycle'.

This legislation must be passed prior to 1 October 2024 to be applicable to price reductions which are applied on 1 October 2024 and 1 April 2025. The amendments will remove any possible doubt as to how these provisions have operated to date, and how they will continue to operate.