Health Legislation Amendment (Improved Medicare Integrity and Other Measures) Bill 2025

Senator ROBERTS (Queensland) (12:46): Minister, thank you. You say that there are examples, but you won't give me any, so let's move on. Under this new low bar for approval, a pharmaceutical company would be tempted to avoid applying for a regular approval, which is expensive and time consuming, when they could just have their drug waved through under a spurious scarcity rumour—not fact but pending scarcity.

Minister, what safeguards are in this legislation to ensure that big pharma does not create a false scarcity story to avoid making a normal authorisation application?