National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025
Ms CAMPBELL (Moreton) (18:52): Tonight I want to talk about my friend Ken. Ken lives in Yeronga in my electorate of Moreton. Ken is a long-term resident of Brisbane's south side.
Ken raised his family on the south side in Brisbane and Ken is a bastion of our community—someone who has been deeply involved across the community for many, many years. Ken is also one of the millions of Australians who rely on medicines every day. That's what this bill is all about.
Those who rely on medicines deserve to have accessible and affordable health care. When I talked to Ken about what cheaper medicines meant for him and his hip pocket, he told me that he saves $62 every month. That's not with this legislation in place; he already saves $62 every month from Labor's position, from Labor's legislation that already makes medicines cheaper.
People across Moreton have already saved $9,700,000 because of a Labor government when it comes to cheaper medicines. The Albanese Labor government's primary focus is providing cost-of-living relief, and we are delivering on that promise day in and day out. This legislation, the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025, will implement a cost-of-living measure that benefits everyone.
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, or the PBS, is the mechanism that enables this. All of us here have experienced the positive impact of the PBS, from cheaper everyday medicines, to life-changing access to very expensive medicines, to 60-day scripts saving us both time and money. In preparation for this speech tonight, I decided that I would call my dad, because my mum is a diabetic and my dad—who has recently been through cancer and recovered, after a long bout of chemo—has also been in the wars a bit, having pneumonia following that bout of illness.
What happened when I talked to my dad is: he said, 'Why do you want to know?' He then said: 'I take a lot of medicines and I don't know what they are.' But when we spoke for a little bit longer, he eventually got to the place where he started to talk about the medicines that he could remember himself and mum taking, and this is the list that he could get out.
He said that they take Nexium; he said that mum takes Diamicron, Diabex and Glyxambi. And, when we looked each of those up, they are all PBS medicines. So, despite the fact that he couldn't remember what medicines they necessarily took—and this is something that many people in our community face—what was clear is that his medicines and my mum's medicines were cheaper because of a Labor government.
The formerly expensive medications such as the ones that my mum and dad take are made affordable thanks to the PBS. The current co-payment for a PBS medicine is $31.60 and from 1 January 2026, my dad and you, Deputy Speaker, my mum and I and everyone sitting in this chamber tonight will pay no more than $25 for a PBS medicine. In fact, millions of Australians will benefit when they purchase their everyday medication.
The PBS is a crucial part of Labor's ongoing commitment to making health care affordable, and its creation is central to the Labor story of social care, fairness and equality, because, when it comes to PBS medicines, when it comes to the accessibility and affordability of health care, it is what Labor does. It's in our DNA, it's in our bones, it's in our blood.
And Labor has always taken a very clear stance that health care should be affordable and accessible. The Curtin Labor government first attempted to legislate to subsidise various antibiotics in the mid-1940s, but it was deemed unconstitutional by the High Court. The Constitution was subsequently amended, paving the way for the Chifley Labor government to introduce an initial version of the PBS in 1948.
At this time, free medicines for pensioners and 139 life-saving and disease-preventing medicines were made free of charge to the general public. This initiative was reflective of core Labor values and a vision for a fairer Australia—one where every person, regardless of their financial circumstances, could live with dignity and with security. In 1953, the PBS was established under the National Health Act, which this bill amends, and in 1960 the PBS became more comprehensive, offering a wide range of medicines.
The legacy of these decades of work is that we cannot imagine Australia without a PBS and its provision of affordable medicines to all, because the PBS is not only something that is cherished in this country; it is something that is the envy of the world, ensuring that medication and health care are things that you don't have to worry about when it comes to your hip pocket.
It is our responsibility to uphold and build on this legacy—to ensure that the PBS remains sustainable and continues to support Australian families. When we talk about threats to health care in this country, the biggest threat to health care in this country has always been those sitting on the other side of this chamber. When you compare the legacies of Labor and the coalition, what becomes clear is that Labor has always prioritised health care and, whether it's PBS medicines, investing in Medicare or making sure that women's health care is prioritised, it is Labor that has always led the way.
When you compare those legacies, you can see an incredibly stark difference, because, while Labor was creating Medicare, we know that the LNP and those opposite were cutting from health care, while Labor was investing in bulk-billing, we know that those opposite were trying to introduce a copayment, and while Labor is ensuring that everyday health care is being made accessible, whether that be through urgent care clinics, increasing bulk-billing or making sure that medicines are cheaper, those opposite are continually cutting from critical health services that Australians rely on every day.
It's a goal that is echoed in the 2022 National Medicines Policy, which has the aim of providing 'equitable, timely, safe and affordable access to high-quality and reliable supplies of medicines and medicine related services for all Australians.' Medicine affordability is the foundation of Labor's approach and the objective of this bill. As at end of June 2024, there were 930 medicines being subsidised by the government.
That is 930 individual, accessible, high-quality, safe and affordable medicines. In recent months we've seen numerous additional medicines added. These include medicines for breast cancer, diabetes, endometriosis and depression, to name just a few.
The financial relief is significant. Around 8,500 Australian women suffering from endometriosis could save more than $2,300 a year from the listing of specific medicines on the PBS. Similarly, around 50,000 women a year who use Yaz and Yasmin contraceptive pills, which are now on the PBS, will pay nearly one-quarter of the original amount annually from 1 January.
It's incredibly fitting that the member for Cooper is in the chamber today, because the member for Cooper was absolutely instrumental in bringing forward a half-a-billion-dollar investment in women's health—the largest investment that this country has ever seen. I had the great privilege of hosting the member for Cooper in my local electorate in Brisbane, in Fairfield.
What we did in Fairfield was talk with people in their homes. We talked to them about what investing in health care like that meant, we talked to them about the largest investment in women's health and we talked to them about how life changing it was to invest in oral contraceptives, to invest in support for menopause and to invest in making sure that women's health is a top priority.
Around 150,000 women will save up to $370 per year from next January with the listing of three new menopausal hormone therapies. These are just a few of the examples of the cost-of-living relief that the PBS and this reform will provide. For some, the PBS listing is even more meaningful.
It is simply life changing and potentially even life saving. Under the PBS, medicines that were prohibitively expensive become affordable. This is the case for patients with prostate cancer, who, without the subsidy for Talzenna and Xtandi, would have to pay over $100,000 per course of treatment.
The medicine Retevmo is used to fight a type of non-small cell lung cancer, and under the PBS patients avoid a course of treatment that can cost $280,000. And there are many more examples. My apologies, Deputy Speaker Freelander; I definitely messed up the pronunciation of that medicine!
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Freelander ): I think you did it very well. Ms CAMPBELL: But can I tell you: you do not need to be able to pronounce what the medicine is to get the $25 cap on cheaper medicines, and that's important. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Indeed.
Ms CAMPBELL: The PBS is not an exclusive club. All Australian residents who hold a current Medicare card are eligible to access the PBS. Citizens of countries with reciprocal health arrangements, such as New Zealand, the UK and Ireland, are also eligible.
The numbers clearly illustrate the scale of the PBS. In 2023-24, over 226 million subscribed subsidised prescriptions were dispensed. The government contributed $17.7 billion, and patients contributed $1.6 billion.
The patient co-payment contributes to the sustainability of the PBS. This bill is the Albanese Labor government's fifth wave of reform to ensure that medicines are cheaper. It cuts the costs of PBS medicines.
The last time medicines cost no more than $25 was in 2004, and 2004 was a long time ago. It was a time when Shannon Noll was at the top of the charts; some think he still should be! For me, it was a time when I was at university, wearing pleated denim skirts.
While some things should come back, not all of them should! In July 2022, the Albanese Labor government implemented a $480 million reform: the 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts a concessional patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in. This has seen pensioners save over $500 million.
General patients also benefited, with a decrease of around $80 to their threshold. A $625 million investment in January 2023 enabled the government to announce the largest cut to the cost of medicines in PBS history. And, to start this year off, Labor froze the costs of PBS medicines, with co-payments not increasing with inflation for the first time in 25 years.
All of these measures strengthen Medicare. All of these measures stand alongside Labor initiatives to increase rates of bulk-billing, to train more doctors and nurses and to open more urgent care clinics. At last count, there were 87 across the country, and there are plans for an additional 50.
I'm delighted to have an urgent care clinic on my patch in Oxley and another just across the road at the PA Hospital. These are health initiatives driven by Labor that help people every day. They are health initiatives that make sure that people have access to more affordable health care every day.
The PBS is a trusted and essential part of our national fabric, and it is a Labor invention. It is Labor that has always prioritised health care. Whether it's Medicare, cheaper PBS medicines, expanding bulk-billing, making sure that women's health is at the forefront of our funding or making sure that everyday people have access to health care, it's part of who we are and part of what Labor will always do for this country.
The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Dr Freelander ): I thank the member for Moreton, and I must say your pronunciation is so good, you are clearly a future health minister.