Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025
Senator CAROL BROWN (Tasmania) (19:20): I rise today to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This is an important reform that will help ensure Australians can access medicines they need when they need them and at an affordable price through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. At its heart, this bill is about improving access to health care and making better use of the skills and expertise that already exist within our health workforce.
It's about ensuring registered nurses can work to their full scope of practice while maintaining appropriate safeguards and professional oversight. The bill amends the National Health Act 1953 and the Health Insurance Act 1973 to enable suitably qualified and endorsed registered nurses to prescribe certain medicines under the PBS and to bring their prescribing services within the Professional Services Review framework.
These reforms build upon the new national registration standard approved by Commonwealth, state and territory health ministers, which established the role of the designated registered nurse prescriber. The first cohort is expected to commence prescribing from July 2026—so from tomorrow. For Tasmania, these reforms will be particularly significant.
Tasmania has one of the oldest populations in the nation. We have communities spread across a large geographic area, and many Tasmanians live in rural, regional and remote locations where accessing health care can be challenging. Whether it's on the west coast, in the north-east, on King Island or Flinders Island, or in smaller regional communities, many people face long travel times to see a doctor, particularly for routine healthcare needs.
Nurses are often the healthcare professionals who know these communities best. They are trusted and highly skilled and already play a central role in delivering care across our state. By allowing designated registered nurse prescribers to prescribe certain PBS medicines, we can reduce unnecessary delays, improve continuity of care and make it easier for Tasmanians to access treatment close to home.
For an elderly Tasmanian managing a chronic condition, this would mean obtaining timely access to medication without waiting weeks for a GP appointment. For families in regional communities, it could mean receiving care sooner and avoiding lengthy travel. For aged-care residents, it could mean more responsive treatment delivered by health professionals already involved in their care.
These reforms recognise the reality of modern health care. They acknowledge that healthcare delivery is increasingly team based and that nurses have an essential role to play in meeting growing healthcare demands. Importantly, this bill does not remove safeguards.
Nurses will be required to meet rigorous education, training and endorsement requirements before becoming authorised prescribers. Their prescribing will occur within established regulatory frameworks and will be subject to the same professional scrutiny and accountability that Australians rightly expect. This legislation is also part of a much broader agenda by the Albanese government to strengthen Medicare and rebuild Australia's healthcare system after years of neglect.
Since coming to government, Labor has delivered the largest investment in Medicare in decades. We've expanded bulk-billing through the tripling of the bulk-billing incentive, helping millions of Australians access free visits to their GP. We are delivering additional Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, including in Tasmania, ensuring people can access urgent care without needing to attend a busy hospital emergency department.
We have made medicines cheaper by reducing the maximum cost of PBS prescriptions, easing cost-of-living pressures for families, pensioners and concession card holders. We have delivered the largest investment in strengthening Medicare's primary-care workforce, supporting the doctors, nurses and allied health professionals who are the backbone of our healthcare system.
The Albanese government has also invested heavily in women's health, mental health services, aged-care reform and strengthening healthcare access in rural and regional Australia. For Tasmania, these investments are making a real difference. Tasmanians are benefiting from stronger Medicare services, cheaper medicines, expanded urgent-care options and targeted investments in healthcare infrastructure and workforce development.
This bill complements those initiatives. It recognises that improving healthcare access is not achieved through a single reform. It requires a comprehensive approach that supports patients, strengthens Medicare and enables health professionals to work effectively together.
This reform before us today is consistent with the recommendations of the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and the Scope of Practice Review, both of which recognise that better utilisation of healthcare professionals can improve access to care while maintaining safety and quality. As demand on our health system continues to grow, particularly in regional states such as Tasmania, we must embrace sensible reforms that improve capacity and improve patient care.
This legislation does that exactly. It supports our nurses, it supports our community, it supports affordable access to medicine and it supports a stronger Medicare system for all Australians. The Albanese government was elected with a commitment to strengthen Medicare and improve access to health care.
This bill is another example of that commitment being delivered, and that is the difference between Labor and the parties of the right. Labor asks how we can make health care more affordable and accessible. The Liberals and the Nationals have repeatedly asked how much they can cut, and how much more patients can pay.
The Abbott government tried to impose a $7 fee on GP visits. It then proposed a $5 fee and extended the freeze on Medicare rebates, putting more pressure on doctors and patients. The coalition treated universal health care as a budget problem to be managed down, rather than a national institution to be protected.
The Nationals backed those decisions every step of the way. They did so, despite the greatest impact often being felt in regional communities—communities they claim to represent—where workforce shortages, travel distances and fewer services already make access harder. Then there is One Nation.
It talks about protecting Medicare, but its own policy proposes abolishing the Therapeutic Goods Administration and reviewing $3 billion worth of medicines approved for the PBS. Australians should be very cautious when a party promises to protect health care while proposing to pull apart the institutions that keep medicines safe and accessible. The Liberals, Nationals and One Nation may use different slogans, but they share the same instinct: to weaken public systems, undermine expert institutions and leave individuals to carry more of the costs and risks themselves.
Labor takes a different view. We believe health care is a right, not a privilege. I am proud to support these reforms, because they will help Tasmanians receive the care they need, closer to home, sooner and more affordably.
I commend the bill to the Senate.