Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025

Senator RUSTON (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (10:16): I rise to speak to the amendment that's been moved by One Nation at the request of Jacqui Lambie. Can I just put on the record that the coalition will be supporting this amendment. As identified in the Senate committee process, podiatrists have long raised concerns about their exclusion from this bill, as they currently face very similar issues to those that have been faced by nurses, and about the response of the government to those concerns raised by nurses.

Specifically, while, under state and territory law, podiatrists can legally prescribe certain medicines, such as painkillers and antibiotics, as part of their scope of practice, they cannot currently issue such scripts under the PBS, as federal legislation does not enable it. This amendment that has been put forward by Jacqui Lambie aligns with the coalition's broader position on the bill: that health professionals should be able to prescribe and issue a script under the PBS—that is, under federal law—for any medicines that they are already legally permitted to prescribe under state and territory law.

The government has not provided any substantive argument as to why podiatrists cannot be also included in this bill. We urge the government to incorporate podiatrists as part of this bill, alongside nurses, so that Australians can get the access to the affordable medicines that the government keeps telling them that they're able to get access to.