Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (10:18): The government won't be supporting these amendments. The government is committed to supporting access to health care and affordable medicines and to enabling health professionals to work to their optimal scope of practice safely. There has been extensive consultation, including with medical peak bodies and colleges, such as the AMA and the RACGP, over a period of 10 years, and that has contributed to this bill enabling designated registered nurse prescribers to become authorised prescribers under the National Health Act.

This same consultation and careful planning has not yet occurred for podiatrists. However, the government has engaged with stakeholders, including the Australian Podiatry Association, on the issue of access to PBS subsidies for endorsed podiatrists. Suggestions to expand access to the PBS to other professions are outside the scope of this bill, and they should be undertaken through a separate process.

The Podiatry Board is currently working with the National Medicines and Poisons Advisory Group on updating the podiatry endorsement for scheduled medicines. The board will return to the advisory group later in 2026 as work progresses, including to facilitate broader consideration of endorsement for scheduled medicine arrangements for the wider podiatry profession.

Accordingly, these steps—sensible, orderly steps—should be completed before podiatrists are considered for inclusion under the act. I make the further point that any delay in passing this bill, the one that has been subject to consultation and has been worked through in the ordinary way, will result in a failure to utilise Australia's largest and most geographically dispersed health workforce: 400,000 hardworking nurses across the country.

It will delay patients in regional areas from accessing cheaper medicines. It will delay efforts to strengthen the delivery of high-quality care in aged-care settings, supporting residents to receive the right care at the right time. The sector has been preparing for this change.

The sector has been preparing for the change that is before the parliament today. Universities are already accredited and delivering the required education programs, students commenced in January this year and the first registered nurses are graduating now. All states and territories are progressing updates to their drugs and poisons legislation to permit nurse prescribing.

The ACT, Northern Territory and South Australia have already made these changes. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, the PBAC, has begun recommending amendments to listings to add designated RN prescribers as authorised prescribers. This is important work.

It has been a long time coming. We are so pleased to be championing these reforms because we know how important they will be for patients, and for citizens, right across the country. We encourage the relevant podiatry organisations, including the Podiatry Board and the Australian Podiatry Association, to continue to work with the department, of course, and to continue to work with the Medicines and Poisons Advisory Group, with health ministers and other health and medical peak bodies on access to medicines in the PBS, as the nurses have for the last 10 years.

The CHAIR: The question is that amendments (1) and (2) on sheet 3666 be agreed to.