Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Medicines Shortages and Other Measures) Bill 2026
Mr SOON (Banks) (12:38): No-one knows when they're going to get sick or pick up an injury. That is why having a strong healthcare system is so important. The Labor government's healthcare agenda is ambitious and wide-ranging, and it is why, each time I stand in the House on a bill or motion relating to healthcare, there is a new initiative or new data showing the efficacy of the record investment this government is making in health.
The legislation before the House, the Therapeutic Goods Amendment (Medicines Shortages and Other Measures) Bill 2026, is another new initiative and the latest step in strengthening our healthcare system for every Australian. The medicines shortages and other measures bill exists to strengthen key aspects of our public health administration, ensuring Australia is better prepared for shortages and discontinuations of critically important medicines.
Medicines are truly essential goods, and shortages and discontinuations have significant impacts if not mitigated, not just for patients but for the practitioners they entrust with their wellbeing. As the minister outlined in her second reading speech, medicine supply chains are incredibly complex global systems, and each stage that could cause supply disruption requires a unique response.
The legislation before the House improves Australia's preparedness in several ways. Firstly, it requires pharmaceutical companies to notify the secretary of the department of any decision to permanently discontinue the supply of a reportable medicine in Australia at least 12 months in advance. This change will ensure there is enough time for patients and their healthcare workers to make plans for their future treatment needs.
The bill also requires pharmaceutical companies who give such notice to the department to provide an update if there is a change in approach, including if the decision to discontinue is reversed or a timeline is adjusted. Secondly, the current arrangements of the Therapeutic Goods Act allow the department to request information from pharmaceutical companies about the availability of reportable medicines in Australia, as well as any shortage or discontinuation.
Recognising that the shortage of any medicine can have a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of Australians, this legislation expands the power of the department to request this information from pharmaceutical companies on any approved medicine. Finally, the legislation makes important procedural changes to the Therapeutic Goods Act. For instance, it allows the secretary of the department to determine common biologicals, so that similar biologicals can share a single entry in the register.
Currently, pharmaceutical companies navigate a duplicative process for maintaining multiple entries for products that are essentially the same but have very minor differences, resulting in avoidable costs and administrative burden. Further, the bill also makes technical amendments to provide a clear legal power for authorised persons to enter, search and inspect clinical trial sites to ensure that unapproved therapeutic goods are in accordance with conditions and are safe for clinical trial participants.
Importantly, the bill interacts closely with the Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Amendment Bill 2026—which is also before the parliament—specifically on changes in this bill related to common biologicals groupings to ensure that the measures can operate as intended. The existing Therapeutic Goods (Charges) Act imposes annual charges on the registration, listing and inclusion of therapeutic goods in the register.
The legislation before the parliament amends the existing act to enable regulations for the imposition of charges for the inclusion of grouped biologicals. The amendments being made will ensure that grouped biologicals attract a single entry into the register and, in turn, a single annual charge. As a result, the legislation will reduce costs and regulatory burden for industry associated with multiple entries, as outlined earlier.
Supporting this legislation is a commonsense decision. The changes outlined across both of the bills before the parliament will support greater access to medicines for all Australians and further strengthen our world-leading Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme while costing the budget less than $200,000 over the next three years. It is a demonstration of how this government is committed to ensuring Australians have access to affordable health care, including cheaper medicines under the PBS.
Deputy Speaker Fernando, as you would be aware, this is not the first move this Labor government has made to ensure that Australians have access to medicines. Indeed, this government's cheaper medicines program is benefiting millions of Australians, including many in my electorate of Banks. In January 2023, the Labor government's first cut to the maximum general co-payment came into effect, reducing the cost of PBS scripts from $42.50 to $30, representing a 30 per cent reduction.
Following the election last year, this Labor government delivered another reduction as promised, bringing the maximum co-payment down to just $25, the lowest level since 2004, and at the same time ensuring the maximum price for pensioners and concession card holders remained frozen at $7.70 until the year 2030. This government's cheaper medicines program is not just about cutting the co-payment for PBS medications.
It is also about reducing dispensing costs for nearly 300 medications through 60-day dispensing for patients with chronic or ongoing medical conditions that have been approved by their doctor. The results of these programs are undeniable. In my electorate of Banks alone, more than 2.1 million cheaper scripts have been filled, and residents in my community have saved a combined $12.7 million.
Across the country, the number of cheaper scripts filled is approaching half a billion. At last count, it was 436 million scripts. Australians have saved more than $2.8 billion as a result of this government's initiative.
A few weeks ago I took up an invitation to visit Ben Galluzzo in Riverwood, who operates Galluzzo's Chemist in Riverwood Plaza as well as a separate shopfront servicing aged-care facilities on Belmore Road. Ben and his team provide amazing service to people in my community and said the government's cheaper medicines program has made a massive difference for his customers.
At a time when Australians are still feeling cost-of-living pressures, exacerbated by events overseas, making PBS medicines cheaper than they have been in more than 20 years is a practical way for the government to provide cost-of-living relief. While both of the pieces of legislation before the parliament and this Labor government's cheaper medicines program are providing more affordable medications and delivering real results for Australian patients, the government knows that access to medicines is influenced by a much broader network of factors, and we are making sure we are addressing these challenges in these spaces too.
In the post-pandemic environment, the Labor government made addressing critical health workforce shortages a key priority after coming to government, and we have seen the results. In the last two years, we've seen a massive growth in our healthcare workforce, with an extra 17,000 doctors joining the Australian system, which is more than at any time in the past decade.
But there is still more work to do, and we are continuing to give students more opportunities, rolling out the largest GP training program in history and providing hundreds of scholarships for nurses and midwives to extend their skills and qualifications. In the last few weeks we've seen another major investment in our healthcare workforce with the announcement that the Commonwealth paid prac payment would be expanded to 10 more health professions from 1 July next year.
Nursing and midwifery were included alongside teaching and social work in the first set of professions to receive the paid prac payment, and the results were clear: students were no longer putting off their mandatory practical training because they couldn't afford it. Now, this government will expand the program to student paramedics, psychologists, physios, radiographers, audiologists, podiatrists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and, most importantly for supporting Australians' access to medicines and particular legislation before the House, pharmacists.
The government has delivered the record funding to encourage bulk-billing that we promised at last year's election, and it is an investment that is already paying dividends in my electorate of Banks. In my community, we now have 22 fully bulk-billed GP clinics, and bulk-billing rates are now climbing again, reaching 89.5 per cent in the June quarter this year, nearing the 90 per cent mark that this government's changes were designed to reach.
The government has also delivered funding in the most recent budget to make Medicare urgent care clinics a permanent part of our healthcare system, filling the missing middle between a GP clinic and an emergency department with fully bulk-billed care. When this Labor government was first elected, we promised to open 50 clinics. Instead, in our first term, we delivered 87 nationwide.
Last year, we promised 50 more clinics, and now every single one is open, bringing us to 137 urgent care clinics nationwide. Across the country, there have been more than 3.3 million presentations at urgent care clinics, and the Carlton and Bankstown urgent care clinics that are closest to my electorate have seen thousands of patients since they've opened, with more than 15,000 presenting at Bankstown and more than 31,000 through the doors at Carlton.
The 2026 budget also included new Commonwealth funding for public hospitals, with $25 billion over the next five years going to every state and territory through our landmark hospital funding agreement. In my local community, stage 3 of the St George Hospital redevelopment project, delivered by the state Labor government in New South Wales, reached a significant milestone with the completion of the new Kensington Street building, with more works continuing.
Further, works on the long-awaited new Bankstown hospital are underway with the demolition of the existing building on the future site with construction expected to start in the next year. More federal funding for public hospitals will ensure that our state and territory counterparts are able to operate hospitals effectively, undertake major upgrades that are needed and improve patient care for our communities.
Amongst all of the government's measures to both improve the accessibility and affordability of health for Australian patients, the two pieces of legislation before the House are relatively minor, technical changes, but each important change this government has made is making an important reform in this area and is part of this government's agenda to make health care accessible and affordable to all.
This is why I commend this bill to the House.