QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator McALLISTER (New South Wales—Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme) (14:08): I thank the senator for her question and her tireless work on women's health. For too long women have had their pain ignored. They have had to fight to be heard, and they've paid too much for care that they need.

This government believes that this is not good enough. Australian women deserve a health system that listens to them, that takes their concerns seriously and provides them with affordable care that they need. That it is why the Albanese Labor government delivered a record $792 million women's health package.

It was to give women more choice, lower costs and better care. I want to acknowledge the Minister for Women, Senator Gallagher, and Assistant Minister Rebecca White in the other place, who have worked so hard to roll this program out. Already more than one million women have saved money on contraceptives, IVF, and endometriosis and menopause medicines.

I can tell you what this means in practice. It means that a woman who is trying to a start a family can access more IVF medicine for less, because it is now listed on the PBS. It means that a woman who is going through menopause can get affordable relief, with hormone therapy treatments now listed on the PBS.

And it means that a woman choosing contraception has more choice and less of a hit to the hip pocket. For the first time in more than 30 years, new oral contraceptive pills, including Yaz and Slinda, have been listed on the PBS. This matters.

It is earlier and more affordable access to treatment at a time when every dollar matters, and these changes have a simple purpose: women getting the care that they need sooner and at an affordable price. This is what a government that believes in Medicare and that backs women looks like. The PRESIDENT: Senator Smith, first supplementary?