QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr BUTLER (Hindmarsh—Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme, Minister for Health and Ageing and Deputy Leader of the House) (15:06): Thank you to the member for Bass for that terrific question. She is one of 50 Labor women sitting in this chamber. There are 50 women compared to five women in the entire Liberal Party on the other side.

More women on this side of the parliament, including the member for Bass, have their names starting with J than the entire female representation in the Liberal Party in the House of Reps. That's not just impacting numbers; it's changing the way we think about policy because all 50 of the women on this side of the chamber, and some of the blokes as well, regularly remind me that you can't be serious about strengthening Medicare without strengthening women's health.

Women consume about 60 per cent of health services, often not because they're sick but because they're women. They're involved in planning their own and their family's reproductive health and planning. They're going through perimenopause or menopause.

The truth is that women for far too long in this country have not got the support that they need and deserve through this area and many others besides. This week is Women's Health Week. During Women's Health Week, I'm so proud to say that this government has done more for women's health than any government before it.

Last year, we listed the first new oral contraceptives, menopause treatments and endometriosis medicines on the PBS for literally decades. It's not because the medicines were new. They've been around for years.

It was just that women had been expected to pay full market price for all of those years. Last year, that all changed. Since then, more than 400,000 Australian women have filled cheaper scripts for the most modern oral contraceptives.

Well over half a million Australian women have accessed modern menopause hormone treatments at affordable PBS prices instead of paying almost $700 a year. It's not just the PBS. We've also introduced better Medicare entitlements—for example, for IUD and contraceptive implants at bulk-billed rates for the first time.

We introduced an extended menopause health assessment so that women could sit down and have extended conversations with their GP. That has already been accessed by 140,000 women. All 33 of our endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics are up and operating right across the country.

There's more to do, as the Senate inquiry we recently announced into birth trauma and birth injury demonstrates, but these record investments have already delivered real change. They've delivered more choice. They've delivered lower costs, and they've delivered better care to Australian women righting the wrongs of decades.

Mr Albanese: It's actually their question. I ask that further questions based on the Notice Paper.