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The Coalition will move to block Labor’s 60-day medicine script policy in the Senate and seek to stop it from coming into effect on September 1, on the basis that the government did not properly consult pharmacies on the change.
Opposition health spokeswoman Anne Ruston said the Coalition supported giving Australians access to cheaper medicines, but the government hadn’t considered the flow-on effects on businesses.
The policy would allow patients to receive 60-day scripts from September, with the same maximum co-payment of $30.Credit: Michele Mossop
The Labor budget policy will effectively halve the price of 320 common medicines for consumers starting from September 1 by allowing them to buy two months of medicine for the price of one.
But pharmacy owners have said they will be forced to close or cut services as they bleed income from the reduced handling and dispensing fees they receive from the government.
The Coalition’s decision follows a fierce campaign from the influential Pharmacy Guild of Australia, which has been lobbying the opposition, Greens and crossbench senators to delay the government’s policy.
The 60-day medicine policy is a regulation, not legislation, meaning it did not need to pass a vote in parliament to take effect. However, senators can move in a disallowance motion to stop it from coming in.
However, the disallowance motion will need majority support in the Senate to be successful – meaning the Greens or crossbenchers would need to back it. The Greens have not yet declared their position, but their health spokesman Jordon Steele-John has previously said he is concerned about pharmacy viability.
In a statement, the Coalition said the financial impact on pharmacy services had not been modelled before Labor announced the change.
“There are legitimate concerns that Labor’s approach to 60-day dispensing could see community pharmacies close down and result in vulnerable Australians paying more for their healthcare,” Ruston said.
“Otherwise, there will be significant and foreseeable risks for Australians who need support, particularly people in rural and regional communities, aged care residents, and patients with chronic diseases.”
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie said she was concerned family-run pharmacies in the regions would be disproportionately harmed. “Labor needs to fix the mess they have created by their own lack of consultation,” she said.
The Coalition statement said it wanted Labor to delay the measure – which is due to be implemented in three stages, starting on September 1 – and instead incorporate the policy into the next Community Pharmacy Agreement, which deals with overall pharmacy funding and is up for renewal in 2025.
Health Minister Mark Butler this week vowed to bring forward by a year the government’s talks with pharmacies in an attempt to placate the sector and assure concerned crossbench senators that he is dealing in good faith.
But he also slammed the Pharmacy Guild’s campaign against the policy as “self-serving and cynical”.
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