Major step towards cutting maximum medicine cost to $25

West Australian

13 hours ago

Australians will pay no more than $25 for selected medicines for the first time in more than 20 years under a proposal to be brought before parliament.
It will be the second cap on medicines on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) introduced by the Albanese government in three years, after it cut the maximum price of PBS prescriptions from $42.50 to $30.
"The size of your bank balance shouldn't determine the quality of your health care," Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.
"My government will continue to deliver cost-of-living relief for all Australians."
PBS medicines would be capped at $7.70 for pensioners and credit card holders until 2030.
The bill's introduction is largely a formality, with its passage through the lower house all but assured thanks to Labor's massive 94-seat majority in the 150-seat House of Representatives.
The election promise is the Albanese government's next priority after it introduced childcare safety and HECS debt reduction legislation.
Federal Labor has been talking up plans to strengthen the PBS amid concerns the scheme will be targeted as a bargaining chip in US trade negotiations to ward off threatened pharmaceutical tariffs.
Mr Albanese has repeatedly said the scheme was not up for negotiation.
Australia eased its biosecurity restrictions on US beef imports last week, but the prime minister has denied the move was linked to US trade talks, noting it followed a 10-year review of Australian biosecurity rules.
Beyond new legislation, conflict in the Middle East will likely prompt fierce debate on the parliamentary floor after Mr Albanese said Israel had breached international law by blocking the flow of food aid into Gaza.
"Quite clearly, it is a breach of international law to stop food being delivered, which was a decision that Israel made in March," Mr Albanese said on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday.
He stopped short of saying Australia would join France in recognising a Palestinian state, but said his government would decide at "an appropriate time".
"Hamas can have no role in a future state," he said.
"Hamas are a terrorist organisation who I find, their actions are abhorrent."
Opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Michaelia Cash said Mr Albanese failed to adequately condemn the role of the group in the ongoing conflict.
The government is also likely to come under pressure regarding transparency when parliament resumes, after a Centre for Public Integrity probe revealed only a quarter of freedom of information request responses returned by the government in 2023-24 were un-redacted.
By comparison, the Morrison government returned almost half of its FOI requests as complete documents in 2021-22.