Minister for Health and Aged Care - press conference - 1 September 2024

LABOR CANDIDATE FOR STURT, CLAIRE CLUTTERHAM: Good morning, everyone. I'm Claire Clutterham, Labor's Candidate in the seat of Sturt. It’s a pleasure to be here on this Father's Day at Pro Health Care in the heart of Sturt on Kensington Road. I'm here this morning with the Minister for Health and Member for Hindmarsh, the Honourable Mark Butler. I'm also here with Dr Sian Goodson, who is the South Australian Chair of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners. And I'm also here with Kerry Goldsworthy, who is with Asthma Australia and like thousands of Australians has lived experience with asthma, welcome to Sturt. Thank you for being here this morning as we continue to talk about the good work that the Albanese Government is doing with respect to healthcare in Australia: strengthening Medicare, cheaper medicines, urgent care clinics, making healthcare accessible, affordable and efficient for all Australians. As well as being your Labor candidate for Sturt, I'm on the board of the Royal Flying Doctor Service for South Australia and Northern Territory, so accessible, affordable and efficient healthcare is something very dear to my heart, and incredibly proud to be here this morning as Minister Butler talks to us further about those initiatives.
 
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Thanks so much Claire, and I think the people of Sturt are really going to value Claire’s candidacy coming to the federal election over the next several months. We're delighted she's taken the decision to stick her hand up as the Labor candidate because I'm really confident this electorate really is keen for a strong and a dignified representative in the Federal Parliament. And to Sian and Kerry, thank you for coming out on Father's Day. To all the fathers out there, Happy Father's Day, a really special day every calendar year. Also, to Pro Health, thank you for hosting us this Sunday morning.
 
Every day our government is focused on doing everything we responsibly can to help with the cost of living, whether that's cheaper childcare, energy bill relief, cheaper medicines, or, of course, a tax cut for every single taxpayer on the 1st of July, rather than just for some - but we know that we need to do more. The cost-of-living pressure is still very significant for Australian households, and that's why this September we're rolling out another package of substantial cost of living relief. Later this month, around a million Australians who receive rent assistance will get the second big increase in their rent assistance in just two years, the two biggest increases in 30 years since Paul Keating was Prime Minister. On average, that will mean a boost to their rent assistance of around $20 a fortnight. Also, there will be a range of increases to government payments, including, importantly, the age pension, which means that from the 20th of September, a single aged pensioner will receive an increase of around $28 a fortnight, and a couple will receive an increase of about $42 a fortnight. There will also be this month, expansions of our cheaper medicines policy. The strengthening Medicare agenda, for which I have responsibilities not just about delivering better healthcare, it's also about delivering more affordable healthcare. Our bulk billing changes have meant that just in the last seven months, there have been more than 3 million additional free visits to the GP. Our Urgent Care Clinic network has already seen 650,000 Australians, every single one of whom has been fully bulk billed, so completely free of charge, and our cheaper medicines policies are not just proving good for the hip pocket, they're also proving really good for Australians health.

In just the last couple of years, we've delivered more than $500 million in savings for Australian patients at the pharmacist, part of which has been the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the 75-year history of the PBS, last January. But also, importantly, finally allowing GPs to prescribe common medicines for 60-day supply, rather than just 30. This had been a recommendation from our medicines experts as far back is 2018 but the former government chose not to act on it. Well, we did act, and over the last 12 months, there have already been more than 10 million 60-day scripts issued for a range of common conditions like hypertension, high cholesterol, various cancers and so many others. This is not just saving people money it's also saving them time and fewer visits to the pharmacist and fewer repeat visits back to their GP just to get a repeat script, also relieving pressure on general practice as well. And from today, the 1st of September, we're adding another 100 medicines to the 60-day list. Those medicines cover a wide range of conditions like asthma, which I'm sure Kerry will talk about, but also glaucoma, Parkinson's disease, a range of common mental health disorders like chronic depression, chronic anxiety and many more. This is going to make a real difference to millions of patients who are dealing with those conditions. We know there are around 2.8 million Australians who are living with asthma, and from today, it means that so many of them are effectively going to get two inhalers for the cost of one. Not just a great cost saving for them, but it means fewer visits to the pharmacy, which is particularly important for Australians living in living in regional Australia, who might not have a pharmacy just around the corner from their home, and as I said, it also means fewer visits to the general practitioner.

These changes are making a real difference to millions of Australians, but we know we need to do more, and that's why we're rolling out this September package of cost-of-living measures. And in cheaper medicines it's also why in the budget, we decided that next year we would freeze the cost of PBS medicines for up to five years for concession card holders, and that measure alone, that additional measure, will save Australian patients another $500 million out of their pocket. Cheaper medicines are, as I said, not just good for the hip pocket they're also good for Australians health, because we know cheaper medicines mean that more Australians can afford the medicines their doctor has said is important for their health. I’ll pass to Sian, and then Kerry, and happy to take your questions.
 
DR SIAN GOODSON, RACGP SA: Thank you. The 60-day prescribing dispensing has been fantastic for many of my patients, and lots of GPs have also said the same thing. It's really good for people to be able to have that whole years’ worth of scripts when they have a chronic condition such as hypertension or high cholesterol, and it's really good that now that's going to be extended to our patients with asthma as well.  It does save people time and money, and it also means that we can keep our appointments for the times when those patients need to see us, rather than just for a routine script appointment. It's been a very positive thing for GPs.
 
KERRY GOLDSWORTH, ASTHMA AUSTRALIA: Hi, I'm Kerry Goldsworthy. I work for Asthma Australia, and also have a lifelong, lived experience with asthma. We'd like to thank the Minister for inviting us along today, and our mission at Asthma Australia is to halve hospital visits for asthma by 2030. We also want to help any Australian living with asthma. So, if anybody needs help or advice called 1800-asthma. With my lifetime of asthma, my family has a really strong history of asthma, both my parents, both my brothers and both my sons have asthma. When my sons were young, this 60-day prescribing would have made the world of difference to me, because I was buying three preventers at a time for myself, for my two sons, that would have equated to about $90 a month saving just for us, just on our asthma medications. I think this is a fantastic initiative. There are families going without medications out there, choosing whether to pay their electricity bill, whether to buy food. If I take my preventer one day late, I could be in in the ED in hospital. This is how dire it can be with asthma. This initiative will mean a lot to a lot of people.
 
JOURNALIST: You mentioned the saving would have been when you were with the kids and everything else. I think the Minister referenced the whole essentially getting two for one, with the cost of living and everything else how much would that take a load off? What would it mean to the families battling, like you said, going through and even skipping, taking it to drag it out a little bit longer?
 
GOLDSWORTH: I would never do that. That was always the number one priority. I was lucky with my children because I had asthma myself. I knew how dire it was. Not all families understand that, and some find out the hard way. We've had a girl on the York Peninsula die of asthma two years ago, and it was just so tragic 15 years old. It should be preventable. But absolutely, when my kids were young, or on other medications as well, you've got your relievers when they get sick, you've got antibiotics, you've got your prednisolone that you're taking, you've got nebules - it doesn't just stop there with the preventer. This initiative will really help thousands of families.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, we just heard the relief that this is going to provide, not just for asthma sufferers. You know the importance of taking regular medicines and not skipping them because of cost of living, the weight on family shoulders has never been greater?
 
BUTLER: We know there's huge cost of living pressure in Australian households, as there is right around the world, and we're doing everything we responsibly can to help with that. In the area of cheaper medicines, it's important to remember that the Bureau of Statistics told us only relatively recently that as many as almost a million Australians every year go without a medicine that their doctor has said is important to them because of affordability questions. So, as I said, cutting the price of medicines is not just good for people's hip pocket, we know it's good for their health as well. It's much more likely that people will take their medicines if they're cheaper. I've had pharmacists tell me of their customers coming in with potentially three or four or five scripts that they fill for themselves and their families and asking for advice about which ones are most important because they can't afford to fill every single one of them. We're determined to relieve that pressure on Australian households and make sure that people are able to take the medicines their doctors have prescribed for them. This 60-day program allows people to get effectively twice the medicines for the cost of a single script and that will cover about 6 million patients. These patients are not on a medicine for a short period of time like you might be to deal with an infectious disease. Often, these medicines are lifelong prescriptions for hypertension, for cholesterol, for asthma. People don't just sort of go off them. They're on them for years and years or even decades. It doesn't make sense just to have a script for 30-days for them, halving the cost, saving them money, saving them time is good for their hip pocket and it's good for their health.
 
JOURNALIST: We are obviously now past winter, officially, as of today, with issues that we've been facing nationally, but also particularly here in South Australia, with things like RSV. Would there be the consideration to put an RSV vaccine on the PBS?
 
BUTLER: The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, which is the body of experts that advises the government on what goes on the PBS has considered a couple of candidates for RSV vaccines and an RSV treatment. I know they're considering them very carefully. As Health Minister, I'm not allowed to put a medicine or a vaccine on the PBS or the NIP, the National Immunisation Program, without the advice of PBAC. PBAC has to give me the advice to do that. The National Health Act doesn't allow me to do anything beyond the advice of those experts. I'm very keen, I know Chris Picton here in South Australia and his colleagues right around the country are keen to hear the advice of that advisory committee. We talked about it at our last health ministers meeting a couple of weeks ago. They're all very keen to see what is happening in the in the RSV space, as they are for other respiratory diseases that have hit communities and hospitals really hard this winter. I'll have more to say about that in due course, but I don't have that advice yet.
 
JOURNALIST: How close would we be to that? Because obviously we are on the tail end of that respiratory on this season. Would you expect that to be in the next month?
 
BUTLER: I think really what people are focused on now is what the arrangements are going to be for 2025 winter. We are tapering off, and these things take a while to put in place, get the pricing right between government and the relevant companies. So, there are arrangements around the country for winter 2024 but as you say, we're reaching the end of that that season for respiratory diseases, whether it's flu or RSV, we're now thinking about what's going to be in place for next year.
 
JOURNALIST: Understanding that, as you say you need to rely on piece of advice to act on it, but considering the challenge of RSV this year, particularly here in South Australia, we've had a particularly bad RSV season, how much I guess, of a relief would it be? A lot of families would choose not to go down the track of getting an RSV vaccine simply because it is too expensive?
 
BUTLER: All health ministers are keen to see the advice of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, but we will continue to talk about different options for 2025 if they need it.
 
JOURNALIST: Should the next census record someone's gender identity as well as their sexual orientation?
 
BUTLER: The Prime Minister's dealt with this, including over the last 24 hours, and there will be a question around sexuality or sexual preference in the 2026 census. Remember, this is a couple of years off right now, and that is the position the government has reached.
 
JOURNALIST: So why hasn't the Albanese Government been able to have a clear position on this issue this week?
 
BUTLER: The Prime Minister, when he returned from the Pacific Islands Forum, did indicate a very clear position. Remember, this is a census that will be taking place in two years’ time. It's important that the ABS go out and test questions. They had a range of options that they put to government. The government's position back to the ABS was that we were keen for them to test question around sexuality or sexual preference, and that's now what the ABS will do.
 
JOURNALIST: Andrew Bragg says states should lose GST money if they don't build homes quickly enough. Is this a good idea?
 
BUTLER: Well, certainty for states around their GST arrangements is really critical for those budgets, and those budgets, at the end of the day, deliver hospitals and schools and policing services. This is a massive curve ball that Andrew Bragg has thrown at state governments right now will be a concern to all Australians. I know here in South Australia, the guarantee that came out of the last budget that our state would be no worse off in relation to GST means that South Australia and other states as well, are able to plan for hospitals, schools, policing and so many other services with certainty, and that certainty has now taken a really big hit from Andrew Bragg’s interview this morning.
 
JOURNALIST: Back to our state here, the South Australian government has been saying that bed blockages in the federal aged care system have been making it very difficult to manage demand for hospital beds as ramping hit record highs in August. Does the Federal Government have any plans to step in and sort of help out this situation?
 
BUTLER: A couple of months ago, Chris Picton and I announced a package of around $56 million in initiatives from the Commonwealth Government to ease the path, really, of longer stay older patients out of hospitals into other care settings, particularly aged care settings. We know that older patients who are admitted to hospital, who are clinically able to be discharged, according to medical advice, but can't find a place to go, is a very significant pressure on our hospital systems, not just here in South Australia, but right around the country. I'm working really hard with our state and territory colleagues to find innovative ways to really relieve that pressure. And as I say, the package of $56 million that I announced a couple of months ago, just here in South Australia, there are equivalent packages around the country, which will make a real difference. We know it's not going to happen overnight. This is a significant pressure that's built up over the last 10 years. It requires real change in the aged care sector to see more beds built, which is why we're working so hard on our aged care reform package. But it's something that we're working on week in, week out, with state and territory governments on.
 
JOURNALIST: Pharmacies presumably won't be able to monitor their customers as closely with a jump to 60-day scripts. How will the government mitigate overdosing concerns?
 
BUTLER: I heard this sort of pretty baseless scare campaign when we first announced our 60-day policy. We went back to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee, which had provided the initial advice back in 2018, to the former government, that common medicines should be able to be prescribed on the basis of 60-days. They provided very clear advice to us and to the prescribing community, which is largely general practitioners, that the idea of overdosing being a significant risk from this policy simply wasn't real. At the end of the day, every GP will exercise their clinical judgment with the patient that they know well about whether a 60-day script is advisable or not. There are many occasions where GPs are not issuing 60-days scripts in spite of the fact that the medicine might be eligible. The PBAC also decided to exclude certain medicines where they thought there might be a risk of overdose. I think this is a baseless scare campaign, 60-day scripts have now been in operation for around 12 months. More than 10 million of those scripts have been issued. There's the same record keeping in relation to those that has operated in relation to other scripts as well.
 
JOURNALIST: A lot of medicines are also in short supply. Are you worried about supply issues, or have those medicines also been excluded from this?
 
BUTLER: In relation to medicine shortages generally, this is something I talk to the Therapeutic Goods Administration about quite regularly. There is always some shortages. There were before the COVID pandemic, there were certainly during the pandemic, and there are still now. They reflect the fact that we are reliant on overseas supply for really, most of our medicines needs, and we are seeking to address that, to build more sovereign capability here in Australia. But wherever possible, the TGA acts quickly to ensure that if there is a shortage of a critical medicine from overseas, that relevant alternative supplies are arranged and approved. We do that very regularly in relation to medicine shortages. In terms of medicine shortages that might be on the 60-day list, we've also looked very carefully at that as well, and making sure that 60-day prescribing doesn't in any way exacerbate existing shortages. I will make the point that the patients who are eligible for 60-day scripts, as I've said before, are on these medicines on an ongoing basis, so at the end of the day, over a course of a 12-month period, they'll be consuming exactly the same amount of that medicine, whether they're on a 60-day script or 30-day script.
 
JOURNALIST: Initially there was quite a lot of, I guess, criticism from pharmacies and the Pharmacy Guild. I understand you signed an agreement with the pharmacies. How are they being compensated?
 
BUTLER: We invested every single dollar that Commonwealth saved from this measure back into the community pharmacy sector, and some of that particularly was to deal with any impact on regional and rural pharmacies in particular. But a lot of it was also expanding the types of service that pharmacies are able to deliver, for example, around opioid dependence treatment and around the National Immunisation Program. But over and above that, we've also signed a new Community Pharmacy Agreement that was negotiated in good faith in the early part of this year between the pharmacy sector and the government, and that will take us forward for the next five years.
 
JOURNALIST: So, what is that agreement?
 
BUTLER: Well, the agreement is an agreement to invest more than $25 billion of taxpayer funds into the community pharmacy sector over the next five years. It deals with a range of the concerns that the pharmacy sector through the Guild raised about the impact of 60-day prescribing on their businesses, and they signed the agreement, as did the government. I think it's an agreement that meets the needs both of patients and taxpayers, but also an agreement that will underpin a strong, viable community pharmacy sector, which we think is a critically important part of our healthcare system. Thanks everyone.