Press conference with Minister Butler, Canberra – 28 July 2025

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Thanks, everyone, for coming out. It’s an absolute delight to be here with my parliamentary colleague, the Assistant Minister, Emma McBride. Also Trent Twomey, the National President of the Guild, and Jess who will talk to us about her experience.
 
When we were elected in 2022, one of the core components of our promise to strengthen Medicare was to deliver cheaper medicines. This was a time of significant cost of living pressure, as global inflation swept the world. But we also know that not only are cheaper medicines terrific for the hip pocket, they’re also a really important measure for public health. Trent and his colleagues at the Guild had brought to us evidence of just what expensive medicines were meaning for patients. The ABS, the Bureau of Statistics, said that about a million patients every year were declining to fill the scripts that their doctors had said what is important for their health because of cost. Trent and his colleagues were bringing us story after story of pharmacists having their customers come through the front door with a handful of scripts, and asked for advice from their trusted pharmacist about which one was really important and which one perhaps they could go without because they simply couldn’t afford to fill all of their scripts. Trent made the case so powerfully for cheaper medicines being right at the centre of the new Labor Government’s agenda, and we’ve delivered wave after wave after wave of cheaper medicines policies.
 
When we came to government, we slashed the maximum amount, for pensioners and concession card holders, would have to pay for their scripts every single year, and already that’s delivered about 75 million additional free scripts to Australia’s pensioners, saving them more than half a billion dollars. A centrepiece of our election platform was to deliver the biggest cut to the price of medicines in the history of the PBS. Slashing the general patient co-payment from $42 to just $30, and already that's delivered savings to Australian general patients of almost three quarters of a billion dollars. We also delivered 60-day scripts, and there have been about 34 million of those scripts delivered since that policy took effect, saving people money but also saving them trips to the pharmacy where that might not be necessary. We froze the price of medicines this year. Prices for medicines for pensioners and concession card holders won't increase for the rest of this decade. Five years of price relief for vulnerable patients. But also, we froze the price for 12 months for general patients this year.
 
Today, I'm announcing that this week we will introduce legislation to deliver the fifth wave of Labor's cheaper medicines policies. Again, something we worked so hard with Trent and his colleagues at the Guild on. We will slash the price of the maximum co-payment for patients to just $25 from 1 January. That is where it was back in 2004. There aren't many health services or health products today that you’ll buy for the same price you could get them in 2004 coincidentally, the year that Trent and Emma became registered pharmacists. They can talk about that experience, I'm a lot older than them, I was well into my career by then. But $25 is the price it was in 2004. Without the measures we have delivered on cheaper medicines, the co-payment next year for general patients would be more than $50, twice what it will be because of our measures. This again will save about 5 million Australian patients $200 million a year, and will just add to the measures that we have put in place that have already saved Australian patients more than $1.5 billion a year. As I said, cheaper medicines aren't just good for the hip pocket, they're good for health because they mean more Australian patients are able to fill the scripts that their health practitioners have said are important for their health. I'll hand over now to Trent.
 
TRENT TWOMEY, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, THE PHARMACY GUILD OF AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Minister Butler, and Minister Emma McBride as well. Indeed, it is a good day for patients. There are 20 million Australians who are not on some form of government benefit. So 20 million Australians would have been paying up to $50 for essential medicines like their insulin for their diabetes, next generation blood thinners if they had some form of adverse cardiovascular event, the next generation medication for your child's ADHD, or even most importantly, the injection for prevention of osteoporosis. All of these medications are necessary for chronic disease management. They're not necessary because somebody made a poor lifestyle decision. More often than not people were born with these chronic diseases, and they are not discretionary items. This is good news. As the Minister said, the cost of medications was going to be up to $50 on 1 January, and now it will be no more than $25. Incidentally, the last time it was $25 was in 2004 when I first became a registered pharmacist. This is making sure that all Australians, no matter where they live, whether they live in the middle of our cities or in the remotest areas of our great nation, medications will cost no more than $25, no matter which pharmacy your family and you choose to visit. So congratulations, Ministers.
 
We've got a patient advocate with us today, Jess. Jess was one of those patients that raised this with me and helped me understand what it was to have to choose between eating or between taking the essential medication that their doctor prescribes. I think it's really important today that we hear directly from the patients themselves.
 
JESS MCGOWEN, PATIENT: My name is Jess McGowen, I'm 38 years old. Over 20 years ago I was diagnosed with my first chronic incurable disease. I've been on multiple medications every single day ever since then. Due to my health issues, I cannot work full time. I haven't been able to work full time in over 10 years, so this puts me in a really challenging and strange financial situation. There's been countless times I've had to go without medications, or I've had to ration them, which has dire results. And the forward effects of that just carry on for a long time.
 
One of my health conditions is endometriosis, it is quite complex, so sometimes I need to change my medications. I might need to try three or four before I find the right one. I might only take one for a few days, and then I have to go to the next one, so it’s costly. It adds up very, very quickly.
 
Managing the cost of living is very, very hard. It's not just a week to week. It's a day to day struggle for people like me. So having this cost come down will certainly help take a load off.
 
JOURNALIST: Can I just ask, Minister, what would you say to the Australians that say that, yes, you're dropping costs here, but at the same time you've failed to get a meeting with the President, who is obviously targeting Australia's pharmaceutical industry, which will perhaps raise costs?
 
BUTLER: Our position about the PBS has been unshakable. We won't be negotiating the elements of our PBS with any other country. It's one of the great cornerstones of Australia's healthcare system. It ensures that Australian patients are able to get access to the world's best medicines at affordable prices. I say again, it's not up for negotiation.
 
JOURNALIST: But is it possible, would you concede, that these benefits today will be offset by that?
 
BUTLER: No. As I’ve said, we simply won't be negotiating on medicines prices for ordinary Australians.
 
JOURNALIST: So that's a hard no? You won't be giving in on that like you did with beef?
 
BUTLER: I could not be clearer about our PBS. It is absolutely not up for negotiation.