Mark Butler
Hindmarsh · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“But earlier today we were all in here voting on the latest instalment in the member for Lindsay's ongoing but thus far unsuccessful campaign to rebrand the Liberal Party.”
“I thank the member for Werriwa for her contribution and for her really strong support for everything we're doing to make Medicare stronger and make medicines cheaper. I thank all members for their contributions to the debate on this bill. As the member for Werriwa said, Medicare is the very best of Australia.”
“I thank the member for his question, which is a question I've answered before in this place since the budget. As I've said on a number of occasions publicly and in this chamber, the additional support that over-65s have received since about 2004 for their private health insurance premium is something we did revisit given the significant p…”
“But, under ours, they'll receive an increase of more than 20 per cent, or an additional $160 million in this year alone, which means more doctors, more nurses and better care in Tasmania.”
“Importantly, this bill provides stability so patients can continue to benefit from the outcomes of these programs and strengthened access to primary care.”
“That approach gives providers and the government greater certainty while preserving the flexibility needed to keep program settings up to date as health system needs evolve. Importantly, the bill does not change the underlying policy settings of existing programs.”
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“He or she will be an expert in public health and ultimately accountable to the parliament through annual reporting requirements, scrutiny by parliamentary committees and budgetary oversight. The director-general will be supported by an advisory council, who will provide crucial advice on public health matters and on the strategic direction and priorities of the agency. The advisory council will ensure that CDC advice is informed by a wide range of perspectives, insights and expertise so that the Australian CDC operates in the public interest. The advisory council will be chaired by the director-general. Advisory council members will be appointed by the minister for their expertise in public health, clinical practice, economics, human rights, data and statistics, emergency management, or communications.”
“Instead, it will enrich our national capacity through high quality, independent advice using enhanced data and evidence so that we can respond faster and smarter to emerging risks. National collaboration will be a cornerstone for the Australian CDC. The CDC will work together with states and territories, respecting jurisdictional autonomy, fostering relationships based on mutual respect and trust, and tailoring engagement to meet specific needs and priorities and unique local circumstances. Embedding accountability and transparency The Australian CDC has clear lines of accountability. The bill establishes a director-general who will lead the Australian CDC and report directly to the minister for health.”
“The review will assess the Australian CDC's effectiveness in delivering on its initial priorities and help inform a staged widening of its remit over time. The Australian CDC's advice won't exist in a vacuum. A core responsibility of the CDC will be to consult widely with experts across public health, relevant clinical groups, and academic experts. This will mean the CDC's advice is grounded in the knowledge of the impacts on people and their livelihoods, linking this with expertise in diseases and the recommended measures to control them. The social, cultural and economic factors that support health equity will be well understood, to ensure that no Australian is left behind. The CDC will not duplicate what the Australian Government and states and territories already do.”
“It will be an authoritative source of public health advice and information for the Australian public and for health professionals across the country. There will be a phased approach to establishment of the Australian CDC. The standalone CDC will build on all of the achievements of the interim CDC. This bill is the next step in that journey. The Australian CDC's initial priorities will focus on communicable diseases, pandemic preparedness and existing capabilities in environmental health and occupational respiratory diseases. To ensure a comprehensive approach to pandemic preparedness and response, progressive expansion into areas such as chronic conditions will be considered following an independent review of the CDC's funding and operations in 2028.”
“It will support agencies in the Australian government and the jurisdictions to plan and prepare for future health threats and emergencies. And, over time, its role will expand to include advice on how to prevent other health threats, including non-communicable diseases. Functions of the Australian CDC The Australian CDC will provide advice to federal, state and territory ministers on public health matters. It will also provide evidence based public health information to Commonwealth entities, state and territory government bodies, international agencies and non-government organisations. The CDC will build awareness among Australians on public health threats and what we can do as individuals and community members to minimise risk of sickness and death.”
“The bill enshrines the Australian CDC in law as an independent Commonwealth agency, separate from the health department and with transparent functions, obligations and powers. It will draw on the best technical and scientific expertise across the nation through its national convening role. This will include epidemiologists, data scientists, public health researchers and population health experts. It will play a national leadership role and become an authoritative source of expertise and evidence in public health, assisting state and territory governments to fulfil their critical roles in times of normality and crisis. The CDC's advice will help set the national direction on public health priorities, spanning from research through to workforce capability gaps.”
“It will bring us in line with countries like Canada, the UK, Singapore and most European countries which already have well-established national public health institutes. We've committed $251.7 million to establish and operate the Australian CDC, as well as ongoing funding of $73.3 million from 2028-29. The Australian people deserve public health data, insights and advice that is high quality, nationally coordinated and responsive—not just in a crisis, but every day. The COVID-19 pandemic was a once-in-a-century event, but it will not be the last public health threat that we face. Climate change, antimicrobial resistance, or AMR, zoonotic spillovers and changing geopolitical tensions impacting on Australia's health security all demand a permanent national public health authority right now.”
“The inquiry report showed gaps in data and data sharing between the Commonwealth government and states and territories, as well as fragmented and outdated planning and preparation for health emergencies. The COVID-19 response inquiry panel—Robyn Kruk AO, Professor Catherine Bennett and Dr Angela Jackson—warned that we must not let pandemic planning and our public health capability degrade through complacency. There will be another pandemic—the only question is when—and there continue to be infectious disease outbreaks. Establishing a permanent Australian CDC through this bill will deliver on our commitment to create an independent agency that will help protect Australia from diseases and public health threats.”
“I move: That the bill be now read a second time. This bill delivers on the government's promise to establish an Australian Centre for Disease Control as a statutory agency in my portfolio, to commence on 1 January 2026. Establishing a transparent, trusted and independent CDC will strengthen Australia's public health capability, improve pandemic preparedness, and safeguard the health and wellbeing of all Australians. The independent COVID-19 response inquiry supported the establishment of the Australian CDC to address capability gaps identified in the national response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As the COVID-19 inquiry report highlighted, Australia went into the COVID pandemic with no playbook for the pandemic, limited readiness of the National Medical Stockpile, and badly stretched aged- and healthcare systems.”
“We take our job of strengthening Medicare and aged care very seriously, on this side, but, I tell you what, we're not going to take advice from those opposite led by the Leader of the Opposition, given her record.”
“On the serious question of aged care, which the Leader of the Opposition interjected about, I thought I'd compare the pair. We added additional packages in the 2023 budget, the 2024 budget, the 2024 MYEFO, the 2025 budget. The Leader of the Opposition? How many additional packages do you think she added in her time of responsibility for aged care? A big doughnut. I think the residential aged-care sector would have been very happy to just be ignored by the Leader of the Opposition, like the home-care sector was, but she actually cut their funds—by half a billion dollars in MYEFO, by $1.2 billion in the 2016 budget, cuts that helped push the aged-care sector into the crisis that led the royal commission to use one word: neglect.”
“The latest question doing the round is: 'Which health minister never once increased the Medicare rebate?' On this side, most people answer: 'Peter Dutton'. But, in his defence, even Mr Dutton increased the Medicare rebate once. They were close! I'll talk about aged-care packages, don't worry. Even Mr Dutton increased the Medicare rebate once. I can only find one health minister who never once increased the Medicare rebate. It's the Leader of the Opposition! Indeed, I blamed Mr Dutton for the six-year Medicare rebate freeze, but when I go back to the 2016 budget, when the Leader of the Opposition was the health minister, I find not only did she double down on Mr Dutton's four-year freeze but she extended it another two years.”
“I thank the member for his question because he knows that nothing has been more important for this government than strengthening Medicare and aged care over the last three years, partly because health and social care is in Labor's DNA but partly, as well, because of the mess that we inherited from those opposite after a decade of cuts and neglect. As I've said before, when we came to government, we inherited bulk-billing in freefall. Last term, I outlined the impact that that horror health budget in 2014 had on bulk-billing and the role, in particular, of the health minister, at the time, the former member for Dixon. But now, as we go about the serious work of strengthening Medicare, from time to time on this side we do a Medicare pop quiz.”
“Just to give you a sense of what the impact of our bulk-billing incentives will be for a GP—a full-time GP bulk-billing every single patient that comes through their door in the major cities from 1 November will earn about $400,000 a year. In an average rural community, that rises to about $457,000 a year. That's a substantial increase, and that uses the earnings calculator that is used by the College of GPs and their supervisors. I can see some GPs frowning behind you, member for Mayo, but that is using the earnings calculator used by the sector itself.”
“The Minister for Education passed legislation, which is now in force, that means recent medical and nurse practitioner graduates who go and work in the country get substantial student debt relief related directly to the level of remoteness in the area that they're working in. We know that there is more to do. The National Rural Health Alliance is a terrific organisation I meet with and I know members right across the parliament meet with very regularly. The tyranny of distance has been one that has bedevilled our healthcare system for the entire history of our nation. Technology does help that. That's providing some relief to Australians living outside our major cities, but we're also doing all that we can to support, in particular, general practices to make sure that they can really run a thriving, viable business.”
“That is because the bulk-billing incentives paid to GPs outside of the major cities are higher than the changes we've made to doctors who are working in our major metropolitan areas. That's the same for the bulk-billing investments that will take place on 1 November. The increases for a GP bulk-billing in rural and regional Australia are very significant outside the major cities. They're significant in our cities, but they're more significant outside our major cities. We're also doing all that we can to encourage doctors, nurse practitioners and other health professionals to move outside of the cities and practice there. We've had a range of incentives in place to encourage doctors and nurse practitioners to do that.”
“Thank you to the member and fellow South Australian for that question and for her ongoing interest in health equality, particularly considered in geographical terms. As I've said to the member a number of times, we're doing all that we can to ensure that Australians living further away from our GPOs are getting good, equitable access to affordable care, particularly primary care. If you look at the results of our first investment in bulk-billing—I haven't checked for a little while, but the member knows, I think, that the biggest increase in bulk-billing rates of any electorate in this entire parliament has been in the member for Mayo's electorate or maybe the member for Clark's electorate. You're Nos 1 and 2—I can't remember who is No. 1 or who is No. 2.”
“Investment for more bulk-billing will start on 1 November. Last night we delivered even cheaper medicines for Australian patients.”
“From 1 January, the maximum co-payment on a PBS script Australians will pay is $25. As the Prime Minister points out, that's the same price it was all the way back in 2004. Indeed, without the two big cuts this government has made to the PBS co-payment, that figure would have hit more than $50 next year. Instead it will be less than half of that. Just this change, passed last night by the parliament, will deliver $200 million in savings every single year to general patients, and that's on top of the $1½ billion Australians have already saved at the pharmacy counter through the first four waves of our cheaper medicines reforms. This is another important step in this government delivering on the solemn promises and commitments we made to the Australian people at the last election. More urgent care clinics are already rolling out.”
“She said that no parent in Australia should ever have to make that choice, and with this bill fewer families at will. And she is absolutely right. When we came to government, the ABS told us there were around one million Australians every year going without filling a script their doctor had said was important for their health, because of cost. Most members in their contribution to the debate told a similar stories to that of the member for Bass. And that is the power of cheaper medicines. It's good for the hip pocket—a really important cost-of-living measure—but it's also good for health. It's good for the health of Australians and good for the health of their kids. Last night the Senate passed legislation to deliver the fifth wave of cheaper medicines reforms under this government.”
“Thank you to the member for Bass. The Prime Minister and I launched our $9 billion investment in Medicare with the member for Bass in the great city of Launceston. From that day, she has been just the most terrific advocate for a stronger Medicare. She also understands the power of cheaper medicine. I read her speech in the contribution to the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill that just passed the parliament. She told a really powerful story about a couple of pharmacists that the member for Bass had spoken to, one in Kings Meadows and another in Ravenswood, both in the heart of her electorate. They told her stories of parents standing at the pharmacy counter and weighing up which prescription they could afford to take home and which one they would have to leave behind.”
“Already, almost 1.9 million Australians have been seen in an urgent care clinic, a third of them kids under the age of 15 who've fallen off their skateboard or their bike or injured themselves at Saturday afternoon sport. A third of all consultations have been on the weekend. Importantly, the majority of participants—”
“Thank you to the member for Sturt, the first Labor candidate to win the seat of Sturt since the 1960s. As a candidate, the now member for Sturt was one of the most passionate advocates for our women's health policies, joining me at a number of key policy announcements. She was also a campaigner for a stronger Medicare more broadly and, in particular, had her commitment for an urgent care clinic in Adelaide's east. Last term we promised to deliver 50 urgent care clinics, and we delivered 87 of them. All of them are open seven days a week for extended hours and, importantly, fully bulk-billed. So, all you needed to take was your Medicare card.”
“Before today's listing, Jack's family would have paid $11,000 a year for that; from today, they'll pay $31, and from 1 January next year, if the Senate passes our bill, they'll pay just $25. That's great for Jack's health but also great for his family's hip pocket.”
“Today is the beginning of the national asthma awareness week, so it's a terrific day to announce a new PBS listing that takes effect today: Dupixent, a highly effective medicine for serious asthma which is not responding to even quite high-intensity treatments. There are kids like Jack, a 10-year-old from south-western Sydney who was first admitted to Campbelltown Hospital when he was just three. Jack's mum has been saying that, even on a preventer inhaler, he couldn't play sport and couldn't run around with his friends at birthday parties. But several months ago he got early access to Dupixent, and his mum, Sarah, said recently: 'It's been a miracle. Last week we had our school sports carnival, and Jack came third. Previously, he wouldn't have even been able to take part.' That's the beauty of the PBS.”
“It delivers access to the world's best medicines at affordable prices, and this government has been working hard to make those prices even more affordable. Four waves of cheaper medicines policies in our first term of government have already saved Australians more than $1½ billion in co-payments at the pharmacy counter. But those huge savings don't account for the huge benefit of 350 new or amended listings that we have made to the PBS in our time in government. The member for Macarthur, a deeply experienced paediatrician, knows just how impactful asthma is to Australia's children and young people. Every day almost 40 children are hospitalised by asthma and tens of thousands more struggle with everyday activities like playing sport or playing in the playground.”
“on indulgence—Before I answer that question, I welcome the red T-shirts to the chamber, people with lived experience of early onset bowel cancer. Rates of this are exploding in Australia and many other countries around the world. They've come to Canberra to talk about their deeply powerful personal stories with members across the chamber. On behalf of the chamber, I'd like to thank them for doing that over the course of today. Honourable members: Hear, hear! I thank the member for Macarthur for that question. He knows very much about the PBS, and, as the Prime Minister said, it truly is one of the core pillars of Australia's world-leading healthcare system, yet another feature of our healthcare system introduced by another reforming Labor government almost 80 years ago.”
“Those measures alone have already saved Australians more than $1½ billion in co-payments at their local pharmacy counter, but today we showed that this government is determined to do even more.”
“This law will cut the maximum co-payment for a PBS script to just $25, the same price it was all the way back in 2004, and half the price it would have been next year if the government had not been making medicines cheaper. This is just the latest wave of our measures to make medicines cheaper. Last term we slashed the maximum amount that pensioners and concession card holders would pay for all of their medicines across a given year by 25 per cent, a measure that has already delivered tens and tens of millions of additional free scripts. We finally delivered 60-day scripts—twice the amount of medicine for the cost of a single script. We have frozen the price of scripts for concession card holders and pensioners all the way to the end of this decade.”
“Paris's customer juggles medicines for cardiovascular disease and diabetes as well as her depression and struggles to afford all of her medicines. So many of my colleagues told these stories. These stories explain why this government has put so much energy into making medicines cheaper, because cheaper medicines are not just good for your hip pocket—although they obviously are—they're also good for your health. Australians should not be forced to make choices between filling a script that their doctor has said is important for their health and some other essential household expense. Today, I'm so pleased to report that the House passed the government's cheaper medicines bill, another example of this government delivering on the commitments that we made to the Australian people at the election in May.”
“Thank you to the member for Barton. Through her work earlier at St Vincent de Paul in New South Wales, every day she saw the sorts of choices that households under cost-of-living pressure have to make, and she's brought that experience, as well as her deep compassion, into this place. In her contribution to the government's cheaper medicines bill, the member for Barton relayed a story of a young mum she met doorknocking in Hurstville—a mum who skips her own medication to afford medicine for her young child when her child is sick. In a similar vein, the member for Griffith relayed a story that Paris, a young local pharmacist from her electorate in Brisbane, told her about a patient who was cutting her antidepressant tablets in half in order to space them out.”
“Making medicines cheaper is not just good for the hip pocket, although it obviously is—it's also good for your health. This bill delivers on a significant commitment made prior to the last election. It builds on earlier actions undertaken by the Albanese government to deliver cheaper medicines, and it helps strengthen Medicare and improve the health of all Australians. I sincerely thank all members for their contributions to the debate on this bill, and I again commend it to the House.”
“The reduction to $25 provides immediate cost-of-living relief to patients without a concession card while also ensuring that the PBS remains a sustainable investment for government. This level of investment was selected to ensure it does not come at the expense of other government priorities, such as continued listings of new medicines on the PBS; investment in other essential health services, including bulk-billing; and a competitive and sustainable pharmacy market. The general patient co-payment will continue to be indexed on 1 January each year, in line with existing indexation arrangements. Indexing from January 2027 will be calculated off the new general co-payment amount of $25, thereby saving patients out-of-pocket expenses right into the future.”
“The new member for Barton spoke of a young mother from Hurstville, in her electorate, who skips her own medication so she can afford antibiotics when her child gets sick and of the pensioner from Beverly Hills who told her she would space out her medication by only taking it every second day instead of daily, just to manage her expenses. By reducing the co-payment for general patients, we'll ensure the maximum amount a general patient will pay for a PBS medicine will be just $25 per script plus any applicable premiums—the same rate that it was way back in 2004. This bill reminds us that we rely on the PBS to ensure that all Australians have continued access to high-quality health care at affordable prices, which is even more crucial in a time when the cost of living continues to be a major concern for Australian households.”
“The member for Bass, for example, spoke of pharmacists in her electorate who had shared stories with her of parents standing at their counter, weighing up which prescription they could afford to take home and which one they would have to leave behind. No parent in Australia, as the member for Bass reminded us, should ever have to make that choice, and, with this bill, fewer families will. The member for Griffith spoke of a constituent in her electorate who was cutting her antidepressant tablets in half just to make them last longer. This woman was juggling medicines for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and mental health, and she just simply couldn't afford them all.”
“In summing up, I table a replacement explanatory memorandum relating to the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. The Albanese government is committed to strengthening Medicare and delivering cheaper medicines. The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the PBS, provides timely, reliable and affordable access to necessary medicines for all Australians. The Albanese government is supporting all Australians with cost-of-living relief, and this bill is just one of the many ways we're providing more affordable medicines to Australians, with savings to general patients of over $200 million per year. The speeches we have heard in the debate on this bill in this place remind us why cheaper medicines are so important.”
“I have asked the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee to provide us with some specific advice about the ways in which those medicines might be rolled out in a manner that ensures social equity. They are available on private scripts now but at quite a significant price. It may be $4,000 or $5,000 a year, which is well beyond the means of many communities of Australia. I'm looking forward to that advice from PBAC.”
“That has been an extraordinary advance for that group. There are probably at least ten times as many Australians who have type 2 diabetes. The recommendation of great debate through that inquiry was whether some of those Australians at least might have access to CGM. As the member probably knows, there are a couple of applications now before the Medical Services Advisory Committee to consider if and on what conditions . access to CGM might be subsidised through the MBS for type 2 diabetes patients. I'm really looking forward to that advice. That, I think, is the appropriate next step in that phase. Also, the inquiry dealt with the potentially revolutionary impact of GLP-1s, often better known by their brand names of Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy and others.”
“That is now being led by the terrific new Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, who has responsibility for that area, particularly in relation to food labelling. Also one of the recommendations of the report, as I recall, goes to the dietary guidelines we have in Australia that are being reviewed now by the NHMRC as well as issues around marketing and advertising of unhealthy or junk food to children. We have commissioned some work from, I think, the University of Wollongong to review that. They are scheduled to deliver that work later this year. The report also contains a number of recommendations around access to and affordability of cutting-edge technology and medicines. As everyone here knows, we have now provided subsidised access to constant glucose monitoring, or CGM, for all 130,000 Australians living with type 1 diabetes.”
“I thank the member for Mackellar for the question and for the work she has been doing on that important committee. As I understand, it will continue in this term, chaired by the member for the Macarthur and deputy chaired by the member for Kooyong. That was a really impressive, ambitious report that I asked the committee to undertake. As the member probably more than anyone else in this place understands, this is one of the pressing public health challenges we have, driven in large part by poor diet and by rising levels of overweight and obesity. We are giving it very serious consideration. We will provide a formal response in due course. We are responding to a number of those recommendations. In broad terms, a number of them go to food policy.”
“But I also made the point last week that, going forward, eight per cent is not a sustainable growth rate for such a large social program. Seven in 10 Australians think that the NDIS has grown too big and is riddled with inefficiencies and dodgy providers. Six in 10 Australians think the NDIS is actually broken. They all expect us to get the scheme back on track to secure the NDIS for the future and to lock in that transformation of lives for people— (Time expired)”
“As well, though, that growth I talked about highlights in part the need to return to the scheme's original purpose, and that is to provide support to people with significant and permanent disability. One in six grade 2 boys should not be on a scheme designed for permanent and significant disability. That is a figure that, alarmingly, rises to one in four in some parts of our country. That is why last week I announced that this government, in partnership with states, will roll out the Thriving Kids program to support families whose children have needs that are more mild-to-moderate with broad based, mainstream supports. We are on track to get that growth down from 22 per cent to eight per cent by next year, and that will be a substantial achievement.”
“We need better regulation of the providers who are delivering services and making substantial money. Australians, frankly, are just sick and tired of the drumbeat of stories about shonks and fraudsters not only ripping off taxpayers but, more importantly, ripping off people with disability. It is gobsmacking to me that 15 out of every 16 NDIS providers are unregistered. We have no idea who they are, what their qualifications are or what their character is, and that has to change. Everyone deserves a more robust evidence base for the services that are being provided under the scheme. We deserve to know that they are actually going to make a difference to the lives of people with disability.”
“I thank the member for Banks—the new member for Banks—who is already making a terrific contribution in this place. Twelve years on from its launch, the NDIS has profoundly changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of people with disability. The level of progress since the big disability institutions that I used to visit more than 30 years ago is simply beyond profound. But it's also true that the scheme has grown too big too fast. When we came to government three years ago or more, the scheme was growing by 22 per cent per year. In part, that's because the NDIS simply doesn't have the integrity and disciplined systems to ensure that every dollar is being spent effectively and efficiently. We need more discipline around pricing, for example, drawing on the experience of independent pricing in aged care and hospitals.”
“It flowed from a review I commissioned 14 years ago that Simon McKeon, who was Australian of the Year at the time, conducted. Frankly, our budget for medical research was topping out then at about $650 million a year. The recommendations were to lift that significantly. It's now $1½ billion a year because of the MRFF as well as increases in the NHMRC budget. That's almost 2½ times at the budget that we had at the time the McKeon review was set up. It also established, as the member knows, a priority-driven part of research so that priorities around brain cancer, dementia, mental health and suchlike could be subject to research funding and not just investigator initiated research from the NHMRC.”
“Thanks to the member for Kooyong for that question. I want to acknowledge her esteemed career as a clinician researcher in paediatric neurology before coming to this place over many years—part of, frankly, the amazing Melbourne community of health and medical research that has helped over decades make Victoria one of the leading jurisdictions in medical research in the country. Consistently winning more than 40 per cent of NHMRC grants, Victoria really is the centre of our health and medical research ecosystem. It pains me to say it as a South Australian, but it absolutely is. The MRFF has really added to that capacity in a significant way. I pay credit to the former government for setting up the MRFF in their term. I tried to give the Leader of the Opposition a compliment, but she couldn't quite stand it.”
“This world-leading program, which is being watched right around the world, is going to save hundreds and hundreds of Australian lives every single year—because we're utterly determined to make sure that no-one is left behind as we go about the work of strengthening Medicare.”
“A thoracic radiologist, Catherine, told me earlier this week, at a lung cancer screening event, that she picked up, in the first two days of the program, a stage 2 lung tumour that within as little as three months would have grown to a stage 4 tumour and almost certainly would have killed that patient. We're taking this program to rural and remote areas, like the member for Braddon's electorate, as well—areas that don't have radiology clinics in their towns, like many parts of communities that members opposite and on this side represent. Mobile screening trucks that are built right here in Australia, run by Heart of Australia, are going to be rolling out to rural and remote communities right around Australia to ensure that every Australian, no matter where they live, has this new chance of survival.”
“That's why in the 2023 budget the Treasurer announced $260 million to introduce one of the world's first lung cancer screening programs, the first new program for cancer in 20 years, to pick up more cancers early, when they're able to be treated. From the beginning of this month, Australians aged 50 to 70 with a significant history of smoking can access a fully bulk-billed lung scan. Thousands of Australians have already lined up for their free scan, and, already, lives are being saved. For example, Patrick from Melbourne, who's 65 years of age, happened to get referred after he had a consultation about sleep apnoea. His scan found a stage 1 lung tumour the size of a grape instead of the size of a grapefruit. He's already had surgery, and his prospects are excellent.”
“Thanks to the member for Braddon. Yesterday I talked about how Australia's PBS gives us all access to the world's best medicines at affordable prices—medicines that have helped to dramatically drive up survival rates for diseases like cancer in recent years and medicines that we're determined to make even cheaper. But great medicines are only effective with good and timely diagnosis, and this is why survival rates for lung cancer have not improved as much as for other cancers. Although it's only the fifth most common cancer in Australia, it is by far the biggest killer among cancers, largely because it's picked up too late. When symptoms first emerge, treatments like surgery and medicines are basically ineffective.”