Ms ELLIS —My question is addressed to the Minister for Health and Family Services. Is he aware of the views of the Pensioners and Superannuants Federation that `the increase in prescription charges will hurt the sickest oldest people'? Why has the government breached the commitment given by the Prime Minister in his speech to ACOSS to `maintain the real value of all pension benefits and other entitlements for low income earners'?

Dr WOOLDRIDGE —I am aware of what the Pensioners and Superannuants Federation have said. I have not had a chance to reply to them personally, but what I would say to them is as follows. There are two parts to the PBS—there is a concessional part and there is a non-concessional part. The concessional scripts are going up from $2.70 to $3.20. But the average number of concessional scripts filled by any person a year is 17. The average cost increase for any person in a year will be $8.50—not $8.50 a week, not $8.50 a month, but $8.50 a year. The opposition leader raises the very reasonable question: what if they are chronically ill? For the people who are non-concessional, it is going up from $17.40 to $20. That is an increase of $2.60.

The important point here is that there is a safety net of $600. That safety net is not going up. People who have to pay the extra $2.60 will just reach the safety net sooner and over a whole year they will not have to pay any more. The only people who hit the people with chronic illness were members of the Labor Party in the last budget, when they surreptitiously increased the safety net from $400 to $600 a year, and they have the gall to come in here and bleat about people with chronic illness.