Mr TICEHURST (2:37 PM) —My question is addressed to the minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister update the House on how the government has continued to provide Australians with affordable access to the medicines they need?

Mr ABBOTT (Minister for Health and Ageing) —I thank the member for Dobell for his question. While I am on my feet I probably should mention that the electorate of Dobell has had an 8.3 per cent rise in the GP bulk-billing rate over the last 12 months thanks to the policies of the Howard government. As well as universal insurance for medical expenses and a guarantee of free treatment in public hospitals for public patients, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is one of the three pillars of Medicare. Thanks to the PBS, Australians have affordable access to life-saving and life-enhancing drugs. This year the PBS is expected to cost some $6.5 billion, and the cost has been growing at a compound rate of almost 10 per cent over the last decade, even though all new listings are subject to rigorous cost-effectiveness evaluation.

Since October 2003 there have been some 300 new listings on the PBS, adding over $1 billion to the PBS forward estimates. For instance, from 1 October a drug called Eloxatin will be extended to patients who have just had colon cancer surgery. This will increase their chances of avoiding a recurrence of the tumours by some 25 per cent. This drug costs $12,000 a year. Every month patients will pay $28.60 or $4.60 and the government will pay more than $1,000 every month towards these patients’ treatment costs. But provided they are cost-effective and provided they meet rigorous evidentiary tests, the government is happy to see new listings on the PBS, because we believe in Medicare and we believe in the PBS.

I happened to go onto the web today and I looked up the Australian Labor Party’s policy on the PBS. The Australian Labor Party’s policy on the PBS amounts to just 10 words. It is a $6.5 billion area of government expenditure and Labor’s policy is just 10 words. Labor will, they say, ‘deliver affordable medicines and improve the quality use of medicines’. That is not a policy; that is a cliche. It is because there is nothing but cliches from those opposite that the Australian people have concluded that the Howard government is the best friend that Medicare has ever had.