National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025; In Committee

Hanson questioned whether US pharmaceutical companies had influence over PBS listings via a medicines working group established under a 2004 free trade agreement. Hanson argued for prioritising generic drugs to reduce taxpayer costs and highlighted One Nation's previous advocacy for lower prescription fees. Hanson pressed the Minister to provide accountability on how generic brands are managed within the scheme.

Payman moved an amendment to reduce the general patient co-payment from $25 to $20. Payman argued that this reduction would provide greater relief to Australians facing cost-of-living pressures. The amendment was framed as a request to increase expenditure from the Medicare Guarantee Fund to subsidise medicine costs further.

Steele-John announced support for the amendment to reduce co-payments to $20. Steele-John clarified that the Greens' broader policy position is to eliminate co-payments for concession card holders and lower rates for others to the current concessional level. Steele-John viewed the amendment as a step towards achieving those long-term goals.

Brockman noted that there were no further contributions to the debate. Brockman put the question before the chair that the bill stand as printed. The bill was subsequently agreed to and reported without amendment.