LEY MUST BACK UP WORDS WITH ACTION IN PHARMACY AGREEMENT

Labor welcomes the release of the ANAO report into the 5th Community Pharmacy Agreement.
 
This is an important and timely report and given the Minister Ley’s strong words, we now look forward to her fully implementing all of its findings in her current negotiations.
 
This includes the Minister committing to making public full details of all her negotiations, and publishing detailed financial costing of every aspect of the 6th Community Pharmacy Agreement.
 
Labor also looks forward to Minister Ley announcing significant savings when she concludes the current negotiations.
 
As the ANAO report makes clear, the former Labor Government did achieve significant savings in its previous agreement.
 
Labor welcomes the Minister’s commitment to exceeding this benchmark and delivering even greater savings for both patients and taxpayers.
 
This will be crucial given the government still has legislation before the parliament to hike the cost of essential medicines by $5 for general patients and 80 cents for concessional patients.
 
Given the Minister’s strong words today about the need for transparency and her demand for financial rigour, any agreement which does not deliver on these commitments will expose the Minister’s attack today as hypocrisy and empty rhetoric.