Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has challenged the government to fund changes for prescription medicines following a political standoff on the issue.
Changes from September 1 will allow patients to get 60 days worth of medication dispensed for a single prescription, rather than 30.
The coalition on Thursday launched an unsuccessful bid to overturn the measures in parliament, arguing regional pharmacies would face financial pressure when the changes take effect.
The opposition has flagged it would make another attempt to overturn the plan, when parliament resumes next month.
Mr Dutton said while the opposition supported the idea of 60-day prescriptions, the government should fund the changes in order to protect regional pharmacies.
“(Pharmacies) are the ones who are picking up the bill for it, it should be the government,” he told Nine’s Today program on Friday.
“At the moment, the way the government structured it, the pharmacists are going to have to pick up that and I don’t think patients want that.”
However, Defence Minister Richard Marles accused the opposition of standing in the way of cost of living relief measures.
“This is about making medicines cheaper,” he said.
“What you just heard from Peter (Dutton) is where he always stands when it comes to cost of living issues, and that is against the Australian consumer.”
It is estimated the prescription changes will halve the cost of 320 common medicines for about six million Australians.
Any Commonwealth savings will be reinvested into community pharmacies.
Pharmacies argue this will provide too big a hit to their bottom line as they lose out on dispensing fees and extra revenue.
Deputy opposition leader Sussan Ley said the prescription change was punishing pharmacies.
“Look at who do you trust to deliver cheaper medicines and I would trust my local pharmacist every day of the week, not this prime minister,” she told Seven’s Sunrise program.
“Pharmacies are closing, and people do care about their local pharmacist and the care that they delivered particularly to vulnerable patients.”
However, Education Minister Jason Clare said the number of new pharmacies opening was on the rise.
“In the three or four months since we announced this (policy), there’s been double the number of applications by pharmacists to open pharmacies right across the country than they were last year,” he said.
“That shows you that these pharmacies are strong, more pharmacists want to open pharmacies. We want Aussies to pay less for their medicine.”
Source: AAP
