Sussan Ley escalates campaign against Labor’s medicines dispensing reforms

The next step in pharmacies’ war against reforms to dispensing rules has been revealed as a senior Liberal enters the fray.

Deputy Opposition leader Sussan Ley has set her sights on community pharmacies in marginal electorates as she escalates her involvement in the pharmacy lobby’s campaign against changes to dispensing rules.

Ms Ley plans to travel further afield to drum up opposition to Labor’s reforms after visiting four pharmacies in the former metropolitan Liberal strongholds of Reid, Bennelong and North Sydney on Friday morning.

The federal government will halve the cost of more than 320 drugs that treat chronic conditions by increasing the amount of medicine a person can collect with each script from one to two months’ supply.

But it will also substantially reduce pharmacy income by slashing the handling and dispensing fees the government pays to chemists for every script.

The announcement of the reform in April triggered a revolt from the powerful pharmacy lobby, which has been warning of widespread medicine shortages and the closure of chemists, especially in rural Australia.

The Coalition was quick to side with the Pharmacy Guild, whose president Trent Twomey wept in parliament as he attacked Labor over the reform and claimed it would lead to the loss of jobs and the cutting of services.

Deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley is campaigning against the dispensing reforms. Picture: Britta Campion / The Australian

Ms Ley on Friday said she had witnessed “widespread anger” in the pharmacies she visited in Sydney.

The senior Liberal MP claimed to have heard first-hand that the government’s changes were already forcing closures and the sacking of staff, most of whom were women.

“I was really struck by the customers who were coming up to me worried their local pharmacy could close,” Ms Ley said.

To bolster her case, Ms Ley shared a video of herself with three staff pharmacists at Pharmacy 4 Less in Sydney’s Ryde, in the seat of Bennelong.

In the clip, the three pharmacists outline their concerns about the reform after Ms Ley asks them to share their message to Mr Albanese.

“Mr Prime Minister, we call on you to review the policy. We think the policy’s flawed and you are absolutely cutting the guts out of community pharmacy,” one pharmacist says.

“Revisit the policy. Stop this madness before September and let’s sit at the table with the (Pharmacy) Guild to work out a solution to go forward.”

The reform will save patients time and money but it will come at a substantial cost to pharmacists.

Another pharmacist, who identifies himself as the pharmacy-owner, warns of additional costs for patients.

“My name’s Kamal, I’ve owned this pharmacy for 12 years. I can tell you my patients aren’t happy,” he says.

“Ultimately this 60-day policy will have to be passed on to our patients and ultimately they will be paying a cost for this.”

Ms Ley called on the independent and Labor MPs who now represent those three metropolitan electorates to “listen to these community pharmacies, stand up to the prime minister and take action”.

The federal government has hosed down claims the 60-day dispensing policy will result in medicines shortages and accused the Pharmacy Guild of staging a scare campaign.

Despite the government promising to reinvest the money it saves back into community pharmacies to placate chemists who railed against the reform, the Pharmacy Guild has escalated its campaign against the policy.

Doctors’ groups and the Consumer Health Forum support the reform, which they say will save patients time and money by cutting the annual cost of each medicine by up to $180 and saving a doctor’s visit to get a new script each year.

The policy was recommended by the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee in 2018 but it wasn’t implemented until this year.

Originally published as Sussan Ley escalates campaign against Labor’s medicines dispensing reforms