Toowoomba residents, business owners react to federal budget 2023

From welfare recipients, NDIS participants and small businesses, here is a look at what Toowoomba residents did and didn’t like in the budget.

The federal government handed down the budget last week to mixed reactions from across Australia.

From welfare recipients, NDIS participants and small businesses, here is a look at what Toowoomba residents did and didn’t like in the budget:

Busiko's Pharmacy Toowoomba owner pharmacist Boyd Busiko reacts to the federal budget, Monday, May 15, 2023. Picture: Kevin Farmer

Pharmacy considers job losses over dispensing fee changes

Boyd Busiko is facing the prospect of laying off staff or charging for previously-free services inside his Toowoomba pharmacy.

“Services we normally provide for free we’ll have to charge, like doing Webster packs or blood pressure tests,” he said.

The owner of Busiko Pharmacy Toowoomba has joined the industry in condemning the federal government allowing patients to access 60 days’ worth of medication on one script, arguing it will financially ruin independent businesses and put further pressure on supplies.

The government looks set to save $1.2bn in dispensing fees under the budget proposal, with patients potentially able to save up to $180 a year by not requiring to go back to the doctor for another script.

Mr Busiko said he stood to lose $170,000 a year under the plan, which was announced in last week’s federal budget.

Busiko's Pharmacy Toowoomba owner pharmacist Boyd Busiko reacts to the federal budget, Monday, May 15, 2023. Picture: Kevin Farmer

He said this was derived from the fact patients would still pay the same dispensing fee for 60 days worth of drugs as they would for 30 days, meaning his pharmacy would lose thousands through the simple measure of allowing people to buy double the amount.

“When you get a script dispensed with us, we don’t get the $30 — we get a dispensing fee from the cost of that, most of that goes back to the government,” Mr Busiko said.

“So if the drugs are $60 we’ll get about $10 out of that.

“We’ve had independent auditors have a look at it and we know we’re going to lose $170,000.

“We’re going to have to assess which staff we keep on, what services we provide for free and how we’re going to manage this.”

Mr Busiko said the list of hundreds of medications in short supply would grow with the change, including lifesaving drugs for people with blood pressure problems that were listed as “critical”.

“This is going to get worse as demand increases, what we supposed to do when someone comes in with a 60-day script for a drug that we know is short?” he said.

“Are we going to play Russian roulette with someone’s life?”

Mr Busiko said the Australian government should look to the UK for a better approach to 60-day dispensing, adding that pharmacies received more in fees per prescription.

In response to the powerful Pharmacy Guild’s opposition to the plan, Health Minister Mark Butler said he was confident in national supplies and noted GPs would still need to allow a patient to access 60 days’ worth of medicine.

“We have deliberately decided to phase in these arrangements over the course of this year and next year, so pharmacists are able to change their itinerary arrangements,” he said in April.

“It is important to stress that not every patient on these medicines is going to rock up to their pharmacy with a new 60-day script at the same time.

“They will still have to consult with their GPs about whether they qualify for the 60-day dispensing arrangements.”

Thom Roker with his daughter Poppy-Jo Roker and dog Vincent. Picture: Nev Madsen.

Dad’s relief after single parent payment lifted

Thom Roker knows he will now be able to afford the essentials and some little luxuries for his daughter Poppy-Jo thanks to major changes in the federal budget.

“It’s enough to live on — it’s never enough but I’m just grateful it’s happened,” the Toowoomba man said.

Mr Roker, who has been in and out of employment for years after being laid off as a teacher for international students, will now be able to access the sole parent payment for Poppy-Jo until his daughter is 14.

The budget measure, announced last week by Treasurer Jim Chalmers and backed heavily by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, will allow eligible single parents to earn $922.10 per fortnight.

It reverses the highly-controversial move by the Gillard government more than a decade ago to reduce the age cut-off from 16 to eight, after which point parents move onto Jobseeker.

Mr Roker, who is one of the 10 per cent of single dads who will receive the payment, said while he was close to securing full-time work the money would provide a great safety net.

“She’s 11, so we’ve been three years without that safety net — every now and then, I get back to not making enough money, or no money, so an extra $500 to $600 would be handy,” he said.

“It’s cumulative, so over Covid and being a sole parent, there are things that come along that destroy your savings.

“When I broke my foot and couldn’t work (in January), that extra parent payment would’ve gone to Woolies.

“It will go directly on needs and be a little bit extra for times of the year where my daughter might need things like uniform costs.”

Mr Roker said he was impressed by how the payment won’t disappear once he does get more work.

“If I work 20 hours a week, that $920 will go down but it won’t disappear after I’ve earned a certain amount of money,” he said.

“For me it’s a safety net, but for others they have no other option.”

Mr Albanese, who was raised by a single mother, said the change to the payment was close to his heart.

“This is about giving (single parents) the greater security and better support they deserve,” he said last week.

“No one held back and no one left behind has always been the principle that guides me.

“This change to single parent payments is about making things fairer for parents who are already doing it tough.”

NDIS advocate ‘optimistic’ despite scheme savings

Sharon Boyce.

One of Australia’s leading disability advocates has called on the federal government to keep its promise that savings to the National Disability Insurance Scheme won’t lead to participant funding being cut.

Toowoomba’s Dr Sharon Boyce, who sits on the scheme’s independent advisory council, met with NDIS Minister Bill Shorten to discuss Labor’s plan to cut its growth from 14 per cent to eight per cent over the next decade.

The latest funding package in the federal budget means the NDIS will cost $42bn in 2023/24 and would rise to $55bn by 2026/27.

Mr Shorten and Treasurer Jim Chalmers have assured the $74bn in savings Labor wants to make over the next 10 years won’t come from changing eligibility criteria, with the government instead focusing on tackling service provider rorts, spiralling costs and rip-offs of participants.

However, several advocacy groups have expressed concerns that the measures will affect people with disabilities in other ways, with Greens disability spokesman Jordon Steele-John describing any cap on growth as a “broken promise”.

Dr Boyce, who was diagnosed with juvenile chronic arthritis as a child and uses a wheelchair, said she was optimistic about the scheme’s future after meeting with the government.

“We have to ensure that it remains what its vision was, and that was a system where people have a chance to have their best life,” she said.

“I want the participant to be at the centre of the scheme — we need to do something to rein in the costs, but not at the cost of people’s freedoms.

“I would be horrified if that’s how the budget was applied, but I didn’t hear that from the minister.”

Dr Boyce, who is also the chair of the Queensland government’s disability advisory council, said people with disabilities needed to be “on guard” for any future changes that affected their livelihoods.

“I’m optimistic about what Bill says, but I also believe we have to focus as a disability community about the changes being mooted and knowing we have to stand up for our support and funding.

“We don’t want (plans) to be cut, I don’t think they will be but we have to be on guard.”