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Australians suffering from melanoma and multiple sclerosis will soon have new treatment options, with new and amended PBS listings on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) coming into effect on 1 November.
The Morrison Government will expand the current PBS listings of Tafinlar® (dabrafenib) and Mekinist® (trametinib) to include subsidy for post-surgery treatment for patients who have Stages IIIB, IIIC and IIID melanoma.
Over 260 patients per year are expected to benefit from this listing each year. Without the PBS subsidy, patients might otherwise pay more than $128,900 for each course of treatment for these medicines.
Stage III melanoma means that cancer cells have spread into skin, lymph vessels or lymph glands close to the melanoma but they haven’t spread to other parts of the body.
Australia has one of the highest rates of melanoma in the world – 11 times higher than the worldwide average; more than twice the rate than the UK or USA.
It is estimated 15,229 Australians will be diagnosed with melanoma in 2019, and approximately 400 will have Stage III resected BRAF mutation positive melanoma.
Additionally, paediatric patients being treated for relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis will benefit from the extension of two medicines listings.
The current PBS listing of Gilenya® (fingolimod) will be amended to include a new strength of this medicine for treatment of patients weighing 40kg or less, including paediatric patients.
Up to 17 patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis are expected to benefit from this listing each year. Without the PBS subsidy, patients might otherwise pay more than $28,800 for a course of treatment.
The PBS listing of Tysabri® (natalizumab) will be extended to remove the age restrictions for this medicine, to subsidise use in paediatric patients with relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis.
Without the PBS subsidy, patients might otherwise pay more than $17,500 each year and it is expected that an additional 10 patients per year will have access to this medicine.
These PBS listings were recommended by the independent expert Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC).
Through the PBS patients will pay a maximum of $40.30 per script, with concessional people paying just $6.50 per script for these medicines.
Since 2013, the Morrison Government has made more than 2,200 new or amended medicines listings on the PBS. This represents an average of around 30 listings per month – or one each day – at an overall cost of around $10.6 billion.
Unlike Labor, we are listing all medicines recommended by the medical experts on the PBAC. In 2011, Labor stopped listing medicines on the PBS because they could not manage the economy.
Our commitment to ensuring that Australians can access affordable medicines, when they need them, remains rock solid.
We are able to provide unprecedented levels of support to health and medical research because of our strong economic management.
About Tafinlar® and Mekinist®

• Tafinlar® and Mekinist® is the first treatment targeting the BRAF gene mutation to be reimbursed for patients with Stage IIIB-D melanoma following surgery.
• Whilst survival rates for those with early stage disease are very high, without treatment nearly one in two people with Stage IIIB-D melanoma at diagnosis will experience a recurrence within one year of surgery.
• Tafinlar® and Mekinist®, known as targeted therapies, work on different proteins involved in tumour cell growth that are active in patients with a melanoma carrying the BRAF gene mutation.
• By targeting and blocking growth signals from these proteins, Tafinlar® and Mekinist® can slow down or stop cancer growth.

Australia is at a crucial intersection.
From a weakening economy and growing job insecurity, to the challenge of climate change and an ageing population – Australia needs a plan.
But Australia has a government that has no agenda, let alone a plan for the future.
It’s a government that is characterised by being scared of the present and terrified of the future.
So Labor is turning its focus forward – to what the Australian people need so they can build a safe, prosperous and secure future.
And we’ll be guided every step of the way by our values: Labor values.
That’s why today, I began laying down the framework that will guide the policies that Labor will take to the election.
This one focused on the very heart of Labor’s mission: jobs and the future of work.
And I wanted you to hear directly from me about how Labor can lead Australia confidently into the future.
In my speech today, I outlined the ways that Australia can prepare for the future of work, including:
Embracing a new manufacturing boom — and all the jobs that will come with it — by becoming a green energy superpower
Exporting the minerals that will fuel the clean energy economies of the future – minerals like lithium, which is used in electric cars and batteries
Beginning a new national project to repair our TAFE and training system by establishing Jobs and Skills Australia – a real, genuine partnership between unions, business, government and TAFE to make sure workers are getting the skills they need for the jobs of tomorrow
Changing the culture of workplaces so unequal pay, segregation, sexual harassment and discrimination are things of the past – and that women can be seen on construction or mining sites as equally as men are seen in our places of care
Supporting Australia’s creative industries – hamstrung by cuts, lack of investment and outdated policy settings – because imagination and creativity are two of Australia’s other great renewable resources
Making sure workers in the gig economy are protected just as much as workers in more traditional industries
We know Australia can’t assume economic success is inevitable.
We can watch the tidal wave of change coming and be swept away by it – or we can protect our citizens by giving them a fair shot at a prosperous future.
But Labor doesn’t believe that Government should simply get out of the way and leave it to the market alone. We know that trickle-down economics only rains down misery on working people.
Australians can build a safe, prosperous and secure future if we establish the conditions in which their own efforts are rewarded.
In the coming decades, we need to create the conditions to prosper in our changing and dynamic world.
There is absolutely no sign that the Morrison Government even understands this challenge, let alone possesses the will to tackle it. They are complacent and have no plan.
Labor is prepared to take it on.
We know we can do this as long as we work together and present a vision for the future.
Because whatever the economic challenges we face, a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay is still a concept worth aspiring to

The Australian Greens support the Kashmiri community on 27 October as they commemorate Black Day.  Kashmir is a disputed territory and it is now almost three months since the Indian Government decided to revoke its special status and further erode Kashmiris’ right to self-determination.
The Indian Government must restore basic human rights in Kashmir, including freedom of speech and communication.  The Indian Government must also lift curfews and restrictions placed on political leaders, end arbitrary detentions and disappearances, allow humanitarian organisations to resume their work, and reverse the decision to drastically reduce the autonomy of Kashmir.
Once again, the Greens urge the Australian Government to speak out and call on the Indian Government to respect the human rights of the people in Kashmir and their right to self-determination. The people of Kashmir have been waiting long enough for a free and fair plebiscite to determine their future.

Greens Animal Welfare Spokesperson, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, has responded to Racing Victoria’s announcement of a $25m “equine welfare” plan.
Senator Faruqi said:
“The racing industry is attempting to head off a meaningful scrutiny with nice-sounding words and the bare minimum in funding.
“Any move to improve animal welfare for horses is a step forward but the plan from Racing Victoria is not good enough. They’ve moved barely an inch after being exposed as an industry whose business model relies on the industrial scale slaughter of horses.
“The public has seen the horrific abuse and slaughter of racehorses and are rightfully demanding that the industry show responsibility, accountability and transparency.
“The racing industry must safeguard the wellbeing of the horses they breed for the whole of their natural lives.
“Racing Victoria’s plan to subsidise ‘on farm euthanasia’ shows the industry isn’t prepared to tackle their over-breeding.We must introduce breeding caps and give all racehorses a dignified retirement funded by the industry that breeds them.
“The Federal government must urgently establish a Royal Commission to lift the lid on the dirty secrets of this billion-dollar racing and gambling industry. A piecemeal approach by the states is not going to get to the bottom of what the industry knew and when,” she concluded.