More than 300 medicines to be half price as Butler approves 60-day scripts

However, doctors will still be free to decide if they write a two-month dispensing script or not.

The government said this would mitigate any risk to patients while rejecting the Pharmacy Guild’s claim it would lead to medicine shortages.

Butler said lower retail prices would help people’s health and finances, after 900,000 Australians delayed getting their prescriptions because of cost last year, while benefiting people in rural areas by halving the frequency of their trips to buy medicines.

But in an effort to placate pharmacy concerns, he promised that government savings from paying dispensing fees will not go to federal coffers, but instead be invested in community pharmacies – even though health is one of the Commonwealth’s five fastest-growing expenses.

The government has not yet released its costings for the scheme, but said the detail would be in the budget.

The measure also allows doctors to prescribe 12 months’ supply, which could eliminate one GP visit each year.

Doctor and consumer groups have been calling for the change ahead of the May 9 budget, based on a 2018 recommendation from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee (PBAC) that was never adopted by the previous government.

This week’s decision is based on updated advice the committee gave in December last year, which maintained the previous recommendation for 60-day dispensing rules but suggested they apply to 320 medications instead of the previous 143.

The issue has become the latest flashpoint in a longstanding turf war between the pharmacy lobby and vocal doctors’ groups, the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, who had urged Butler to take on a “lobbying leviathan” in the Guild.

Doctors are also challenging a growing state government push to give pharmacists more prescribing powers, with a recent AMA scare campaign telling Australians chemist-generated scripts will threaten their safety.

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Butler reassured community pharmacies that the government would reinvest federal funds in their sector to ensure its “ongoing strength”.

He also said the government would continue to push back against the medical lobby groups and support expanding pharmacists’ scope of practice.

“Australian pharmacies already do much more than just dispense medicine and the government is supporting our trusted pharmacists to play an even bigger role in the healthcare of Australians,” he said.