Prescribing Powers for Authorised Nurse Prescribers
Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025
House of Representatives
Senate
Assent
Introduced by: The Hon Mark Butler MP (ALP)
Links to official parliament websites
Effects of this bill
If this bill passes, it means that:
The Debate
What different members said when this bill was debated:
Mark Butler ALP
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 introduces historic reforms to health legislation that empower nurses to work to their full scope of practice and improve access to medicines for people across Australia.”
Melissa McIntosh LIB
“I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill enables eligible registered nurses to prescribe certain medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It establishes a framework for approving authorised nurse prescribers, including safeguards that allow approvals to be suspended or revoked where necessary.”
“There is a certain irony in the member for Lindsay’s raising the track record of the former coalition on the matter of health. What we know about the coalition, and what we know about those opposite, is that the Liberals, the Nationals—despite the fact that there is no current coalition, they were the coalition at the time—tried to introduce a co-payment for GPs when it came to health care.”
Helen Haines IND
“I rise to make a brief contribution on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. I acknowledge the member for Moreton, who’s given us such an elegant explanation of what this bill is about, what this bill aims to do and what I feel very confident this bill will achieve.”
Ali France ALP
“I rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. The Albanese Labor government is committed to strengthening Medicare and building a stronger, fairer healthcare system so that all Australians can access the care that they need.”
Anne Webster NAT
“The Prime Minister has been at pains to tell us repeatedly that the only card that we need take to a medical appointment is the Medicare card. He’s told us that the Labor government’s changes to incentivise bulk-billing would make primary health care free to all those who need it.”
Ash Ambihaipahar ALP
“I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This is a bill that goes to the heart of how we deliver health care in this country, who we trust, how we use our workforce, and whether Australians can access the medicines they need when they need them without unnecessary delay or cost.”
“We should thank our nurses each and every day—not only our nurses but our pharmacists and our doctors. Anyone who puts on scrubs and goes into a theatre ward and anyone who serves our hospital system or our medical system needs the applause and the gratitude of this place and of Australians right across the nation. I’m one who listens very carefully in question time.”
Renee Coffey ALP
“Griffith is home to one of the busiest health precincts in the country, and our workforce numbers reflect that, with more than 16½ thousand healthcare and social assistance workers across my electorate—the fourth highest in the country by percentage. Griffith is also home to some of Queensland’s and our country’s most important hospitals.”
Kate Chaney IND
“I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. At its heart, this bill aims to improve access to health care and reduce costs by extending prescribing rights under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme to authorised nurse practitioners.”
Tom French ALP
“I rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill represents a careful and deliberate reform to Australia’s health system.”
Allegra Spender IND
“I rise to support the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill amends the National Health Act 1953 and the Health Insurance Act 1973 to allow authorised nurse prescribers who meet strict criteria to prescribe certain pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.”
“For many years before I came to this place I worked in the health sector in South Australia. I ran a large number of services across northern and central Adelaide and some statewide services.”
Dr RYAN
“The Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 will enable qualified registered nurses to prescribe pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It seeks to implement reforms identified as necessary by the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce and the subsequent scope-of-practice review.”
Madonna Jarrett ALP
“I rise in support of the Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2025, which is about prescribing medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. Access to universal free health care is one of Labor’s greatest legacies to Australia, and this bill is just another part of that. You know, I’m one of eight kids.”
Zhi Soon ALP
“Back in 2022, before this government was elected, people in my community and many others were struggling to afford to pay for their medications. Back then, a PBS prescription cost $42.50. For a script that was filled monthly, that was many hundreds of dollars a year annually.”
Basem Abdo ALP
“I rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill. This reform reflects our government’s ongoing commitment to maintaining and strengthening the services that millions of Australians rely on each and every day. In my electorate, interaction with our healthcare system is a lived experience for many.”
Libby Coker ALP
“Australians expect a health system that is accessible, affordable and built around patients. The Albanese government understands this and has been working to make it a reality since coming to office. We have strengthened Medicare. We have invested in the workforce. We’ve expanded access to care in the community. And the bill before the House today is the latest step in that work.”
David Moncrieff ALP
“Last year this government was re-elected with a clear commitment to strengthening Medicare, expanding access to affordable medicines and ensuring our health workforce can work to its full scope of practice. The Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 is part of that commitment of the Albanese Labor government.”
Justine Elliot ALP
“I too rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill is about making sure Australians can get the medicines they need when they need them without unnecessary barriers standing in their way. It really builds on our government’s investment in health care and Medicare over the past few years.”
Tony Zappia ALP
“It’s a pleasure to follow the member for Richmond. Having heard her contribution and how well she summarised the importance of this legislation, the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025, I feel she’s left me with very little else to say! I commence my own remarks by thanking the nurses in our health workforce.”
Jerome Laxale ALP
“When this government was elected in 2022 and then re-elected in 2025, Australians made it clear that they wanted Medicare—the entire system—to be strengthened, not just protected but made to work better in practice.”
Anne Stanley ALP
“I rise to make my contribution to the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. Australia arguably has the best health workforce in the world. They are well trained, up to date and regulated to ensure that best practice is followed. On the occasion when things do go wrong, we must admit that and then do something about it.”
Anne Ruston LIB
“I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill enables eligible registered nurses to prescribe certain medicines under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. It establishes a framework for approving authorised nurse prescribers, including important safeguards that allow approvals to be suspended or revoked where necessary.”
Ellie Whiteaker ALP
“The Albanese Labor government has a big agenda on health care—a big agenda to strengthen Medicare. We are committed to expanding access to the health care that Australians need, to making accessing health care more affordable for ordinary Australians right across the country.”
“In the time I have today, I want to begin my speech on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill will enable qualified registered nurses, known as nurse prescribers, to work to their full scope of practice and support patient access to faster, more affordable, quality health care. Nurses have been pushing for this reform for a very long time.”
Wendy Askew LIB
“I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. As a senator for Tasmania, I’m acutely aware of the profound and persistent challenges facing Australia’s healthcare system. Nowhere are those challenges felt more clearly than in my home state. Tasmania is, in many respects, a microcosm of the pressures confronting health care nationally.”
Charlotte Walker ALP
“Australians don’t spend much time thinking about who’s allowed to prescribe a medicine; they think about whether they can get an appointment, whether they have to drive two hours to see a doctor, whether Mum can get the medication she needs before the weekend or whether Dad can leave hospital without another delay.”
Alex Antic LIB
“I rise to speak against the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 and I seek to set out some of the reasons for that.”
Dorinda Cox ALP
“I rise to speak in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This is a practical and carefully designed piece of reform. It makes sure that Australians can access medicines through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme when those medicines are prescribed by appropriately qualified, endorsed and authorised registered nurses.”
“One Nation will support the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. It amends the National Health Act and the Health Insurance Act 1973 to enable approved registered nurses to prescribe certain pharmaceutical benefits under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the PBS.”
Helen Polley ALP
“I rise to speak on the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025, a bill that represents a practical, overdue and historic reform to the way we deliver health care in this country, which is what this government has done since it came into office. At its core, this bill is about patients.”
Josh Dolega ALP
“I rise in support of the Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025. This bill introduces a practical reform to improve the efficiency of our health system and ensure Australians can access timely health care.”
Jenny McAllister ALP
“The Health Legislation Amendment (Prescribing of Pharmaceutical Benefits) Bill 2025 amends the National Health Act 1953 to authorise designated registered nurses as prescribers under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. These nurses will be able to prescribe specific medicines that qualify for Commonwealth subsidy under the PBS.”