1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,440 Speaker 1: Morning, seven past seven. So when it finally arrived, it 2 00:00:02,480 --> 00:00:04,800 Speaker 1: had an avalanche field to at over six hundred million 3 00:00:04,840 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: dollars worth of new medical funding for FARMAC and doing so, 4 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:09,920 Speaker 1: the National Party, at least in part, put right what 5 00:00:10,000 --> 00:00:11,840 Speaker 1: should never have gone wrong in the first place. Twenty 6 00:00:11,880 --> 00:00:14,280 Speaker 1: six new cancer treatments are part of the six hundred 7 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: and four million dollar package. One hundred and seventy five 8 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: thousand people are going to be better off. Medical on 9 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:21,360 Speaker 1: cologist doctor Chris Jackson with us. Good morning, Chill and Mike. 10 00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:23,920 Speaker 1: You were part of the list of thirteen, the original 11 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:26,599 Speaker 1: list of thirteen. Should they have ever gone down that 12 00:00:26,640 --> 00:00:28,400 Speaker 1: particular route? In your view? 13 00:00:29,320 --> 00:00:31,600 Speaker 2: Absolutely not. The list wasn't ever designed to be a 14 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,080 Speaker 2: shopping list. It was a snapshot in time which compared 15 00:00:34,120 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 2: New Jill into Australia and what we've had here as 16 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,879 Speaker 2: an excellent outcome from a terrible process. 17 00:00:41,360 --> 00:00:43,199 Speaker 1: So that's good, isn't it Because of the r As 18 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: much as you want to bag what they did, the 19 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:47,879 Speaker 1: end result counts, and boy did it count yesterday. It 20 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:49,080 Speaker 1: looked enormous. 21 00:00:49,960 --> 00:00:52,880 Speaker 2: Yeah, we've never had any investments at this extent, Mike, 22 00:00:52,960 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 2: and the entirety of farm accesstory. I mean, six hundred 23 00:00:55,240 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 2: million is a very very very big number, and we 24 00:00:57,720 --> 00:00:59,760 Speaker 2: have never had this many cancer drugs funded at once 25 00:01:00,000 --> 00:01:02,440 Speaker 2: any time. So despite the way we got here, I'm 26 00:01:02,480 --> 00:01:06,280 Speaker 2: absolutely utly thrilled. There are still quite a few fishops though, Mike. 27 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:08,800 Speaker 2: You know, when you dump twenty six cancer medicines into 28 00:01:08,840 --> 00:01:11,559 Speaker 2: the system at once, the largest ever, you do create 29 00:01:11,800 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 2: a bit of a capacity demand issue. And the cancer 30 00:01:13,920 --> 00:01:16,920 Speaker 2: services already pretty tight, and there's a number of services 31 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:19,119 Speaker 2: around the country which have've already got waiting lists in place, 32 00:01:19,200 --> 00:01:21,280 Speaker 2: and so if we don't fund the infrastructure for them, 33 00:01:21,600 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 2: the chemo units, the nurses and the light, then you 34 00:01:23,720 --> 00:01:25,480 Speaker 2: can end up with cancer waiting lists in six to 35 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 2: twelve months time. So we've got to be careful about 36 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:28,119 Speaker 2: how we do this. 37 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:30,000 Speaker 1: Thing that struck me yesterday, one hundred and seventy five 38 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:31,480 Speaker 1: thousand people are going to be That's a lot of 39 00:01:31,480 --> 00:01:34,120 Speaker 1: sick people in this country, isn't it that weren't getting here? 40 00:01:34,920 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely, I mean we've said for a long time 41 00:01:36,959 --> 00:01:40,040 Speaker 2: that utilan's time when it comes to access to cancer medications, 42 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:42,400 Speaker 2: and it's great to see the government recognizing this. I 43 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 2: think their intent when they did you know, announce Their 44 00:01:45,680 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 2: policy was to acknowledge that demand and acknowledge that need. 45 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:51,320 Speaker 2: So as pleased that we're putting focus on cancer policies. 46 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:53,760 Speaker 2: But as I said to you at the time, politicians 47 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:55,600 Speaker 2: shouldn't be picking cancer medicines. They should get out of 48 00:01:55,600 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 2: the way and let fam do their job. 49 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: Has that been the lesson in this once and for all, 50 00:02:00,200 --> 00:02:02,600 Speaker 1: good or bad, right or wrong. Farmac is the model 51 00:02:02,600 --> 00:02:03,480 Speaker 1: and we should stick with it. 52 00:02:04,200 --> 00:02:05,640 Speaker 2: Well, five May. It's got a lot of problems, and 53 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:07,880 Speaker 2: there are a few problems with this announcement and how 54 00:02:07,880 --> 00:02:09,399 Speaker 2: it's going to be delivered, but it is the best 55 00:02:09,400 --> 00:02:12,040 Speaker 2: of a bad bunch of alternatives. The last thing you 56 00:02:12,040 --> 00:02:15,480 Speaker 2: want is Polly's picking drugs. You certainly don't want big 57 00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:19,880 Speaker 2: farmer getting large blank checks from the state, and you 58 00:02:19,880 --> 00:02:22,679 Speaker 2: don't want those who tell the biggest story through the 59 00:02:22,720 --> 00:02:25,600 Speaker 2: media to que jump. What we've had here is by 60 00:02:25,639 --> 00:02:28,480 Speaker 2: lifting out farm x's budget, you've had cancer hasn't q 61 00:02:28,639 --> 00:02:30,520 Speaker 2: jumped all the other medications. It has been twenty six 62 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,720 Speaker 2: drugs plus fifty total, so other areas have benefited too. 63 00:02:35,160 --> 00:02:37,000 Speaker 2: It's cost of an awful lot of money because of 64 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:38,920 Speaker 2: the political problem they've created. It would have been cheaper 65 00:02:38,919 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 2: to do it another way, and I'm really really pleased 66 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 2: how we've landed. We need to make sure the implementation's 67 00:02:43,960 --> 00:02:46,440 Speaker 2: done well now, because if it's not, we're going to 68 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,080 Speaker 2: create another problem just down the line. For more from 69 00:02:49,120 --> 00:02:52,239 Speaker 2: The Mic Asking Breakfast, listen live to news talks that'd 70 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,160 Speaker 2: be from six am weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.