Cr Bilkey worked professionally with the Queenslander, who spent 18 years in the House of Representatives representing the Bowman electorate — made up of parts of Brisbane and North Stadbroke Island.
Dr Laming was involved in a famously “unsuccessful” challenge against then prime minister John Howard for the Liberal Party leadership in 2007.
In his speech, Dr Laming explained that he took a different path and started working on pharmaceutical policy, something he knew a bit about, with Cr Bilkey and Professor Philip Clarke from the University of Melbourne.
“We mapped out a way to save the nation about three-quarters of a billion dollars every year. I didn’t believe those figures at the start. The minister didn’t believe those figures at the start, but, to his credit, he took on that idea before we lost power, and to Labor’s credit they continued it,” he said.
“To this day, that one single backbencher policy saves this nation three quarters of a billion dollars a year and another $60 billion to $70 billion of out-of-pockets for non-concessional cardholders who paid way too much for drugs for their kids. That’s what we’re here for.”
Cr Bilkey originally met Dr Laming while working with the health department and then health minister, former prime minister Tony Abbott.
“I was CEO of Pharmacia at the time. We were one of the top five manufacturers of drugs in Australia,” Cr Bilkey said.
“It was Tony Abbott who brought Laming into the conversation, as we were trying to reduce the price of drugs where the patent had expired.”
Cr Bilkey explained that Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme had a rule that all the drugs had to be within 10 per cent of the set price.
“They eventually introduced a modified version of what I was advocating, which created price competitiveness,” he said.
“Now, after a patent expiry the drugs gradually became more affordable over time.
“It opened the door for generic drugs to be available in chemists.”
Dr Laming holds a diploma in obstetrics and gynaecology from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, which is how he became involved in the high-level medical conversations.
Cr Bilkey also worked with Dr Laming to advocate for all drugs in Australia to be free to under five-year-olds.
“That never happened,” he said.
Cr Bilkey shared the opinion that it was the government’s responsibility to deliver drugs to the community at the lowest possible price.
