Overview
- The Grattan Institute released the report in July 2026, saying the Pharmacy Guild of Australia uses closed negotiations to secure almost $4 billion a year for community pharmacies and to protect owner profits at patients' expense.
- Community Pharmacy Agreements are five‑year deals that channel public money to more than 6,000 pharmacies and sit alongside the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, which subsidises medicines for patients.
- Grattan says specific rules raise costs and limit competition, citing an average $9 dispensing fee that is not shown to reflect actual costs, a $2.80 allowable additional patient charge, discouragement of discounts and common 10‑kilometre limits on new pharmacies.
- The Pharmacy Guild rejected the report, saying the agreements sustain a nationwide pharmacy network, that its advocacy helped cut PBS out‑of‑pocket costs, and that location rules protect services for vulnerable communities.
- Grattan recommends abolishing the agreements by their 2029 expiry or, as an alternative, widening negotiation representation and letting the Independent Health and Aged Care Pricing Authority set transparent rates, while Health Minister Mark Butler has not committed to those changes and further debate over costs, access and lobbying is likely.