The influential organisation has already secured $26.5bn in funding over the next five years through the Community Pharmacy Agreement.
This federal budget, the Pharmacy Guild of Australia is hoping for an investment in pharmacy training, in anticipation of expanded pharmacist roles creating a higher workforce demand.
More specifically, the pharmacy owners’ group is asking for $101.6 million to bring the Commonwealth Grant Scheme subsidisation for pharmacy degrees in line with that of nursing degrees.
The upshot is that this would make pharmacy courses more attractive for universities to offer while maintaining the student contribution as it is, theoretically driving up the number of new pharmacists.
According to the Guild, Australia is tracking toward a shortage of more than 2500 full-time equivalent pharmacists by 2030.
And that’s before factoring in expanded pharmacist-delivered services.
“The community pharmacy sector plays an expanding role in the provision of primary healthcare,” the Guild wrote in its 2025 pre-budget submission.
“Pharmacists have been increasingly enabled to practise to their full scope, supported by further training which helps alleviate the stress on the wider healthcare system and increase timely access to care for patients.”
While the recommendations from the Scope of Practice review handed down last year have not been actioned on a federal level, the Guild appears reasonably certain on the direction that pharmacy scope of practice will take.
Its website currently advertises a full-scale consult room to be featured at the Australian Pharmacy Professional Conference to be held this week in the Gold Coast.
Three “lucky attendees” stopping by the model consult room will win a stethoscope to “support their full scope training and practice”.
“With the right consult room setup, pharmacies can cater to a diverse range of patients and their healthcare needs, from vaccinations to more complex patient-focussed clinical services,” Pharmacy Guild clinical governance chair Natalie Willis said.
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“The consult room … is just the beginning, and we’re excited to help community pharmacies plan, build, and upgrade their spaces.”
The Guild’s other asks this budget season included $708.8 million to fund dose administration aids in residential aged care, $73.6 million for improvements to the opioid dependence treatment fee structure and $39.4 million to shake up the Section 100 highly specialised drug program.
If these seem like relatively modest asks from a group that consistently ranks in the top 10 corporate political donors in the country, it’s worth noting that the Guild-negotiated Eighth Community Pharmacy Agreement contains a total of $26.5 billion in funding.
The bulk of this money – $22.5 billion – will go toward funding for pharmacies to dispense prescriptions.
Labor will hand down its 2025 budget on Tuesday 25 March, unless an election is called before that time.
At time of writing, no date has been set for the 2025 federal election.
