The Fourth Agreement provides that the existing pharmacy location arrangements will remain in place until 30 June 2006 and, on 1 July 2006, new arrangements will commence.These new arrangements will provide more flexibility to allow pharmacies to compete amongst themselves and to improve community access to pharmacy services, and will include new measures:

* for pharmacies relocating to large medical centres and small shopping centres;
* for a second pharmacy to be relocated to rural and urban settings where there is a large population;
* to relax the criteria for establishing new pharmacies;
* to relax the two year restriction on relocation;
* to improve access to medicines in private hospital settings; and
* to continue current restrictions on pharmacies within supermarkets.

The new arrangements will also give the Minister for Health and Ageing a discretionary power to approve pharmacies in unique circumstances where the application of the location rules would result in a community without access to pharmacy services.