Doorstop interview with Minister Butler, Melbourne – 7 August 2025

DANIEL MULINO, ASSISTANT TREASURER AND MEMBER FOR FRASER: Good morning, my name’s Daniel Mulino, and I’m the Member for Fraser, which includes Sunshine, where we are here this morning. It’s wonderful to be here this morning with the Prime Minister, with the Minister for Health, and also with Alice Jordan-Baird, who is the Member for Gorton, the electorate which neighbours this one. We’re here at an Urgent Care Clinic, one of the Government’s most important policies coming out of the last election. When I talk to people in my community, during the course of the last election, for many, access to affordable healthcare was their number one issue. And Urgent Care Clinics are a critical way of providing that. What we see with Urgent Care Clinics, is providing people with fully bulk billed services, seven days a week, over extended hours. And we’ve seen so many people in this area and right around the country who have already accessed health care through these centres. And so with that, I’ll hand over now to the Prime Minister. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well thanks very much Daniel, and it’s great to be back in the electorate of Fraser. And during the election campaign I visited Fraser, and I visited Gorton. And I promised to deliver on the commitments that we were going forward with. And one of those commitments, front and centre, was strengthening Medicare. We think that Medicare is the system that all Australians are proud of. It rightly is the case, because whether you are the richest person, or the poorest person in the community, you get the access that you need to the health care you need. Before the 2022 election, we promised 50 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. We delivered 87 in our first term, and in the election campaign we committed to another 50. Today, we open the 90th Urgent Care Clinic. There are three opening in Victoria today, right here in Sunshine, but also one in Warrnambool to our west, and Warragul to our east, making sure that with the additional 50 Urgent Care Clinics, we want most Australians to be within driving distance of a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic. I’ve spoken with doctors and nurses here this morning, and they’ve spoken about people coming in for cuts or abrasions, broken bones – the sort of issues which aren’t life threatening, but which require that urgent care. And, people are being able to be seen very quickly to get the care that they need. And all they need is this little green and gold piece of plastic here. Green and gold for a reason, the Australian colours that we are proud of. During the election campaign I held this up over and over again, and I’ll keep doing it. Because each and every day that I’m the Prime Minister, I see this as representing Australian values. This as being your card that says ‘when you are sick, when you need health care, you can get it, and you can get it for free’. That is why this is so important going forward. My Government is really proud that we’re doing this. We want to see, if possible, our objective is to have the 50 Urgent Care Clinics, additional, opened as soon as possible. Certainly within a year, but we'll see how we go about how many we can get open in 2025. My Government is determined that this will be a year of delivery - delivery on the commitments which Australians voted for on the 3rd of May, by keeping what is now our Assistant Treasurer, Daniel Mulino, and seeing that transition with new members like Alice coming in to our team going forward. I'll hand over to Mark and then we're happy to take questions. 

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: Thank you, PM, and to Daniel and Alice for hosting us, and Christine and the doctors and nurses at this terrific Urgent Care Clinic that we're delighted to welcome to our network today. As the Prime Minister said, the 90th Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in the country. They have already seen almost 1.8 million patients since we started the program in 2023. Every single one of whom has been bulk billed. About a third of the patients are kids under the age of 15, kids who have fallen off their skateboard, or been injured playing Saturday afternoon sport, and we know if this clinic, and all the other ones like it, were not available, would end up in a hospital emergency department waiting for hours and hours and hours. So, not only is it good, affordable care - it's much more convenient and it's taking pressure off hospitals like the Sunshine Hospital here in Melbourne. As the PM said, we have committed to the other 50 being open by the middle of next year, but he's watching me very closely to make sure that as many as possible are open by Christmas. We got expressions of interest, or a tender process, has already started for other clinics here in Melbourne. The rest of the Victorian clinics will be subject to a tender process that opens over the next week or two. We have already seen tenders open elsewhere around the country. So, I'm really hopeful that as many will be open as possible by Christmas time. We have got that record of delivery in our last term of Parliament. I'm sure that we can deliver as well this term. Once the network is fully up and running, 137 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, four in five Australians will live within 20 minutes' drive from an Urgent Care Clinic. The network will see two million patients or thereabouts every single year, taking huge pressure off the hospital system which is overwhelmed by the demand for good hospital care and life-threatening emergencies. So it’s taking pressure off the hospital system, it's providing people with that option for care seven days a week, extended hours, and fully bulk billed. And it's a central part of our Strengthening Medicare agenda - to deliver more bulk billing, more doctors, even more cheaper medicines, and we introduced laws last week to the Parliament to deliver on that commitment as well. And here today, starting the delivery already of our promise at the last election to deliver more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics. 

PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take some questions. 

JOURNALIST: First question today. Jacinta Allan has, she has declared that she plans on legislating working from home rights for two days a week for anyone who can do that. It’s more of a federal domain, workplace laws. What do you make of it? And you know, push comes to shove, would your Government oppose it? 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have already legislated to protect working from home in our first term through our Secure Jobs, Better Pay legislation. We think that working from home, flexible working arrangements, can benefit both workers and employers. And during the election campaign, of course, that we have just seen, the Coalition promised, of course, to send people back to the office five days a week. That ended up with some of them not having an office anymore, because it was very badly received and I think that flexible working arrangements, benefit both workers and employers. 

JOURNALIST: Would you support a legislated right to work from home at a federal level? 

PRIME MINISTER: I just said we legislated Secure Jobs, Better Pay in 2022. 

JOURNALIST: Is the state's position - is the state's position to legislate these rights? 

PRIME MINISTER: The state and take whatever action they want, but Jacinta Allan, I'm sure, is responding to what the community have said, which is that flexible working arrangements help workers and they help employers. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think it could lead to division in some workplaces perhaps, where some people are required to go into, perhaps, the factory floor, and others, admin staff perhaps, can work from home? 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, every time an IR change is proposed, we hear suggestions that somehow this will undermine things. Remember, the Right to Disconnect was going to lead to absolute chaos out there. Well, guess what? We introduced it, it now is something that just a matter of fact and has been positive. 

JOURNALIST: Will you talk to Donald Trump before you make the decision about Palestinian recognition? 

PRIME MINISTER: We're a sovereign government, and Australia makes decisions on behalf of the Australian Government. 

JOURNALIST: Good morning. Just a question on AI. Will your Government ensure that AI giants don’t mine copyright of the content without having to compensate artists and creators? 

PRIME MINISTER: I have seen some of the comments that are there. My Government's a government that supports the arts. I think across the board, AI is obviously a complex issue, it's something that is an emerging technology, something that will change the way that we live and work, and engage with each other. AI has the potential for massive productivity benefits. I saw - I'm not sure what outlet you're from - but I saw a report just last night about healthcare and AI that showed a doctor talking about how positive it has been for him, on 7.30 last night on the ABC. We need to engage in discourse about how we make sure that we maximise the benefits but minimise any of the other factors that need to be considered. We as a society will work that through. It's good there's debate about it, but copyright and intellectual property is important. 

JOURNALIST: Just another question on AI if that's OK? 

PRIME MINISTER: Sure. 

JOURNALIST: Jim Chalmers said Labor had no plans to water down copyright laws. The Government has said before it had no plans to do something and then has done it. Are you able to guarantee the creatives of Australia that you won't water down copyright laws? 

PRIME MINISTER: Jim Chalmers answered the question. 

JOURNALIST: Just one for perhaps yourself and Minister Butler on Trump possibly threatening a 250 per cent increase on tariffs on pharmaceuticals. Are you concerned about that? 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, we support the PBS. It is part of who we are as Australia. We're a sovereign nation. It's something that has produced massive benefits for Australia. It's a proud Labor creation and we are building on it. That's why we introduced legislation last week to reduce the cost of medicines to $25 that are listed on the PBS. That's the same price they were in 2004 - making an enormous difference. We've introduced as well 60-day dispensing, another one of those changes where the world was going to end, there weren't going to be any pharmacies according to the National Party. Well, guess what? That didn't occur. It's meant savings for people. It's meant savings in terms of efficiency and productivity, people not having to get scripts, literally having to get half as many scripts, therefore double the time. And it was a common-sense change that we put in place. Mark? 

BUTLER: Well, thank you, PM. I note again, given the decision of the administration over the last several days, that no country has a lower general tariffs position than Australia at 10 per cent. That's still 10 per cent higher than we think is appropriate given we've got a good history of free trade between our countries. But you're right, we are very concerned about the latest announcement from the administration around the possibility of pharmaceutical tariffs going as high as 250 per cent over the next couple of years. That's obviously an issue particularly for Melbourne, which is where most of our pharmaceutical exports to the US come from, particularly blood and plasma products manufactured here by CSL. Great jobs here in Victoria. And that is why we are working so hard to press the case for the continuation of free trade. America exports more pharmaceuticals to Australia than we do to them. They do it on a tariff-free basis, that's served both of our countries very well and we'll continue to argue the case for a continuation of free trade in pharmaceuticals. But as the PM said, to the extent that this is motivated by big pharma companies seeking to lobby the US administration to water-down the protections of our PBS, it's simply not up for negotiation under our Government. 

JOURNALIST: So, you're confident that Australians won't notice an increase in their pharmaceutical products? 

BUTLER: Well, we introduced laws last week to drop the price of pharmaceuticals. We want even cheaper medicines than we were able to deliver last term, and we made medicines much cheaper last term, delivering savings of about $1.5 billion to consumers when they go into their local pharmacist. So, the price, if that law passes the Parliament, will drop next year to the same price it was in 2004. We're determined to keep delivering cheaper medicines to Australians. At the same time, I know that that means we're going to have to continue to press the case for free trade with our trading partners, particularly the US, and make it clear to any other country – whether it's the US or others – the elements of our PBS that deliver those cheap medicines to Australian patients, make sure that we get access to the best medicines available around the world, are an utterly core part of our agenda. 

JOURNALIST: Just another one for the Prime Minister, are you open to lifting GST to 15 per cent and removing exemptions? Or that's off the table? 

PRIME MINISTER: There'll be a range of ideas floated. governments make government policy, and our tax policy, the only tax policy that we're implementing, is the one that we took to the election and indeed the one that the Coalition voted against on the floor of the Parliament, which is – we're reducing income taxes by next year on July 1 and will decrease them again on July 1 the following year. The Coalition opposed that. I'm not going to respond to – there'll be a whole range of ideas. And people in the media who say, 'what we want is more debate,' and then ask immediately questions that ask you to somehow stop that debate. People are entitled to put forward their views. I've said very clearly, we went to an election on cost-of-living and I refer you, you're from Sky, I refer you to the Sky News Forum held after the election with The Australian where we had an extensive debate about that. 

JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, sorry, back to work from the home. Does the state government – 

PRIME MINISTER: You'll get the same answer, if you ask the same question, you shouldn't be surprised if you get the same answer. 

JOURNALIST: Do you think the state government has the power to legislate? 

PRIME MINISTER: I refer to previous answers, I refer to previous –  

JOURNALIST: Given that they ceded the power to the Commonwealth 30 years ago? 

PRIME MINISTER: You're asking me for a legal opinion. There's standing orders against that, you know. So, look, Jacinta Allan as Victorian Premier, she's putting forward her views. I've got to say it's consistent with our views, which are that working from home, that's something that's important, something that Australians voted for, something that Peter Dutton tried to clamp down on and Australians responded accordingly. 

JOURNALIST: As an employer of public servants who live in Victoria, would the two-day minimum affect the way the Government operates? 

PRIME MINISTER: No. 

JOURNALIST: Is the Government open to cutting back negative gearing? 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, I prefer you to previous answers. I've said what our tax policy is, it's very clear what it is. It's very clear what it isn't as well. 

JOURNALIST: Is that likely to be shaped by the upcoming roundtable, perhaps? 

PRIME MINISTER: People can put forward whatever ideas they want, and what you'll see is five or six ideas coming forward a day. That's a good thing, that's a good thing. It's not government policy. Government policy is decided around a Cabinet table. 

JOURNALIST: Can I ask a question from a colleague? Can I ask about your call with the President of the Palestinian Authority, the purpose of the call and are you laying your groundwork here for Australia to recognise the state of Palestine at the UN? 

PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's not the first call I've had with the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas. The President and I, we put out a readout of what we discussed, including the catastrophic human rights situation in Gaza, but we also talked about a two-state solution. That's been a bipartisan position from the Australian Government, from both sides of politics, for a long period of time. I have long said that I want to see Israelis and Palestinians to be able to live side-by-side in peace and security. And there are proposals, obviously, at the moment around and discussions taking place between world leaders. I think the entire international community is distressed by what we're seeing happening in Gaza, but we as well want to see commitments from the Palestinian Authority, commitments of their governance reforms, of reforms in education, reforms across a whole range of issues. We put out that readout in detail after the call and it was a very constructive discussion with the President. We agreed that we would meet in September in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. 

JOURNALIST: You flagged recently that you would make a trip to New Zealand. What would be at the centre of talks with the Prime Minister there? 

PRIME MINISTER: I'll be going to New Zealand on Saturday for just one day, I'll be returning to Canberra on Sunday. And it's our Annual Leaders' Talks. Australia and New Zealand are great friends, of course, across the ditch. I look forward to the discussions with Christopher Luxon. We engage very regularly. Our trade, our people-to-people links, the changes that we've made in migration as well to make it easier for Kiwis to become Australian citizens has been important going forward. So, we'll discuss the range of issues. No doubt as well, our cooperation on international issues, including climate change, including – we have released a number of joint statements together with other like-minded countries on the Middle East, for example. But we'll discuss the range of issues of concern to Australia and New Zealand. We certainly cooperate very well and I'm looking forward to seeing the Prime Minister. The meetings will be held in Queenstown in the afternoon. We'll also be paying respect to our Anzacs at a memorial and I look forward to the discussions face-to-face. What we do is we rotate each year. It's New Zealand's turn to host this year and I'm sure it will be very positive, if brief, over the weekend. Thanks very much.