Minister for Health and Aged Care, press conference - 22 October 2024

Read the transcript of Minister Butler's press conference on healthcare in the Hunter; cheaper medicines; strengthening Medicare; GP workforce; vaping.

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care

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MEMBER FOR PATERSON, MERYL SWANSON MP: Thanks everyone, and it is incredible to have the Health Minister here in Raymond Terrace with us this afternoon. Mark Butler has already been with me this morning. We visited a terrific retirement village, Oakwood up in Rutherford, and we stopped in at the Heal Urgent Care Clinic opposite the new Maitland hospital. And we drove past all of those new homes around Thornton, and I've been busy telling the Minister that Maitland is the fastest growing area outside of Western Sydney. It has been growing year on year for 15 years, and we're seeing that now in our healthcare needs as a region.
 
We know we've got a terrific hospital in the John Hunter, and we know we've got a new hospital in Maitland, but still, we've got lots and lots of people in the area who want to live long, healthy lives, and we need as a government, to look at how we're providing healthcare. So that's why it has been so fantastic to have the Minister here firsthand. We're now here at Raymond Terrace Family Practice. We're going to be meeting with Dr Sarah Bailey, who was the Woman of the Year just a couple of years ago here locally, and Dr Chris Boyle, who has been at this practice for 40 years. I think he graduated in 1973 from his training as a doctor, back then 50 per cent of people became GPs after they'd finished medical school. As we stand here today, it's about 12 per cent of people. We know we've got a GP shortage. Who better than to talk to than someone who's got all of those years’ experience in being a GP, who's birthed babies, who's helped people with palliative care, you know, from cradle to grave, literally, Dr Chris Boyle has been caring for our community here in Raymond Terrace. I'm so pleased that the Minister is getting a chance to sit down and have a really in-depth conversation about how we can make healthcare better, not only just here in Paterson and in Raymond Terrace, but across the country.
It's the same with the emergency physicians up at Heal. You know, they're doing an amazing novel thing. How can we look at integrating that in our care. This afternoon, we're going down to talk to some pharmacists. We’ve introduced 60-day prescriptions. At the retirement village people are saying that's a great thing. You don't have to go and get your script filled as often. We've brought down the cost of medicines. These are all practical measures that we're doing to take some of that pressure off cost of living, and particularly for again, our older Australians and our families. You know, raising children is never cheap, and so if you can help take away some of the expense of healthcare, it's very important. It is just so important to have the Minister here in one of Australia's fastest growing areas. We're all biased. We think it's beautiful. I know that. I know that he's enjoyed driving past some cows and paddocks today we got him out of the city, which is great, but here in regional Australia, looking at the ever-present needs and how to live a long and healthy and prosperous life in in the beautiful Hunter Valley. But Minister, welcome and thank you for being with us. It's wonderful.
 
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Thanks Meryl. It's been such a great trip. I’m looking forward to further discussions here with doctors, and then going down to the pharmacist to talk about how our plan to strengthen Medicare is impacting this part of the Hunter Valley, but also what more we can do. We know there's still a big job to make it easier to see a doctor, to ensure that healthcare is more affordable, and to continue to reduce pressure on prices for medicines.
 
We came to government with a three-point plan to strengthen Medicare. It was to reverse the decline in bulk billing that was in free fall, frankly, when we came to government. We tripled the bulk billing incentive for GP visits last year, and that has seen bulk billing turn around, and it started to increase again in every state and every territory across the country. Just since November, we've seen more than around 5 million additional free visits to the GP as a result of our investment. We're also rolling out a network of Urgent Care Clinics. Meryl has been a relentless advocate for urgent care services in this part of the Hunter Valley, as she said, she's been trying to get me to go and see the clinic at Heal. It's a really exciting, innovative approach to urgent care outside of hospital settings and I know that Meryl and I will continue to talk about urgent care services in her electorate. And our third point was driving down the cost of medicines. We know that about a million Australians every year have been going without a medicine that their doctor has said is important for their health because they simply couldn't afford it. We’ve dropped the Safety Net for pensioners which meant last year, there were about 22 million additional free scripts for pensioners and concession card holders. Slashing the cost of medicines for general patients has saved them hundreds of millions of dollars and the impact of 60-day scripts doesn't just save time for GPs issuing repeat scripts, for patients going to the pharmacist every two months instead of every month, it also saves them money as well. We know there's more to do here, and that's really why I'm here in Paterson talking to Meryl about healthcare, which is such an important issue for her electorate.

Can I say in closing, it's great to be here at one of the GP super clinics. When I was last in the health portfolio under a previous Labor government more than a decade ago this was one of the GP super clinics that was rolled out as part of then Prime Minister Rudd’s plan to strengthen Medicare. It's great to see it going really strong here in Raymond Terrace.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, we know there's a shortage of GPs. We've had a clinic in Fern Bay close recently because they didn't have enough doctors. What is this Government doing to make sure that this problem is rectified?
 
BUTLER: As Meryl said, there's been quite a serious structural change in the number of junior doctors or medical graduates choosing general practice as their career. Down from about one in two some decades ago to about one in seven now, so we've got a really, really serious challenge ahead of us to ensure we've got a pipeline of young GPs ready to take the jobs of retiring GPs. Really our plan to strengthen Medicare, as much as anything, was about sending a message to GPs and to aspiring GPs that finally, there's a government in Canberra that values your work. That we recognise general practice as the backbone of a properly functioning healthcare system. That's why so much of our additional investment in Medicare has been unapologetically targeted at general practice. We are starting to see the green shoots of recovery. The number of junior doctors choosing general practice as their training option this year is up almost 20 per cent on last year. We're also working really hard in the meantime to bring more overseas trained doctors into Australia, because we know that GPs don't grow on trees. You can't just go and pick them off the tree. They do take years to train.
 
JOURNALIST: Are overseas trained doctors a massive sort of aim for you? Because you think logically that would be the solution?
 
BUTLER: It's not a long-term solution. We want to make sure we're training our own GPs here in Australia as well, but we also know that that will take some years to bear fruit. So, in the shorter term, frankly, we need to fill these gaps, particularly outside of our major cities, where it is harder to recruit GPs and other healthcare professionals from overseas. We've seen again, the number of overseas trained health professionals coming into Australia about 60 per cent higher than the last full year before COVID. Obviously, COVID impacted the numbers substantially, but we're seeing that rise again. And we're working really hard to cut red tape for overseas trained GPs, particularly from countries that have comparable qualifications, like the UK, Ireland, New Zealand. We want to see more of them come, and when they do come, to be able to get onto the floor and practise as quickly and as cheaply as possible.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister do you think Raymond Terrace should have an Urgent Care Clinic?
 
BUTLER: We're still in the process of rolling out our second tranche of Urgent Care Clinics by the end of the year. We're confident we'll have about 87 Urgent Care Clinics operating around the country. This system is operating tremendously well already, more than 800,000 patients since we started the program in June last year, have gone through our Urgent Care Clinics. Every single one of them fully bulk billed. The vast majority of patients say that they would otherwise have gone to a hospital emergency department. It is working very, very well, both to give patients the care they need, when and where they need it in their own community, but also to take pressure off local hospital emergency departments. We don't have funding right now for additional clinics, but obviously, I think this is serving a really, really useful purpose. I'm very keen to talk to local members like Meryl, who has been such a strong advocate for more healthcare services in her electorate, about what we can do in the future.

JOURNALIST: Just wondering what your thoughts were on you this Heal private clinic? What made you want to do that? And what do you think of it?
 
BUTLER: Meryl has been a really strong advocate for new, innovative healthcare services in her community, and this is one of them. This is a really striking example of healthcare professionals, emergency physicians, deciding to embark upon what for Australia is a very new, innovative model. Meryl has talked to me about the clinic on a number of occasions, but seeing it, being able to talk to the doctors and the nurses and nurse practitioners there, as well as some patients who were in the process of being cared for very, very effectively, was a really terrific opportunity.
 
JOURNALIST: And despite the bulk billing initiative obviously progressing, I think the average price of consultations has gone up by about $4 for most clinics in the country. For the patients that don't have bulk billing yet where's the relief for them at this stage?
 
BUTLER: We know there's more to do in health. There's more to do to strengthen Medicare. We've got to turn around a decade of cuts and neglect and particularly a six-year freeze in the Medicare rebate, particularly for general practices, really put some huge financial pressure on them. We've already done a number of things that I think are making a real difference. Over the last two years, for example, we delivered the two biggest general increases to the Medicare rebate since Paul Keating was Prime Minister 30 years ago. In just two years, we increased the Medicare rebate by more than the former government did in nine years. That's some relief to general practices in particular, and on top of that, as I said, we tripled the bulk billing incentive. We know that is making a difference to millions of Australians and is making a difference to general practice. The College of GPs made that clear in their latest Health of the Nation report. But we also know there's more to do, and we are committed to doing more over the coming years. We also know that a lot of those additional investments have been disowned by the Opposition. Angus Taylor has made it very clear our additional investments in Urgent Care Clinics are on the chopping block. Those clinics will close. They don't support our additional investments in things like the bulk billing incentive and cheaper medicines. There is a real choice that's coming for the Australian people between a government that has shown that it's got the commitment to strengthen Medicare, that recognises it needs to do more on the one hand - that is our government. And on the other, an Opposition led by the worst health minister in the history of Medicare.
 
JOURNALIST: Do you think you can afford to stop the freezes like, I know you've increased it, but keep it going with the cost of living, and with the GPs constantly concerned people concerned about the cost?
 
BUTLER: As I said, we've provided supplementary increases to the Medicare rebates, not just the usual increases that would otherwise have happened we've supplemented that because we recognise that, particularly in this inflationary environment, general practice and other parts of the Medicare system have been under pressure like other businesses have been. That's why we've delivered the two biggest increases in 30 years. But we also recognise that although things are starting to turn around, bulk billing has stopped sliding and is increasing in every state and in every territory, and we've got new, innovative models like urgent care that are making a real difference. There is still more to do.
 
JOURNALIST: I thought I'd ask about the doctors you’re meeting today, how vital are they to their communities? They've served, you know, their entire careers here?
 
BUTLER: It’s a real source of pride for the Labor Party that this is the 40th year of Medicare. This was a system we've been committed to for decades. We tried to introduce under Gough Whitlam. It was torn down by the incoming Fraser Government, and we built it up again under Bob Hawke, and it's lasted for 40 years. It is genuinely one of the great healthcare systems in the world. You see that in every international comparison. It's also a reason why we rank number one in the world for health equity, number one in the world for healthcare outcomes. Medicare is right at the centre of that. We think it's the most cherished social program Australia has. Australians deeply value it, and want to see it not just continue but sort of change to reflect the different patient profile of the 2020s compared to the 1980s. And as a government that is so proud of Medicare and all that it's delivered to Australians, we wanted to recognise that significant anniversary by recognising the people who make it possible, and that is the doctors and the nurses and allied health professionals who work so hard every day to deliver really what is one of the best healthcare systems in the world.
 
JOURNALIST: Just one more Minister please on vapes. Just to get your latest thinking, I know you've spoken about it, but the pharmacies aren't really stocking them, but the local the local convenience places are popping up everywhere?
 
BUTLER: I've said from the get go, from the time we announced our determination to stamp out recreational vaping that this was going to be hard. This was something that had got out of control in many parts of the country that had really got under the radar, particularly during the COVID pandemic, and had become a market very largely controlled by organised crime, who were using their revenue from vaping and illicit tobacco, for that matter, to bankroll their other criminal activities like drug trafficking and sex trafficking. They're not going to easily give up that source of revenue. I've tried to be honest and frank with people that this was going to be hard, hard work, but that that was not a reason not to do something, not to give it a go, to take vapes out of the hands, particularly, of school kids. We have seized millions of vapes since I put the import ban in place in January, we've seized about six and a half million vapes at the border. That's about four or five times the number of vapes that were seized in the whole of the previous two years, and that's just in the last 10 months. We are starting to choke off supply coming in from overseas. We're seeing that from some of the reports from overseas countries like China as well, that exports to Australia are down markedly. Vape stores are starting to shut. In my electorate, for example, there were seven vape stores. They've all shut. But our challenge now is that there are still convenience stores and tobacconists that illegally are stocking and selling vapes, and so we are talking very closely with our state colleagues about how we start to work through them in a determined fashion to make sure that that part of the trade is shut down as well. Ultimately, that's going to have to involve prosecutions. There are very serious penalties in the federal legislation that we passed earlier this year, jail time of up to seven years, fines of up to $2.2 million and I am deadly serious about enforcing those penalties. This is a trade that needs to be shut down and we are determined to do everything we can to shut it down. Thanks everyone. 

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