Press conference with Minister Butler, Adelaide – 31 October 2025

CLAIRE CLUTTERHAM, MEMBER FOR STURT: Good morning everyone. I'm Claire Clutterham, the Member for Sturt in the Federal Parliament. I'm here this morning at Hillcrest Medical Centre in Hillcrest in the heart of Sturt. I'm joined by Mark Butler, the Federal Minister for Health, and Dr Bala Goyal, one of the senior practitioners here in the clinic.
 
Now, I'm very excited to be here today, not because it's Halloween but because it is one more sleep until the 1st of November 2025 for the Albanese Labor Government's record investment in Medicare, and more bulk billing for all Australians is going to commence. I'll hand over to the Minister to tell us more.
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Thank you, Claire, so much. I promised the House of Representatives in Question Time yesterday that we'd be visiting a general practice again in your electorate today. It's terrific for you to host me again. And Dr Goyal, your practice manager, and other doctors, thank you for hosting us today.
 
As Claire said, tomorrow is a red letter day for Medicare. We are listing new medicines on the PBS. The fourth new contraceptive that's been listed just this year alone after 30 years of not a single new contraceptive being listed on the PBS. A new listing for kidney disease, Jardiance, that will help tens of thousands of people with kidney disease who otherwise would be paying very significant amounts of money for that important treatment. We'll be making more announcements in coming days of new medicines that will be listed on the PBS tomorrow.
 
There will be new MBS rebates to ensure that around 300,000 women every year are able to access long-acting contraceptives like IUDs and implants. Instead of paying as much as $400 for that service, they'll get that service bulk billed from tomorrow.
 
As Claire said, the centrepiece of tomorrow's reforms is the biggest investment in bulk billing in the history of Medicare. For the first time ever, every single Australian will get bulk billing incentive support. That means that when GPs bulk bill someone who doesn't have a concession card, for the first time, they'll get the bulk billing incentive which has been paid traditionally for seeing a pensioner or a concession card holder or a child under the age of 16.
 
Not having a concession card, it's important to say, does not mean that you're on a good income. The concession card cuts out at about $40,000 a year. We know a lot of people are finding it very hard to go to the doctor if they're being charged a gap fee. Not going to the doctor means they get sicker, sometimes end up in hospital when they shouldn't have to. Extending this bulk billing support to those people, ensuring they can go to the doctor when they need to, is not just good for their hip pocket. It's really, really good for their health and for the healthcare system more broadly.
 
We also want to see more general practices bulk billing every patient all of the time, and so, we'll be paying an additional 12.5 per cent loading on top of their MBS income if they move to 100 per cent bulk billing. Now, at the moment, there's about 1,500 thousand practices in the country who are fully bulk billing, they bulk bill all of their patients all of the time.
 
Already, we've been told that there are 1,000 practices who, this week, are charging gap fees and next week will be moving to a full bulk billing model. That number is growing every single day and I'm delighted that the Hillcrest Medical Centre is one of those clinics.
 
This is such an important reform. Bulk billing for Labor is the beating heart of Medicare. We want to make sure that as many patients as possible are able to go to the doctor with just this beautiful little green and gold card, not having to take their credit card. That was the promise Bob Hawke made 41 years ago to the Australian people, and it's a promise that we, as a Government, intend to keep delivering on. Dr Goyal, thank you for having us.
 
DOCTOR BALA GOYAL, HILLCREST MEDICAL CENTER: Thank you, Honourable Minister, for bringing this great reform. I will say just few lines. Before November 1st, we charged a small gap fee to help us continue providing high quality care while keeping our services affordable for our patients. The total cost was $63.90, with Medicare funding, $43.90, and out of pocket was $20 gap for all the patients.
 
We have always aimed to balance the need to cover our operating cost with our commitment to making healthcare accessible. We are very pleased to see the Government introducing new medical changes that expand bulk billing support to include all patients, not just those with a concession card. This is an important step toward ensuring everyone can access medical care when they need it without worrying about out-of-pocket costs.
 
Over the years, we have seen how financial barriers can make some people to delay or even skip seeing their doctors. That can make small health issues turn into bigger problems, which is something we never want for our patients. With these new Medicare changes, we hope more people will feel comfortable coming in sooner and taking care of their health.
 
We are genuinely excited about what this means for our community; better access to healthcare, benefits for everyone, and we are proud to be part of that positive change. Special thanks to Honourable Minister Mark Butler for doing all the efforts, and Claire for bringing this on. Thank you all.
 
JOURNALIST: You spoke about that there was a thousand nationwide practices that would be taking on this. Do you know just locally, South Australia-wide, how many that were not doing bulk billing will be switching over?
 
BUTLER: The latest figure I saw was over 80 in South Australia. That figure is changing every single day. What we're finding as well as we're getting around talking to practices, that many of them have made the decision to do this but simply haven't sent us a notice to that effect. That is a bare minimum. We know that more are going to make the change on Monday.
 
I also was pretty upfront with people when we announced this policy earlier this year. I didn't expect a change overnight right across the sector. I think there will be a number of practices that move quickly, like the Hillcrest Medical Centre and about a thousand more at least. And over time, other practices will look and see that a practice around the corner or down the road has shifted to 100 per cent bulk billing model, and that will lead them to crunch the numbers and realise that that's in their financial interests as well.
 
That's the point I want to make, this is not just in the interest of patients, although that's our primary focus obviously. We've calculated this funding to ensure that it is in the interests of practices and individual doctors themselves.
 
To illustrate that, Dr Goyal said that the standard consult costs this practice about $64, I think it was the doctor said. Currently, they get $44 from Medicare from that. From next week, they'll get $84 from Medicare, almost a 100 per cent increase. This is a very significant change about the way in which Medicare supports hardworking doctors like Dr Goyal to look after the health of people who happen not to have a concession card.
 
JOURNALIST: Sorry, just to put that over $80 into context, do you know how many practices there are in South Australia, what portion that would be?
 
BUTLER: I think there's about 400 practices in South Australia. Now, many of them are already fully bulk billing practices. Eighty have emailed us, as of I think Thursday was the last time I looked. As I said, that number is changing every single day.
 
I'm very confident that there are practices who have made the change or the decision to change on Monday who simply haven't bothered to email us, and that's completely fine. We're asking them to express some interest, but that doesn't mean everyone is taking that offer up. They'll still be making the change. They'll still be qualifying for the additional money we've put on the table tomorrow. It's a very significant sum, the biggest ever investment in bulk billing and Medicare's history.
 
JOURNALIST: What are those figures, sorry?
 
BUTLER: The amount of money?
 
JOURNALIST: Yeah.
 
BUTLER: It's about $7 billion that we announced at the beginning of the year in February down in Launceston. On top of which there's quite significant other investments to deliver more doctors, more Urgent Care Clinics. We want to get to 137 Urgent Care Clinics, if not by the end of this year, then early next year. One of those will be in Eastern Adelaide. The tenders have already closed for the Urgent Care Clinic in Eastern Adelaide, and we'll be looking forward over the coming few weeks to announce that as well. Again, fully bulk billed, taking pressure off the local hospitals in this part of town.
 
JOURNALIST: Are there enough GPs? Obviously, there's going to be an influx of people now hopefully coming to see their doctor. But is there enough GPs to see all the patients?
 
BUTLER: Dr Goyal took the opportunity to say to me he needs more doctors. He's got seven hardworking GPs. I'm sure the practice manager wants to fill every room in this clinic as well. We do need more GPs in this country. I said when I started as Health Minister three or four years ago, one of the things I was most worried about was the fact that the number of junior doctors coming out of medical school who were choosing to be GPs instead of another specialty was plummeting. It used to be about one in two, then it was about one in seven. We simply weren't replacing the GPs who are retiring.
 
What I am pleased to say is that our investment in GP training means that this year we're training more junior doctors as GPs than the country's ever done before. Last year was a record. This year broke the record. Next year, we'll break it again. As well in country areas where we're bringing more GPs in from overseas. particularly countries where we have high confidence in their training like the UK, Ireland and New Zealand, again in record numbers because we know when you get out of the major cities, it's particularly hard to fill general practices as well.
 
We got a way to go, but we’ve certainly turn the corner in terms of doctor numbers. I'm sure Dr Goyal would want us to move more quickly. We want to get more doctors in Adelaide and some other parts of the country where there are some gaps in some of the practice rooms.
 
JOURNALIST: I just have a question on another topic. What do you think of the Coalition still seemingly without an idea on what to do with net zero?
 
BUTLER: This just says it all, doesn't it? Today we're out there announcing the biggest investment in bulk billing in the history of Medicare, making a real difference to the health and the hip pocket of millions and millions of Australians. And the Liberal Party and the National Party have locked themselves in a room for more naval gazing over whether or not they think climate change is real, and if they do, what on earth they should do about it. The stories we're seeing again over the course of this morning just show there's not much joy in the Coalition, but there's a hell of a lot of division.
 
JOURNALIST: And just a question on a story that came out of this week's 7:30 report. Oral cancer survivors spoke of having to make the choice to remortgage their homes to pay for dental prosthetics or to go without teeth. Do you think it's fair for cancer patients to have to make this choice going without their home or teeth?
 
BUTLER: This this was a really important report earlier this week. It follows an inquiry that the Senate did recently into rare cancers. And one of the things that inquiry looked at was the impact of oral cancer in particular on jaws and teeth, and the need to think about our prosthesis schemes that help people recover after that sort of surgery. We've conducted a review. We initiated a review after that Senate inquiry to scan the different schemes that state governments by and large operate across the country.
 
The department’s in the process, I understand, of finalising advice based on that review. And I look forward to working with patient groups and some of the really hardworking clinicians who've been making this case to see what we can do in the future to support those people better.
 
JOURNALIST: But do you think it's reflective of a universal healthcare system if cancer patients are paying up to $50,000 for their teeth?
 
BUTLER: We see these things emerge pretty regularly in our healthcare system as trends change, as incidents of particular types of cancer increase as well. That's really the whole purpose of having these important Senate inquiries. They laid out some really important challenges that we have, particularly for the rarer cancers like oral cancer. Many others besides, for that matter, but particularly in this case oral cancer. We're taking this seriously. We've had a look at the schemes that do operate at state level. I've asked the department for advice about what we could do better, and I'm looking forward to working with patient groups about that.
 
JOURNALIST: So, is it time for some change then?
 
BUTLER: I want to see the advice. This is a serious issue. We want to see what is out there and to see what else we can do as a Federal Government. We'll work in partnership with state governments about this. But obviously we want to provide as much support to those patients as we can.
 
JOURNALIST: And can I just get doctor back in front of the mics? Can you just give us kind of an overview of what it's like to be a GP today, and the financial stresses and the stresses with the number of patients and appointments, and then how you think it's going to change tomorrow?
 
GOYAL: I feel it's a good move. It's a really great initiative by the current government. Bulk billing is going to help us in a great way, especially with the follow up of the patients as we were discussing before. Sometimes, patients come and see us, then they need to follow up their blood test results or x-ray or et cetera. And many of our patients can't afford to pay the gap fee again. They were not coming and we have been calling them multiple times, and that's basically not great care. We wanted to provide the best care possible.
 
By moving to bulk building now, patients, that financial barrier is not there, which is a great advantage. I'm looking forward to the change, and I'm hoping that it's going to be very helpful for us to provide a great patient care.
 
JOURNALIST: And what about as a GP? Financial stresses, obviously you're working long hours, was the juice not worth the squeeze, for lack of a better analogy?
 
GOYAL: I am enjoying currently as a GP. We have got great flexibility. We can choose our hours, how we want to work. We can choose how many patients we want to see. I personally feel GP is a great specialty, and I don't have any regrets. I really enjoy my work.
 
JOURNALIST: Okay. But you notice that there is a need for more GPs?
 
GOYAL: Definitely, there's no doubt about it. We really need more GPs, and we are also currently, we have seven GPs, and we need minimum seven more to cater to the needs of our community.
 
JOURNALIST: And are you just constantly booked out days in advance here?
 
GOYAL: Yes, we are. We are always booked up from the day when we opened this clinic about two years ago. We are always booked in advance.
 
JOURNALIST: Yeah. And so does that make it hard to manage all the people coming in?
 
GOYAL: It's a bit harder. Sometimes we can't see all the patients who are calling, they want to see the GP. Sometimes we have to say no. But it's great to have Urgent Care Clinics, so they are helping us a lot. If a patient is really sick and need to be seen, we refer them to Urgent Care Clinics.
 
JOURNALIST: Wonderful. Is there anything else you wanted to add? Anything else you wanted to make sure we knew for tonight?
 
GOYAL: No, that's all. Thank you.
 
JOURNALIST: Thank you so much.
 
BUTLER: Thanks, everyone.