Press conference with Minister Butler and Assistant Minister White, Canberra – 3 September 2025

REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER HEALTH AND AGEING, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS HEALTH, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR WOMEN: Thanks so much. I'm really excited to be here standing with these fabulous women from Labor here as we celebrate Women's Health Week. There is so much that our Labor government has done to support women to access cheaper health care, making sure they've got more choice and making sure they've got better health care options.
 
I'm really proud of the women's health package that was launched before the last federal election that has seen hundreds of thousands of women benefit from cheaper medicines and access to more affordable appointments when they're speaking to their GP about things like perimenopause and menopause.
 
Since the first of May this year, 365,000 patients have benefited from more than 715,000 new medicines that we have been able to list on the PBS. New contraceptive choices for women, endometriosis medicines, as well as menopause, medicines have made it more affordable for women to access the health care that they need, and given them greater choice. We've also seen more than 20,000 women benefit from our perimenopause and menopause appointments with their GP where they've been able to access longer appointments, sometimes completely bulk billed. To access the advice and support they need as they're working through their health issues.
 
Women's health is a priority for our government. I'm very proud to be a member of this team that's been able to take decisive action to support women to have more choice, have fewer costs and more options when it comes to better health care treatment. We're joined to you today by Robyn Smith, who is a woman who has been very public about her own experience of cancer, but also the access that she now has to medicines listed on the PBS from the first of May this year. That meant that she's able to access better choices, but also more affordable health care. I'm also joined by Senator Marielle Smith, who's going to speak about what led to some of the work that developed the women's health package, hundreds of women's voices that we did listen to as a government that helped inform the policies that we took to the last election and informed the delivery of the work in the women's health package that we're very proud to see making a real difference for hundreds of thousands of women across our country.
 
SENATOR MARIELLE SMITH: Thanks so much, Rebecca. We know when it comes to women's health, you certainly don't need to look very far to see where women's experiences haven't been heard and where, in some instances, have been outright dismissed. And over the course of two Senate inquiries, we heard from more than 600 women who told us that they needed more time with their GPs. They needed their GPs to be better educated, that there were medicines which could make a real difference to their lives, but they simply couldn't afford them. And we listened to their voices. We listened to what they told us, and with Ged Kearney and now Rebecca White, we're acting and we're delivering. We're delivering for women. We're delivering cheaper medicines which will make an impact on their ability to stay in the workplace or make an impact on their lives. We're seeing more women access longer appointments with their doctors, because we know you can't deal with the issues that surround perimenopause and menopause in a brief appointment. These women shared their pain with us. They told us what they needed. We listened now we're delivering for them, and I'm incredibly proud of our government's work.
 
ROBYN SMITH: Thank you. Good morning. Thanks for having me this morning. I am really excited to be one of the people that are benefiting from the government's decision to list some of those menopausal hormone therapies. So I am lucky to be able to take and access prometrium and Estrogel. And as Rebecca alluded to, those are some of the medications that help people to manage menopausal symptoms, and they also really benefit people or women's long-term bone health and to manage CBD risk, which is obviously really important.
 
A couple of years ago, I removed my ovaries and fallopian tubes to manage my really high inherited cancer risks. Obviously, that meant I went into immediate menopause, and having access to those drugs now, those medications that are really life-changing for people like me. It means now that they're on the PBS, I'm not having to pay $500 or $600 to access these treatments. I'm having to pay $30 every couple of months, which is more accessible for people like me, and it helps me to manage menopause. I really applaud the government, and thank them for the really positive step that they've made, a proactive step to help women's health.
 
JOURNALIST: If those benefits haven't been in place for you can you walk us through what that difference would have made to your treatment?
 
SMITH: $500 or $600 annually for people to manage their menopause symptoms,  bone health, CBD risk those aspects of health. It's a lot, and it makes having a PBS rebated, means that people can access these life changing treatments. It's really important.
 
JOURNALIST: So it's like quite a big time in your life as well knowing that there is that ease when it comes to the financial side of it would help as well?
 
SMITH: Yeah, absolutely. I was thrust into menopause in my early 40s. I've got young kids, I'm working. I'm trying to make sure I can balance my life and work and function. It's also so important for my long-term health to be able to access these medications.
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Before I take questions can I just say a couple of things about this. I'm so proud of this package, and I want to particularly pay tribute to Ged Kearney, the now Assistant Minister for Social Services, who worked so hard together. It really is a bit of a revelation about what can happen when you apply your mind as a government to this. There had not been a new contraceptive pill listed on the PBS for 30 years. There had not been a new endometriosis medicine listed on the PBS for 30 years, and there had not been a new menopause hormone treatment listed on the PBS for 20 years. Now, it's not because there were not new treatments on the market. It's because the hard work had not been done to put them onto the PBS. Tens and tens of thousands of women were paying market prices far more than they should have paid until this government acted. Thank you, Ged, thank you everyone who worked really hard on this package.
 
JOURNALIST: We do still hear stories from women about feeling like they're not taken seriously by their doctors. Are there any other further steps that the government is now considering when it does come to women's health?
 
BUTLER: Very much. Part of that package that Ged put together was, as Assistant Minister White said, focused on making sure that GPs were better equipped to support women going through perimenopause and menopause. That included training and awareness, both for the general community, but particularly for primary care professionals like GPs, about how to best support their female patients as they are going through that part of life.
 
Part of the package also that kicks in on first of November, is to provide much better support to women who want to use long-acting contraceptives. We have one of the lowest uptake rates in the developed world of long-acting contraceptives, and partly that's an access and an affordability question. Again, we've put in place terrific support for GPs and nurse practitioners to be trained in the insertion and removal of IUDs, in particular, and a very big change to the Medicare reimbursement for that which should mean that women will be able to access that type of contraception, largely free of charge.
 
JOURNALIST: Just with aged care, the opposition has been quite critical when it comes to the packages. Is the government considering any changes to its new reforms to help people who are still waiting?
 
BUTLER: Getting this legislation through this week is absolutely critical to the dignity and the security of older Australians. I'm determined to make sure we get that legislation through so that we can have that once in a generational reform of aged care kick in from the first of November. Be clear, we can't get the legislation through this week, we will not be able to start that new aged care system on the first of November. We're doing everything possible to do that. I've had constructive discussions with Senator Ruston for months and months about our shared commitment to deliver a better aged care system to older Australians. I hope those conversations will continue over the next day or two.
 
JOURNALIST: If it doesn't go through, what would your next steps be? Would you have to then renegotiate with the opposition, and when it comes to those aged care packages?
 
BUTLER: We’ll cross that bridge if we come to it.
 
JOURNALIST: Just with the NDIS reports this morning, as well of the staff flying to Europe, what is your response to that? And is that an effective use of taxpayer money?
 
BUTLER: We've got a really serious agenda as a government to get the NDIS back on track and secure its long-term future for hundreds of thousands of Australians living with disability and their carers and their families. This is a proud Labor legacy, the NDIS, and we're going to do everything possible to make sure we secure its long-term future. There is lots of work that parliamentary committees, obviously, including this one, can do to assist the government in that task and that work should best be done, frankly, here in Australia. My understanding is that the NDIS committee has reflected on this question over the course of this morning, and will not be taking up that trip.
 
JOURNALIST: Why were they considering? Can you explain through why they did think that Europe was the best place for them to go?
 
BUTLER: I can't answer that. That's a question for the committee. I understand this was the unanimous position of the committee, including Coalition members. This is a pretty standard operation of the parliament. I learned this morning that committees sort of rotate study trips around the world. This is not something funded by government. This is something funded through the parliament by presiding officers. Government was not involved in this decision. But as I understand it, as NDIS committee members have reflected on the scale of the task that we have as a government and a parliament to secure the long-term future of the NDIS here in Australia, their time is best spent working on that domestically.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, do you think ISIS brides should be brought back to Australia, and if so, what security arrangements will the government be putting in place to protect the community?
 
BUTLER: I've read that story this morning, and particularly the government statement in the story that we're not involved in the movement that I understand is happening from some camps of the so-called ISIS brides. This is some something happening with relevant non-government organisations. Beyond that, I don't really propose to make comment about something in another portfolio.
 
JOURNALIST: We've got Daniel Andrews and Bob Carr in China at the moment. What do you make of that trip and their presence?
 
BUTLER: They've been around long enough to account for their own actions.
 
JOURNALIST: Is it wise for the ambassador to not attend that parade again?
 
BUTLER: That's a matter for the Foreign Affairs portfolio. Thanks everyone.