Press conference with Minister Butler, Canberra – 28 October 2025

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Thanks everyone for coming. It’s terrific to be here with Dan Repacholi, who’s our Special Envoy for Men’s Health, but also representatives from Kidney Health Australia who we’ll hear from in a second, Carol and Chris. And also Peter, who’s going to talk about his experience as a patient with kidney disease.
 
Kidney disease is something of a silent epidemic here in Australia. We think more than 2.5 million Australians have kidney disease, but less than 10 per cent know about it because the sign or the symptoms of kidney disease usually only become apparent when as much as 90 per cent of loss of kidney function has already taken place. Which is why it’s so important for Australians at high risk of kidney disease: people with diabetes, people with high blood pressure, First Nations Australians over the age of 18, people who have obesity or a history of smoking, why it’s important that people get tested regularly. Urine test or a blood test. But we know also that once that test takes place, we want to make sure people are getting treatment as early as possible in their disease progression, before hopefully they get to the point of either stage kidney disease, which might require dialysis which is expensive, incredibly inconvenient, notwithstanding this terrific bus back here, or even a kidney transplant.
 
Today, I’m delighted to announce a further listing of Jardiance. It’s a well-known drug treating diabetes and kidney disease. An expansion of that drug on the PBS will take effect on 1 November. Last year, we listed Jardiance for a limited group of Australians with a particular type of kidney disease, but from Saturday we think another 70,000 Australians with kidney disease will become eligible for this life-changing drug. It's an incredibly important drug that others will talk about more articulately than me, but one that currently costs those Australians more than $700 a year. From Saturday they'll just pay $7 a script if they're a pensioner or a concession cardholder, or $31 a script if they're a general patient, a very substantial saving. Not just good for their hip pocket, but obviously also good for their health.
 
I want to thank Kidney Health Australia for all that they do, lifting awareness and consciousness as well as delivering some terrific services to Australians with kidney disease, and awareness for those Australians who would be at risk of kidney disease and should be connecting themselves with testing and potentially with treatment as well. I'm going to hand over to the Chair of Kidney Health Australia, Carol.
 
CAROL POLLOCK, CHAIR, KIDNEY HEALTH AUSTRALIA: Thanks very much, Minister. Yes, we're very pleased that the Minister has chosen to expand the PBS listing for Jardiance. It is incredibly important. One in 7 Australians have kidney disease, but as the Minister says, only 10 per cent of those people are aware of it. And yet, we know that if we screen people for kidney disease and we treat them appropriately, we will save 68,000 of Australians from being on dialysis in their lifetime. It's incredibly important that people are screened. It is a completely asymptomatic disease, but if we treat it early, we can stop it. We know that the WHO has now confirmed that kidney disease is a non-communicable disease of significance. It's along with diabetes and heart disease, and kidney disease really is something that people need to take seriously because we can treat it effectively and efficiently. Thank you.
 
CHRIS FORBES, CEO, KIDNEY HEALTH AUSTRALIA: So why is today such an important day? When patients hold my hand and say, I wish someone had told me, I wish I had have known earlier about chronic kidney disease, I might have done something about it. Today's a really important day. Unfortunately, kidney disease affects some of our most vulnerable Australians, and so having support from government for listing on the PBS of this extension is so critical for patients. It's a chance now for them to go to the doctor, be in great hands, get a kidney health check and have the best opportunity to avoid burdensome kidney failure. And today in federal parliament, we hosted a roundtable, all parts of the community coming together; policy makers, general practitioners, primary care, patient voice, etc. So critical, all wanting to work together with the other disease groups of heart and diabetes  because we have to work together and have the best outcomes for health so that we can live longer and live healthier.
 
PETER BROWN, PATIENT: I'm one of those people that the Minister and everyone's talking about who got chronic kidney disease. I was diagnosed about 2-and-a-half years ago. I also had congestive heart failure, so I wasn't diagnosed straight away. They did tests and eventually they realised that I not only had heart failure but chronic kidney disease. I had a lot of treatment over the time, over that sort of 12 months. There was a lot of hospital visits and there was a lot of cost involved in being treated. Some of the drugs that I've been treated with are on the PBS, some are not. This is a drug that, hopefully, I'll be on and because it'll be on the PBS and because we're on the pension, all the cost of the drugs sort of does add up. For my health and for my wallet, I think this’ll be a good thing.
 
JOURNALIST: Is this screening something that would be picked up in a general GP visit, or do people need to be going and getting specialist screenings?
 
POLLOCK: Yes, people do need to have a blood pressure check, a blood test, and a urine test. But unfortunately, they don’t always happen together. What we would like to see, the Minister may or may not be aware of this, is to have a kidney health check that bundles those things together. If we added in a blood sugar that would then pick up diabetes, kidney disease and heart disease, and I think all of those diseases live together, and we can treat them all together. I think making it easier for the GPs and maybe even the healthcare providers, pharmacists, nurses to do those checks, it would be much better for the patient.
 
Yes, so to pick up kidney disease, what we really need is a blood test, a blood pressure check and a urine test. And some people will have some of these tests done but not always together, and we really need the 3 of them to be done. What we would like to see is a kidney health check that meant that people would have those things done and then have an understanding of what their risk of their kidney disease would be, and be allowed to be appropriately treated.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, what's your response to that?
 
BUTLER: We're very keen to keep talking to Kidney Health Australia about this. As I said, far too many of these cases go unnoticed by doctors and by patients themselves. The more we can do to encourage people who might be at risk to connect with testing, these are very basic tests, not expensive tests, the better. My colleague, Dan Repacholi is a leading advocate of the Wee for CKD campaign, which particularly promotes the importance of urine testing, the Wee for Chronic Kidney Disease, talking about it constantly on social media. It is about awareness as well, not just to among potential patients, but also doctors as they're talking to their patients and thinking about how they can do these early tests that pick up diseases at the earliest possible stage.
 
We'll keep talking to Kidney Health Australia about this. A number of the other pharmaceutical companies that are active in this space are also talking to us about a program like this.
 
JOURNALIST: First Nations communities are disproportionately being affected by kidney disease, particularly in remote areas. Do you have any plans to mitigate this?
 
BUTLER: Again, I might ask Carol to see whether they have any particular perspective on this. Carol was telling me one of these buses operates out of the Territory with Purple House, which is a leading dialysis provider in the Northern Territory, particularly the First Nations communities there.
 
As I said, patients or Australians who are at risk are generally Australians with diabetes or with high blood pressure. But First Nations Australians, generally, over the age of 18 should consider themselves at risk of kidney disease and undertaking testing like this on a regular basis. Obviously, we're also very focused on making sure, as far as possible, that the good treatment is available to First Nations Australians where they live, which is why we're rolling out a series of new investments to deliver dialysis units on country so that First Nations Australians who do require dialysis regularly don't need to move, in some cases literally hundreds and hundreds of kilometres, away from their home, away from their country to receive essential treatment.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, just on a separate one, you just attended an event for brain cancer awareness. Given it's one of the deadliest cancers and is one of the biggest killers of children in Australia, will your government commit to the dollars the advocates have been asking for this morning?
 
BUTLER: Look, we only received the landscape document this morning. I've been meeting with the alliance over the last few weeks to understand their particular asks or claims for better support for Australians with brain cancer.
 
We've been doing a lot over the last few years for Australians with brain cancer. We know it really requires support across a range of different levels. We need better research in this area which is why we've got a $50 million brain cancer mission that partners with a lot of the terrific non-government organisations who already raise funds and fund research projects. Research is important because this is not a cancer area where we've made a whole range of inroads into survivorship which we've done in so many other areas of cancer.
 
Also getting access to cutting-edge medicines has been a big part of our job over the last few years. We've been able to bring medicines to Australia that pharmaceutical companies were not making available to patients here, particularly the youngest patients, very young children who now have access to cutting-edge medicines. We've added new medicines for kids with neuroblastoma onto the PBS as well.
 
But we know there's more we can do. And I think the development of this alliance, which has brought together a number of quite often disparate groups who work in this area under one umbrella to put one log of claims, if you like, to government is a terrific advance. Makes it a lot easier for government as well as the sector to negotiate on things like this. And we'll be doing more work within the coming days.
 
JOURNALIST: Minister, on Four Corners last night the ABC exposed the extent of the issues with the childcare system. What was your response to that program, and is Australia doing enough to combat it?
 
BUTLER: I wasn't able to see the program itself last night but I've read reports of it, and it's another sickening instance of our childcare system not working in the way that parents. I've got a kid in childcare right now. All parents across Australia would expect when we entrust our most precious thing in the world, our little one, to a sector that overwhelmingly delivers great quality care and education.
 
That's why we've got no more important job as a government than lifting standards in the childcare sector to make sure every child is safe, that every educator working in every single centre is up to scratch. We've put in place new safety standards, a mandatory safety training for childcare educators. We've made it clear to centres that if they're not up to scratch with that, they won't receive Commonwealth funding. Already, 50 centres have been the subject of action by our government.
 
We're trialling CCTVs in childcare centres to pick up any poor behaviour and we've got a national ban now, agreed by all jurisdictions, on personal phones being used in childcare centres.
 
But look, last night's pretty chilling, devastating episode of Four Corners just showed we can't let up on this. We've got to keep doing the work that that we've been doing under the leadership of Minister Jess Walsh and Jason Clare and we're determined to do that. There’s nothing more important for us.
 
JOURNALIST: The Productivity Commissioner called for the establishment of a commissioner with teeth, I suppose, to combat the issues and reform the system. Is that something you'd be open to?
 
BUTLER: I'll leave Minister Clare and Minister Walsh to respond to that in particular.
 
JOURNALIST: Just on the bulk billing incentive. Yesterday you said that 900 clinics had signed up already to be ready for the changes on November 1st. Is that in line with what the government expected in uptake of this long-term?
 
BUTLER: I said that 900 had expressed interest in becoming part of the bulk billing program from Saturday. That's 900 clinics who currently charge gap fees. In addition to that, there's over 1,000 clinics, who are bulk billing clinics, who want to take up this program as well. Now over 2,000 of the 7,000 or so, and we're having a big number of clinics every single day add themselves to that list, and I expect that that list to keep growing.
 
We want bulk billing to get to 90 per cent by the end of this decade. This has been a great start and I think it reflects the fact that practices, after they've analysed the record investment we've put on the table, have worked out it's not just good for their patients, which it obviously is, it's also good for the practice and for the individual doctors working in the practice. They will earn more if they become a fully bulk billing practice. And we're confident that three-quarters of the country's general practices will be better off from the investment that kicks off on Saturday.
 
JOURNALIST: And based on your modelling, is that in line with where you're expecting it to be at this point in time?
 
BUTLER: We put in place a target for the end of the decade. We know that this will take time for general practices, which are often small businesses, to analyse this investment, to crunch their numbers, to work out how to put in place change if they are currently charging gap fees. We've been confident that, as this sort of settles into the consciousness of general practice owners and general practitioners themselves, they'd see the wisdom of it, they'd see the attractiveness of it. And think it will just build over time from what is a very, very good start. Thanks, everyone.