Radio interview with Minister Butler, ABC AM – 17 June 2026

MELISSA CLARKE, HOST: There's more uncertainty about the future of the proposed changes to the National Disability Insurance Scheme, with the committee examining the details delaying handing down its report. Meanwhile, the government is focused on opening the latest Urgent Care Clinic to meet an election promise to add 50 new locations.
 
Mark Butler is the Minister for Health, Ageing, Disability and the NDIS and he joins the program this morning. Minister, thanks for speaking to AM.
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Good morning, Melissa.
 
CLARKE: First on the NDIS, the committee examining the legislation has delayed handing down its report from yesterday until Friday. You want to be able to pass the legislation through the Senate in the next sitting, which starts on Monday. How's that a reasonable timeframe?
 
BUTLER: This inquiry was a really important opportunity to engage with the community. There were hundreds of submissions and, as I think was canvassed right across the media, lots of people giving evidence to the public hearings that took place last week. I understand the committee wanted some time to finalise the details of their report. We've obviously, in the meantime, been monitoring the evidence very closely, as well as the debate that we've already had in the House of Representatives. But, look, at the end of the day, I understand that the Senate will decide when this report is delivered, but we think the legislation is ready to be debated in the coming fortnight.
 
CLARKE: But you'll only have, what, a weekend, a couple of days to read the report? How can you genuinely consider it and respond in that kind of crunch timeframe?
 
BUTLER: It's not going to be debated and dealt with finally on the coming Monday. We've got a fortnight of sitting and, as I said, we've been monitoring this very closely over the course of the inquiry.
 
CLARKE: So if you've been monitoring it, are there any amendments at this point to the legislation that the government would be willing to support based on what you've heard in these hearings?
 
BUTLER: The broad direction of travel of the plan I'm convinced is absolutely the right one. It didn't come out of thin air, it reflects really three years of work since the independent review of the NDIS was undertaken way back in 2023 and endorsed by all governments at the National Cabinet. Obviously, there's been a range of different pieces of work done since then, lots of consultation around things like foundational supports. I'm absolutely convinced the plan I announced eight weeks or so ago is the right plan for the NDIS. But there will also be some things that we are looking at, as I've said, from the debate in the House of Representatives. Some of the crossbenchers' proposed amendments just to improve things like transparency and some other things like that. But also, we have heard evidence in the inquiry really about things that would reassure participants and their families in the NDIS about some of the core elements that they want to see preserved.
 
CLARKE: So could you explain for me what those reassurances might be that you might be willing to include as a change?
 
BUTLER: Really about what does change in this plan and frankly what doesn't. It's really important to say that what we've been able to do with this plan is ensure that nothing around the core supports that are provided to participants will change, that is, their accommodation arrangements, their daily living supports, things like hygiene, continence. Menstruation was mentioned a number of times during the hearings as well. Travel to medical appointments, travel to work and participation in work. When the plan is very carefully constructed to ensure that those core supports are protected and people are able to get what we promised when we created the NDIS 13 years ago and something we want to see continue into the future.
 
CLARKE: Given that level of concern and the compressed timeframe we're talking about here, what difference would it make if the legislation were passed in August in the following sitting?
 
BUTLER: It would make a considerable fiscal difference. It would cost some hundreds of millions of dollars, but we think we need to get on with this work. Every day we don't deliver this is another day where some of the supports that we say aren't at the level of quality that we need them to be won't happen. The cost blowouts that we've seen run to billions and billions of dollars just since last December will continue. And the integrity issues that people are deeply concerned about will continue as well. As I said, this work has been going on for three years to get the NDIS back on track. It is time for us all to get on with the work of implementing it.
 
CLARKE: You're opening another Urgent Care Clinic today. They're certainly popular. Are they good value for money?
 
BUTLER: They're terrific value for money in my view. This is a new part of Medicare that we promised at the 2022 election, and today we will open the final clinic that we promised. Number 137 will be open in Caloundra in Queensland. They've already seen more than 3 million people, and now the network's fully up and running, we think they'll see about 2 million people every single year for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions. That's not only providing really terrific, high-quality urgent care to people in their own community, we know it's taking pressure off hospital emergency departments. Because about half of people who go to these clinics say that if the clinic wasn't open, they'd be at the local emergency department.
 
CLARKE: Just on that statistic, the interim evaluation report showed that nearly half the 45 per cent that you're referring to, it says that those proportions should be considered with caution, that there's a lot of limitations. And in some cases, clinics are filling out those answers, in some cases people are going to Urgent Care Clinics and still being sent on to emergency departments anyway. So is that really a fair representation of what's happening?
 
BUTLER: Yeah, I'm very confident it is. I visit these clinics very regularly. We monitor it closely. We talk to the doctors who are seeing these patients and I take what they say very, very seriously. But also, there will be ongoing evaluation of these clinics. That was an interim report, we're tracking it closely. We talk to state governments and ambulance services about what's happening because they were set up with very clear protocols about where people should be. To your last point, there are some occasions where people do present at clinics, for example, with chest pain. They're triaged quickly and they are referred to the local hospital emergency department. Equally, a number of hospital emergency departments are suggesting that people go to the local Urgent Care Clinic because they'll receive care there more quickly.
 
CLARKE: Health Minister Mark Butler, thank you very much for speaking to AM this morning.
 
BUTLER: My pleasure.