Radio interview with Minister Butler, ABC Hobart – 3 March 2025

LEON COMPTON, HOST: On the weekend, the federal Labor Party announced 3 more Urgent Care Clinics would be built in Tasmania if they're returned to government at the upcoming election. Burnie, Sorrel and Kingston would be the sites to add to those already operating across the state. Critics say the research isn't complete to see if they're actually value for money, if they're doing the job of keeping people out of overcrowded emergency departments. Mark Butler is the federal Health Minister. Mark Butler, good morning to you.
 
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Good morning, Leon.
 
COMPTON: When will they open, the 3 more Urgent Care Clinics promised if you're re-elected, when would they open?
 
BUTLER: The money is already provisioned in the Budget. It was provisioned in the mid-year budget update in December. It flows from the next financial year, from the 1st of July this year until the 30th of June next year. We want to see them open in that financial year. We've been able to deliver the 87 that are already open in pretty quick time, so I'm very confident they'll be open in that next financial year.
 
COMPTON: And critics say, and this is the Royal Australian College of GPs, I'm quoting, who say they have been open in quick time and you don't have the research yet to work out if they're value for money. So we should wait until that information is better known?
 
BUTLER: I promised these clinics at the last election. I promised 50 and we've delivered 87. I also said at the time they'd be subject to a rigorous, independent evaluation, and I've kept to that promise and that evaluation is underway. It's being conducted as we speak. But the feedback we get now, is that they are working. I know the College doesn't particularly support this model, but their members do. A very big survey of GPs late last year showed that 70 per cent of GPs think this model is working, and 80 per cent of GPs think it's working to take pressure off hospital EDs. The feedback we're getting from particularly parents who use this a lot for kids who've broken their arm at Saturday afternoon sport, and for whom the only other option would be spending hours in a hospital. They're saying this is delivering terrific, high-quality, urgent care. It's completely free of charge. The hospital data we have where we can get it shows that presentations of this type, so relatively non-urgent, semi‑urgent, not a heart attack, not a stroke, but the lower-acuity presentations to hospitals are starting to either flatline or even taper off.
 
COMPTON: So to be clear, Minister, you're saying there's evidence that they keep people out of overcrowded emergency departments in Tasmania?
 
BUTLER: We haven't seen Tasmanian hospital data, but I've seen national hospital data that shows that those lower category presentations so semi-urgent, non-urgent, which is what these clinics are aimed at, have flatlined for the first time in living memory across the country. That’s even where the clinics aren’t everywhere. But in some of the hospital catchments where states do give us access to the date, we’re seeing if there is an Urgent Care Clinic in the catchment those presentations are actually reducing by as much as 10 to 20 per cent. This allows the emergency department doctors and nurses to focus on the life-threatening emergencies, which is what they are built for. But importantly, it is not just about relieving pressure on hospitals. Patients in particular parents are saying it is a completely different experience. Instead of waiting 8 hours on a Saturday afternoon and evening if your kid busts their arm at footy, you are getting in pretty quickly, seen free of charge and getting a high-quality service.
 
COMPTON: My guest this morning is the federal health minister, Mark Butler. Glen in Geilston Bay, and I'll just read you his quote directly, “Leon the Urgent Care Clinics are to be built in marginal Labor seats. It's blatant pork barrelling”. That's Glen's take this morning. Minister your response?
 
BUTLER: Well, that’s just not right. If you have a look at the way in which they're distributed across the country. I've worked really carefully to make sure that as far as possible, as many Australians are living within a reasonable driving distance of the clinics. If these 50 get up and running, if we're elected, then four out of five Australians will live within 20 minutes of an Urgent Care Clinic. That's been a really important factor, but the primary driving factor on this, whether it's the 50 I announced in 2022 or these 50, has been the hospital data. We've really looked at, hospitals’ presentation data, particularly for those less urgent categories and try to make sure we're taking pressure off them. We've also looked at bulk billing data and a couple of other things. But this has been a very sort of scientific process that is focused on health impact.
 
COMPTON: Mark Butler, a final question for you, and I'm springboarding off the back of reporting done across the weekend and beyond about the organised crime syndicates that have sprung up off the back of the increasing price of cigarettes. I was going to ask you about it last week when you were in the studio. Does there come a point when we decide that cigarettes are too expensive, that they fuel massive levels of criminal enterprise, and that they're punishing for some of our listeners, for example, dealing with schizophrenia and relying on tobacco, using small weekly incomes to pay for cigarettes legally. Are they too expensive?
 
BUTLER: First of all, I'll deal with the health issue before the criminal issue. From a health perspective, the evidence across the world is really clear. The most powerful way in which to reduce smoking is through price. And there are very clear guidelines across the world from the World Health Organization and others about what the tax on cigarettes should be as a percentage of the retail price. We align with global best practice. I would not likely give up the most effective tool in the toolbox to drive down smoking rates in our community because organised crime has stepped in. We are in a fight right now. We're not just in a fight against Big Tobacco, which we've been in for 50 years trying to drive down smoking rates. Organised crime has stepped into this space as a relatively low-risk, high-reward source of revenue to bankroll all of their other criminal activities like sex trafficking and drug trafficking. That's why we have lifted our enforcement efforts in partnership with state governments to try and drive this out. But I'm not going to pretend it's easy. I mean, they are resilient and they are working very hard to protect what is a huge source of revenue.
 
COMPTON: Understanding all of that, Minister, does there come a point when you say and you talk to people dealing with schizophrenia, for example, addiction and also fixed incomes? Does there come a point where you say cigarettes are getting too expensive?
 
BUTLER: We do monitor that, and whether it's sort of going back to when we were last in government more than a decade ago, thinking about this or now, we think very carefully about the broader social impact of decisions like this. But I come back to the point that the most, important objective is to drive smoking down. It remains the single most significant preventable cause of death and disability in this country. It takes 20,000 lives every year, still and in spite of the fact we've driven those smoking rates down. So the point, and I know you're not suggesting this, but some others do. The point I make is we're not going to take the sort of public health lead in policy from Big Tobacco and what organised crime is doing. We're going to do the best thing by Australians’ health, but also recognise we have to lift our enforcement activity here. Organised crime has really changed this market over the last several years. That's why we've put so much more money and so much effort into working at the border, but also on the ground with state and territory authorities to try and stamp this out.
 
COMPTON: Mark Butler, I appreciate you talking with us this morning.
 
BUTLER: Thanks, Leon.