PADDY GERRARD, HOST: We’ve got an announcement today, Mazzy. We have got Mark Butler, Minister for Health and Ageing in Australia. He joins us – g’day, Mark.
MAZ COMPTON, HOST: Hey, Mark. How are you going?
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: What a beautiful day.
GERRARD: Not too bad. Are you on the Central Coast today?
BUTLER: I am. I'm in Gosford looking out over the lakes. It's just beautiful. Stunning.
COMPTON: Oh, we should hang out. We're in Gosford.
GERRARD: Yeah, we’re in Gosford. We're just around the corner.
GERRARD: Hey, Mark, I know there's a big announcement today. Listen, after last week's budget, did you all sit around having a powwow going, oh, bloody hell?
COMPTON: That didn't go down very well, did it?
GERRARD: Oh, jeez, there’s few issues here.
BUTLER: No, we all scattered to the four winds out there selling it. That's what I'm doing now, big investments in health, trying to improve bulk billing, particularly in this part of New South Wales where the bulk billing dial just hasn't shifted in spite of some pretty huge investments over the last few years.
COMPTON: Okay.
GERRARD: And there's six new ones, six new bulk billing clinics.
BUTLER: That's right. We tried to turn around bulk billing in two big budgets and across the rest of the country, with the exception maybe of Canberra, you've seen big increases in bulk billing, people being able to go and see their doctor for free. And that’s been terrific for most of the rest of the country, but it just hasn't really shifted on the Central Coast or up around Lake Macquarie into Newcastle. So I've warned the GPs in this area, if they didn't see a big shift, if I didn't see a big shift in bulk billing numbers in this region so that people here were enjoying the benefits of this big taxpayer investment, we'd have to intervene in the market and put in place some big bulk billing clinics to just provide a bit of competition, frankly. I think that's what this region needs.
COMPTON: I think that that's really good because it is frustrating when you want to get in to see a doctor. The way the system is here on the Central Coast, it just doesn't really work in our favour. So this is, I think, really great news. Where are the Central Coast clinics going to be opening?
BUTLER: That will be determined at arm's length from government. There's going to be a competitive process. The Primary Health Network will run that. This is the network that looks after this sort of healthcare on the coast and right up all through into the Hunter Valley. They'll look at places where bulk billing is lower than average. There's only about half the number of bulk billing practices in this region at the New South Wales average. The bulk billing rate is about 25 or 30 per cent lower than Western Sydney. And you can't tell me it's more expensive to run a business on the Central Coast or in Newcastle than it is in Sydney, so there's obviously a challenge here, a cultural reason in general practice we've got to shake up a bit. But exactly where they go won't be determined by me or any other politician. It will be done through an arm's length competitive process.
COMPTON: Sure.
GERRARD: And Mark, what time frame are you looking at?
BUTLER: Well, we're going to start that pretty soon, and we want them up and running by the middle of next year.
COMPTON: Awesome.
BUTLER: That will deliver about 150,000 additional free visits to the doctor every year just in and of itself. But what I hope will happen, which I've seen everywhere else in the country pretty much, is that other practices will start looking at their bulk billing practices as well and increase free visits to the doctor. Because I want a situation again where people go to the doctor when they need to rather than when they feel they can afford to.
GERRARD: That’s good news.
COMPTON: Absolutely, Mark. Thank you so much for your time.
GERRARD: Mark, thanks for joining us mate.
BUTLER: Great to talk to you.
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