Television interview with Minister Butler, ABC News Breakfast – 11 February 2025

JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: Well, for more, government frontbencher and Cabinet Minister Mark Butler joins us now from Parliament House. Mark, good morning.
 
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Good morning.
 
GLENDAY: You've got an announcement on Medicare. I promise we will get to it. But I do want to start with the potential US steel and aluminium tariffs. The Prime Minister speaking to Donald Trump. What is he going to say to him to try to get this exemption?
 
BUTLER: This was a call scheduled before the President made the announcement he did on the way to the Super Bowl about steel and aluminium tariffs. Obviously, it's important. The timing is excellent so the PM can make the case strongly to the US President that there should be an exemption on Australian exports. We know that steel and aluminium exports into the US market feed directly into their supply chain. They're good for American jobs. It's a case we've made in the past to the US Administration and the PM, I can assure your viewers, will be making that case very strongly sometime today.
 
GLENDAY: You're a very senior member of the Government, if Australia faces tariffs, do have counter-tariffs on hand to retaliate?
 
BUTLER: My job is the health system, James, you know that. I'll leave trade policy and those details to other ministers who have responsibility. Our focus is on making the case for an exemption. Our 2 economies, our 2 societies, are so deeply entwined. Our relationship is so important to both countries, frankly, and the Prime Minister will be making that case very strongly. We'll be batting for an exemption and the PM will be leading that case very, very strongly.
 
GLENDAY: Even if we get an exemption, this could lead industry fears to cheaper Chinese steel being dumped into Australia. That could have all sorts of flow-on effects, including in your home state of South Australia, where we know there's a few issues in Whyalla at the moment. Is that something you might look at taking action on ahead of the election?
 
BUTLER: We'll be making the case for free trade across the world. Australia has benefited very greatly from decades of liberalisation of trade. That has meant that we've been able to export all of the wonderful things we create here in Australia. We make that case, whether it's to the US to China or a multilateral institutions. Right now, today, the job is to make the case for an exemption on any US tariffs on steel and aluminium exports. But more broadly, we are always a voice in international fora for freer trade because it's good for Australian jobs, it's good for Australian consumers.
 
GLENDAY: Thank you for taking some questions outside your portfolio area. I'll head back to that now. Parliament is sitting and last night, a majority of Coalition senators voted with Pauline Hanson in favour of a new inquiry into the medical treatment of transgender children. You've already ordered a medical review in this area. Were you hoping to stop this issue becoming a political football like we saw in the 2022 election?
 
BUTLER: I was, because playing politics around the health and the lives, importantly, the mental health of some of Australia's most vulnerable young people is frankly, an appalling thing to do. We have issued a review by the National Health and Medical Research Council, which has a statutory charter to issue clinical guidelines across the health system. It's been doing it for decades. It unarguably is the pre-eminent authority to do that. And frankly, anyone who doesn't accept the role of the NHMRC to do this work, and I thought Peter Dutton and the Shadow Health Minister, Anne Ruston, did. Anyone who doesn't just let them get along and do their job, frankly, is playing politics on this issue.
 
GLENDAY: On bulk billing, there's a story in a lot of the newspapers today from GPs calling for Australians under the age of 35 to have their visits bulk billed. Is that something you'd seriously consider?
 
BUTLER: I want to do more on bulk billing. I'm really delighted that what we did do in 2023 tripled the bulk billing incentive for pensioners, and under 16-year-olds, and concession cardholders has stopped the freefall in bulk billing that we encountered when we came to government. That was no accident. It was a result of a Medicare rebate freeze that Peter Dutton started 10 years ago because he said at the time he thought there were too many free Medicare services. Now that freefall has stopped, bulk billing is on the rise in every state and territory. And last year we delivered an additional 6 million free visits to the doctor. But I've said, I think on your program James, over recent weeks, there's more I want to do. Your viewers, I think, would be surprised if the Labor Party, which created Medicare and has fought for it so much over the last 40 years, would not be taking a strong Medicare policy to the next election and bulk billing is obviously a critical part of that.
 
GLENDAY: I just wanted to finally get your thoughts on that recent data. It's risen just a couple of per cent in the past few years. Would you have hoped that it would have gone up more, or is this just going to take a long time to turn around?
 
BUTLER: The first job we had was to stop the freefall. That language of freefall was, the doctor's college, not mine. It really was slipping away very, very fast because of the impact of 6 years of a Medicare rebate freeze. If you freeze the income of doctors while their costs continue to rise, it's no surprise that bulk billing starts to slide away. That was the intent that Peter Dutton had. He tried to abolish bulk billing altogether and when he couldn't do that, instead he froze the income of doctors. Now, we put the biggest injection of funds in Australia's history into bulk billing. That stopped the slide. It's led to a rise that delivered millions of additional free visits to the doctor. That has made a meaningful difference. But we know there's more to do, and I'm committed to doing more.
 
GLENDAY: Alright. Health Minister Mark Butler, we do appreciate you coming on the show this morning.
 
BUTLER: Thanks, James.