Television interview with Minister Butler and James Glenday, ABC News Breakfast - 4 November 2024

Read the transcript of Minister Butler's interview with James Glenday on 5.4 million additional bulk billed visits since tripling to bulk billing measure.

The Hon Mark Butler MP
Minister for Health and Aged Care

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HOST, JAMES GLENDAY: The Federal Minister for Health, Mark Butler, joins us now from Parliament House. Mark, nice to see you again.
 
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: Good morning, James.
 
GLENDAY: So what do you think this is a fair thing to do?
 
BUTLER: It's an investment in the future of young Australians and also an investment in the skills of the future. Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced another significant boost to the financial wellbeing of young Australians, wiping another $16 billion off their student debt. Because we know young Australians are doing it really tough, particularly if they're saddled with big, big, student debts. We also announced yesterday though we'd be locking in fee free TAFE in areas of priority need, so there'll be more tradies building houses, more educators in our childcare centres, and more carers in our aged care facilities as well.
 
GLENDAY: So just on this promise to slash student debt by 20 per cent, university graduates earn substantially more over their lifetime. Yet all taxpayers are going to pay for this. So is it really fair then, for someone who hasn't gone to university and works in a job that will be probably lower paid to have their taxes go towards this?
 
BUTLER: Student debt has never been higher. The contribution that students make as a share of their university or TAFE costs has never been higher as well. I think we all know young Australians are under real financial pressure. This is a meaningful contribution to their financial future. It's something we can afford as a country because we know there's no better investment we can make than in the skills and the education of our young citizens.
 
GLENDAY: This is not your portfolio, so I don't want to get too much in the weeds. But one of the reasons debt is high is that the cost of degrees is so expensive. We were just hearing from the National Union of Students a three-year arts degree can cost you $50,000. Some educators have already suggested that the focus of the government needs to be on bringing the cost of degrees down. Should that be a bigger focus for your government heading into another election?
 
BUTLER: The Education Minister, Jason Clare, has a very substantial report in front of him that makes a number of recommendations in relation to the structure of university fees. He's working through that really carefully and he's hoping to say something about that later in the year.
 
GLENDAY: Okay, maybe as we get a little bit closer to the election, does feel like we're on the verge of it now. You're in Parliament today, Parliament question time is going to be back. And no doubt this flight upgrade saga will roll on. Jason Clare conceded yesterday he asked for an upgrade after surgery. Is it time to sit down with the Opposition and create a new rule no special lounge access, no special upgrades for politicians?
 
BUTLER: The point is, whether it's Jason or other members of our government, we've all been clear we've complied with the rules. You can't say that about Bridget McKenzie, who did not declare upgrades that she took in spite of being the chief prosecutor on this matter. Peter Dutton, who had to change his story about whether or not he asked Gina Rinehart for a lift on her plane as well. It will be for others to decide whether there are any changes made to the existing system. The important thing is that we've complied with our rules, and that is as it should be. There should be full transparency around these things.
 
GLENDAY: At a time, though, when the cost of living is squeezing families and people. Does this saga kind of make all politicians look out of touch, as though they're enjoying perks that others don't get?
 
BUTLER: Of course it does rebound on the political system. This run of stories, which has occupied a lot of column inches a lot of radio and TV time over the last several days. We're just getting on with our job of doing things like we did yesterday, trying to do as much as we responsibly can to assist households with the cost of living and chart a really important path for the future of our businesses.
 
GLENDAY: Finally, Minister, back to your actual portfolio. I've just covered an election. One of the big topics was the cost of seeing a doctor. You're releasing some bulk billing figures today. What do they show?
 
BUTLER: When we came to government, bulk billing was in freefall and doctors were hard to come by. I'm really pleased that we're starting to turn a corner. There's more to do, obviously, but we're seeing more doctors, we're seeing more bulk billing, and we're seeing more Medicare Urgent Care Clinics open almost every week. We are seeing a stronger Medicare start to come through the record investments that we made, particularly in bulk billing, which showed over the last 12 months another 5.4 million additional free visits to the GP.
 
GLENDAY: Are we headed to a March election? Yesterday looked something akin to a US political rally with the Prime Minister in your home state of South Australia.
 
BUTLER: It's great to have the Prime Minister there, along with Premier Malinauskas and many other members of the Labor team as well. Obviously, I'm always pleased to host him in Adelaide, but we're focused. We've got three weeks of sitting in the House of Representatives this month in November. We've got a lot of important legislation to get through, and the Prime Minister will call the election at some time in the first several months of next year.
 
GLENDAY: That is certainly vague enough. It's only November. But thank you very much, Minister, for your time this morning.
 
BUTLER: Thanks, James.

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