Television interview with Minister Butler, Sunrise – 2 September 2025

MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST: But first, to a Sunrise health alert, the cost of prescriptions is set to drop to the lowest level in more than two decades after Labor's election promise to slash medicine prices passed the Senate in a late-night vote. From 1 January 2026, the price of your script will drop from $31.60 to just $25 with the government assuring the pledge will make a significant difference to households struggling to stay afloat. For more, we're joined by Health Minister Mark Butler. Great to have you with us. So how much of a difference will this make?

MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: This will make a huge difference. It follows four waves of cheaper medicines policies in our first term of government that have already saved people about $1.5 billion at the pharmacy counter in co-payments. This is on top of that. It will save another $200 million every year for patients and make it easier to ensure they actually are able to fill the scripts that their doctors have said are important for their health. We're hearing far too many stories of people coming into pharmacies and asking for advice. If they had a number of different scripts in their hand, which did they really have to fill and which could they go without because they couldn't afford to fill all of them. That's why we've been so focused on delivering cheaper medicines. It's obviously good for the hip pocket, and that's important, but it's also good for your health. It maximises the chance that people can afford the medicines that are important for their health.

SHIRVINGTON: Cost is one part of the equation. Supply is the other. Many Australians saying they can't get the prescriptions they need because they don't have the supply. Even if they're cheaper, what are you doing about supply?

BUTLER: We work very hard with pharmaceutical companies and with the Therapeutic Goods Administration to deal with any supply constraints. Most of our medicines are imported from overseas, we're a bit subject to what is happening in global markets. And since COVID, some of those markets have been a bit clogged. But we work very hard. If a particular brand is in shortage, usually that's a global shortage, then we work hard to see whether there are alternative brands that pharmacies are able to dispense to patients. But, look, it's all about access and affordability, our PBS. It's served this country so well for eight decades and we're determined to make it even better.

SHIRVINGTON: Yep, welcome news for a lot of Australians. Thanks for your time, Mark Butler.