Television interview with Minister Butler, Today Show – 29 July 2025

SARAH ABO, HOST: Well, the UN's Climate Chief has warned that fruit could become a treat and that current grocery price hikes could, quote, “look like a picnic in the years to come if Australia doesn't lift its climate targets.” While praising Australia's living standards, he said we could face a $6.8 trillion GDP loss by 2050, mass droughts all but wiping out our fruit and veg farmers. Joining us now is Health Minister Mark Butler in Canberra. Good morning to you, Minister. So that's pretty damning from the UN Environment Chief there. Are you worried that another local industry could bite the dust on your watch?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: I think we all know that Australia is very seriously exposed to the impacts of climate change. This is a continent that already pushes us really right up to the limits of human tolerance with heat and with the proliferation of extreme weather events. We're already seeing some of that. That's why we take climate change policy so seriously.
 
ABO: You are the Health Minister, obviously. This directly impacts our health and wellbeing. But how do you ensure that power supply, while chasing those targets the UN is advocating for, actually holds up?
 
BUTLER: We need stable policy, and that's what Australia hasn't had for the last 10 or 15 years. We need clear policy parameters that give investors’ confidence to put the money into the new energy we need. We'd need this even without climate change threats because our old coal-fired generators are all reaching the end of their life. But what we haven't had for so long is clear policy that gives investors confidence to put their money really into that new energy investment we need. That's what our government has delivered over the last three years.
 
ABO: Alright, let's get on to cheaper medicines now, which millions are set to benefit from. But it does come, as your government rejects those claims, your bulk billing program will fall short of target. Dr Nick Coatsworth was on our show yesterday. Here's what he had to say about it.
 
[Excerpt]
 
DR NICK COATSWORTH: But imagine, Karl, if you've just forked out $50 to see the GP to get that script, then the $5.60 is not going to look as good.
 
[End of excerpt]
 
ABO: So is your bulk billing promise going to be a big failure?
 
BUTLER: No it's not. We're very confident in the modelling, unlike Dr Coatsworth's sort of glass half empty approach to this. You know we calibrated this very carefully to make sure that the vast bulk of general practices would be better off under the money that we put on the table in February. We have access to every single billing that doctors make in general practice, the Medicare billing, but also the gap fees, and we've calculated this policy very carefully to make sure that general practices are better off. Obviously, patients will be better off, which is the most important thing, but individual doctors will be vastly better off if they move to full bulk billing as well.
 
ABO: But he's right, though, isn't he, about the uptake, right? I mean, Cleanbill estimates there will be only an extra 740 GPs switching to bulk billing by November.
 
BUTLER: It's just rubbish, Sarah. It's a phone poll. What we've done is looked at millions of data points that reflect exactly what GPs are billing right now and calculated our policy to make sure that they're financially better off under our offer.
 
ABO: So what's the number then by November? How many will convert?
 
BUTLER: It only starts on the 1 November. We've said from the time we announced it, it was in our media release that we're confident that three quarters of general practices would be better off if they moved to our policy of 100 per cent bulk billing.
 
ABO: In a decade?
 
BUTLER: No, over the course of the coming years. I'm talking to practices, many of them who are going to move to bulk billing from 1 November.
 
ABO: But did you have a number, though?
 
BUTLER: As I said, three quarters will be better off. A quarter will probably continue to do some mixed billing, so they'll charge some gap fees as well. But that means that, on average, they're probably doing about 70 per cent of bulk billing; bulk billing all their pensioners and their kids. And that's how we get to that 90 per cent figure. We're so focused on turning bulk billing around because, for Labor, bulk billing really is the beating heart of Medicare, along with more doctors, more Urgent Care Clinics, and as we're doing this week, making medicines even cheaper. It's part of our plan to strengthen Medicare.
 
ABO: So you can see that you will need more than a Medicare card, though?
 
BUTLER: For those three-quarters of practices, we hope for 90 per cent of consults, you won't need anything more than your Medicare card. Now, there will be some people ..-
 
ABO: So the answer is yes, you will need a credit card.
 
BUTLER: But we made that clear, Sarah. We never said there'd be a hundred per cent bulk billing. From the first time we announced this policy, we were very clear this is a 90 per cent target. These are private businesses. We've had to calibrate our policy to ensure that general practices are better off. Full bulk billing doctors will have received in the cities an increase, if they're full time, of about $125,000 in salary because of the measures we've put in place over the last two years. This has been very carefully designed to make sure it works.
 
ABO: Alright, well that is glass half full and we like to hear that, Minister. Thanks for your time this morning.
 
BUTLER: Thanks Sarah.