MONIQUE WRIGHT, CO-HOST: Pills, endometriosis treatment and IVF funding are set to become cheaper, with three new medications added to the PBS.
DAVID WOIWOD, CO-HOST: And for more, we are joined by Health Minister Mark Butler, live in South Australia. Good morning to you, Minister. Another clear pitch to women voters here ahead of the election. How is this new funding actually different from previous health schemes we’ve seen?
MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE, MARK BUTLER: It's building on what we've been doing for two years now, which is to try to deal with, frankly, what has been an area of neglect for too long. We haven't had a new endometriosis treatment on the PBS for three decades. We hadn't had a new contraceptive pill on the PBS for three decades, or a new menopause treatment for two decades. That's just extraordinary to me, given that these are costs that women face, usually just because they're women, not particularly because they're sick. We've been working really hard to deal with that neglect. And today I'm able to announce further investments that build on something I announced back in February. We will now have the third new contraceptive pill on the PBS in just a few months. We'll also have a new endometriosis medicine as well, and much bigger support for women who are going through IVF.
WRIGHT: A terrific thing. Why haven't you done it before now?
BUTLER: I actually had to nudge to the companies and the advisory committee on our medicines and say, why are we in a position that we haven't had new pills on the PBS, for example, in 30 years, when those new pills have been on the market? Women are paying private prices hundreds of dollars a year for this treatment, they should be on the PBS. Late last year, as a result of me writing to the companies, writing to the advisory committee on the PBS, they did go through that process. And today I'm really delighted that to announce that Slinda, which is used by more than 100,000 women who pay top dollar for it, will now go onto the PBS. And new endometriosis treatment, the second in five months after nothing for 30 years, will also go on the PBS, something that thousands of women are now paying almost $3,000 a year for will be available at affordable PBS prices.
WRIGHT: Alright, do you think that it will make more women vote for you?
BUTLER: That's not my focus. Our focus from the time we got elected has been to strengthen Medicare, to lower the cost of medicines, because we know that's what's so great about the Australian healthcare system. We don't have an American user pay system here. We should always cherish and defend that. But women were telling us for years that they're just not being listened to, particularly for things that they pretty much every woman goes through having to deal with reproductive health choices, contraception, perimenopause, menopause. There had been nothing new to support them for decades. This government has delivered and we're committed to delivering more like I'm announcing today.
WOIWOD: Minister, just sticking with that issue of the PBS. Donald Trump has, of course, waged a tariff war, that that trade war now around the world. How concerned are you that this will actually increase the cost of vital medicine here in Australia?
BUTLER: We will just fight to the end to support the PBS. No one will fight harder than the Labor Party -
WOIWOD: Those medicines are going to go up under these new tariff measures that are sort of being looked at by the President?
BUTLER: There's no way we're going to change the PBS because of advocacy of any other country. This is a cherished part of the Australian healthcare system, one that Labor has fought for 75 years. We fought to create it against a lot of Opposition. We've fought to defend it. And over the last couple of years we've been making medicines cheaper. There's no way we're going to see that reverse because of any country's views about this. We will fight to defend the PBS to the end.
WRIGHT: Yep, you're really leading into that, leading into the election as well. Now, the Prime Minister joined world leaders overnight discussing a possible peacekeeping operation in Ukraine. Do you think, Minister, that there's an appetite in Australia for us putting boots on the ground in Ukraine?
BUTLER: We have a very proud history for 80 years of participating in multilateral peacekeeping operations. This is not about making the peace. This is about preserving the peace once it is created. As the Prime Minister said again overnight, peace is a precondition to Australia considering any sensible request for us to participate in a multilateral effort to maintain a peace in Ukraine. Now there were 29 countries there, obviously mostly European, but Canada was there, New Zealand was there as well as Australia. We are determined to do everything we can to stand by Ukraine. There must be a peace that doesn't reward the aggressor Russia but supports and preserves the independence and sovereignty of the Ukrainian people. And if there's a reasonable request made of Australia to participate in peacekeeping, of course we will consider it. Now we're in Africa supporting peacekeeping, we're in the Middle East supporting peacekeeping. We've done this for many decades.
WOIWOD: We'll stand by to see what a possible peacekeeping operation could actually look like. Thanks for your time this morning, Minister.
BUTLER: Thanks very much.