TV interview with Minister Butler, ABC News Breakfast – 12 May 2026

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: There’s a lot going on obviously in Canberra, but a lot of concern about what’s going on with the Australian passengers on the hantavirus ship. They’re finally making their way home to quarantine, but they’re stopping first in the Netherlands. Health Minister Mark Butler joins us now. Minister, what’s the latest on this group of Australians, and that New Zealand citizen as well?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Morning, Emma. The Australians and the New Zealander, so six people in total, are due to land in the Netherlands pretty much now. They were due to land at 8:10am our time, and they’ll be transited to a hotel quarantine facility while the flight arrangements from the Netherlands to Australia are finalised. This is a difficult arrangement to make. You’ve got to have crew that are willing to isolate at the end of the flight. You’ve got to have a flight that has some refuelling arrangements put in place between the Netherlands and Australia obviously. But we’re confident they’ll be back over the course of this week, and it’s important that we’ve put those quarantine arrangements in place ready to go when they do land in Australia.
 
REBELLATO: So did you say the crew on board, they will have to quarantine as well?
 
BUTLER: Yes, that's right. We've got to make arrangements, obviously, for the crew as well and find crew that are willing to do that. But I'm very confident the Department of Foreign Affairs, which is handling these repatriation flights, will have them in place very, very soon. They're only able to stay in the Netherlands for a maximum of 48 hours. Over the next 24-48 hours, we expect them to start their flight back to Australia. And once they arrive in Western Australia, the quarantine arrangements that I announced yesterday will be ready to go.
 
REBELLATO: And what happens? So they’re expected to stay in WA for about three weeks. Then what? Because we know that with hantavirus the incubation period's quite long.
 
BUTLER: The World Health Organization has been clear that people, the countries, and there's I think about 23 countries that will be taking repatriated passengers back, that they should look at a 42-day quarantine period. Now, most countries are only requiring their returning citizens to go into some sort of centralised quarantine, like a hospital or a centre like the one we're using in Western Australia for two or three days, and then they'll be released to home quarantine, obviously subject to monitoring arrangements. We've decided to go with something stronger than that. We have these purpose-built facilities, including, obviously over in Perth. We have staff from the Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre that have experience in supporting people in those facilities. And we'll take advice towards the end of that three-week period about what should happen for the remainder of the 42 days. But I make the point this is probably the strongest quarantine response of any country that is taking passengers back from this cruise ship.
 
REBELLATO: Minister, we've heard from our colleagues that the government's response to the Peta Murphy gambling report will be tabled in Parliament today. Now, this is going to be happening during Budget lock-up. The government's had more than a thousand days to respond to this, so why today and this timing?
 
BUTLER: I can't comment on that particular report. But I can say that the Prime Minister outlined since the Parliament last sat a very strong response to that, building on the strongest action that any government had taken, which is the action we've been taking over the last four years. There's a very good basis now for a response to that report from the committee chaired by our late friend and colleague, Peta Murphy. And I encourage people who are thinking deeply about this to have a look at the Prime Minister's Press Club speech from a few weeks ago, there is a very strong response to that report included in that.
 
REBELLATO: But surely, Minister, if something is tabled in Parliament during Budget lock-up, it does sound like the government's trying to hide something, doesn't it?
 
BUTLER: The Prime Minister stood up at the National Press Club, Emma, and outlined, as the head of government, outlined further actions we were taking to deal with gambling addiction, particularly advertising, but other elements as well, building on some of the really strong action we've been taking over the last four years. I don't think someone can make the criticism that we've been hiding that response. The Prime Minister went down to the Press Club and made a televised speech about it.
 
REBELLATO: Okay, we'll wait to see when that report is; the response is tabled in Parliament today. Minister, NDIS changes, you announced some of these a few weeks ago. It led to a lot of people in the system feeling very anxious about their futures and whether they will still have support. Is there anything else that's going to be announced in the Budget today that will fuel their concerns?
 
BUTLER: We deliberately took a decision to announce the changes we're pursuing around NDIS separate from the Budget because we know they're big changes. And we wanted to get some clear air around those announcements so people could focus on them, the media could ask a series of questions about them, which they did not only at the Press Club when I announced them but in a series of media interviews I've done since. Also, we've been talking to disability organisations a number of times since that Press Club speech. Our NDIS package to secure the future of this really critical social program into the future was all announced a few weeks ago when I went down to the Press Club.
 
REBELLATO: Okay, Mark Butler, thank you for joining us.
 
BUTLER: Thanks, Emma.