TV interview with Minister Butler, ABC News Breakfast – 25 May 2026

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Well, the Federal Government is launching a campaign to help women going through menopause and perimenopause to better understand their symptoms. Federal Health Minister Mark Butler joins us now from Canberra. Minister, good morning.
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Morning Emma.
 
REBELLATO: This is a huge issue, as we know. It's affecting half the population. What is this campaign going to do to help them?
 
BUTLER: Hopefully break the silence, break the taboo about talking about menopause. I can't count the number of women, Emma, who've said to me they had no idea what was going on in their body and in their head. We had a detailed Senate inquiry into this and it really was the basis for our record women's health package that we've been rolling out over the last couple of years. More training for doctors. I was shocked to hear that over a several year degree, medical students only receive a few hours training on menopause. As you say, half of their patients going through this at some stage. We've got more clinical guidelines, a new Medicare menopause health assessment. And of course, for the first time in 20 years, new menopause hormone treatments on the PBS. But this campaign really is about raising awareness, particularly among women but also among partners, to understand the signs, to recognise those signs, to be able to do some research on our very detailed website now, or go and seek help if you think you need it.
 
REBELLATO: Minister, I'm very glad you mentioned the doctors, because I know that's a complaint of a lot of women, that they go to their GP and they list off some of the symptoms they're experiencing and they're not really getting any answers. So that is very good news. I want to turn to a few other issues this morning. What do you make of reports that independents could form a new political party? Could they be a threat?
 
BUTLER: That really is a matter for them. They've obviously made inroads in particular communities in Australia. They'll make their own assessment about whether that works for them. We don't have a view. I don't have a personal view. We're getting on with our job as the Labor Party, a party in government. But there obviously is a lot of flux in the non-Labor parts of politics right now. So to see speculation like that's perhaps not a surprise, but it's not something we have a view about.
 
REBELLATO: We also heard this morning, overnight and this morning, more Australians are returning home from that Gaza-bound flotilla. Some are claiming mistreatment by Israel, mental and physical abuse. Will you, or has the government already raised any of these claims with Israel?
 
BUTLER: We have in the strongest possible terms, both in Israel itself, but also with the Israeli ambassador to Australia here in Canberra, the treatment of those Australians and people from many other countries as well has been disgraceful, particularly the behaviour of Minister Ben-Gvir. We've raised our concerns in the strongest possible way. We're really glad that the Australians are starting now to return home and reunite with their families, but this has been a particularly concerning event.
 
REBELLATO: Minister, one of the things that we've spoken to you about just recently is the return of these Australians from the Hantavirus cruise ship. Now, we know they're still in quarantine, but at the time when they arrived in Australia, you said there was a discussion about what happens after the three weeks. Have you worked that out yet? Will they still have to go into a different type of quarantine, because we know about that long incubation period?
 
BUTLER: That's right. I'll take some further advice over the course of coming days about what happens after the three weeks. We saw a report, I saw a report over the weekend, the World Health Organization has identified an additional case, a crew member from that cruise ship. There are obviously some ongoing concerns about this outbreak on that cruise ship. I'm very glad to say the six people who are at the quarantine facility in Perth, five Australians and a New Zealander, are still in good health. They've not shown any symptoms since they've been there. But I'll be taking advice from the chief health officers of all of the jurisdictions who'll come together again well before that three weeks is up and we'll make decisions about what happens from there.
 
REBELLATO: Last week, we also heard about the new support package to deal with the diphtheria outbreaks across Australia. How's that rollout being implemented now?
 
BUTLER: It's essentially two things. The first two are to fund our National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, which happens to be headquartered in the Northern Territory, where this diphtheria outbreak is centred as well. So that workforce surge will be able to get out into communities and support the Aboriginal health workers and the NT health workers who are undertaking vaccinations, providing treatment to people who have been infected, doing things like contact tracing, which your viewers would be familiar with from the pandemic. Pretty basic stuff to try and contain this very deeply concerning outbreak. I got a report yesterday that case numbers are continuing to grow particularly in the NT and the north of WA, so we are very concerned about this. We're supporting Aboriginal medical services who really are on the front line here and are deeply trusted in their community, so providing that support will also help containment.
 
REBELLATO: Minister Mark Butler thank you.
 
BUTLER: Thanks Emma.