TV interview with Minister Butler, ABC News Breakfast – 6 January 2026

CATHERINE MURPHY, HOST: Good morning to you, Mark. Thank you for your time this morning. We will get to the new health announcements that you’re making today and the changes that come into effect from 1 January, but let’s talk first about that open letter overnight. So we saw former MPs from the Labor Party, former party officials, call for a Royal Commission. Will this change the Prime Minister’s mind?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: There have been obviously a range of calls for a Federal Royal Commission from a number of people I know and deal with and respect, and many of those former Labor MPs who did that yesterday are in that same category. These are sincere and heartfelt calls. But as a number of my colleagues have said since that horrific terror attack against Australia's Jewish community now a few weeks ago, our government has been focused day in, day out, with officials and relevant ministers working right through the Christmas-New Year period on the urgent and immediate things we need to do in response to that attack. Updating our hate speech laws to shut down the hate preachers once and for all and the organisations that employ them. Updating terrorism powers, Updating powers for the Home Affairs Minister to deal with visa applicants and visa holders. Gun laws. Accelerating the work of Jillian Segal's report, the Antisemitism Envoy and so much more besides. That has been the focus day in and day out of the Prime Minister, of relevant ministers and officials, and we want to start to implement that work as quickly as possible.
 
MURPHY: Minister, I understand that's where your focus is now, but let's go back to those calls for a Royal Commission. As you said, there have been many calls from legal experts, from business leaders, from the families of the victims, from sports stars. As I said, now from inside your own party, could this change the Prime Minister's thinking? Will it give him something to consider today?
 
BUTLER: As I said, that's not the first call, and these calls are something that we respect and, of course, listen to. But our work right now is on those urgent and immediate things, which include working with the New South Wales Government that has already announced a Royal Commission, making sure that Dennis Richardson is able to undertake a comprehensive inquiry into lessons that we should learn at a Commonwealth level for agencies in response to that attack. But, of course, we always listen to the sorts of sincere and heartfelt calls that Jim Chalmers talked about yesterday and I'm talking about today. Of course, we respect them, but we've got a lot of urgent and immediate work that has been focusing our energy over the last few weeks.
 
MURPHY: You talk about the independent inquiry. When the outcome of that is revealed, is the door still ajar for potentially saying it wasn't adequate, and maybe it's raised more questions? Could the Prime Minister then look at a Royal Commission?
 
BUTLER: I'm not going to go into hypothetical outcomes of this inquiry. It will be conducted by one of our most esteemed public servants who has held leadership positions in so many different relevant ways to this attack. I'm not going to go into what that report might or might not come to in terms of its conclusions. I'm just trying to outline for you and your viewers what the focus of our government has been since that awful terror attack a few weeks ago. That is on the urgent and immediate action that a responsible Commonwealth government needs to put in place in response.
 
MURPHY: Let's talk about the urgent work that you're talking about. We're hearing the Parliament could be recalled soon. Do you know when?
 
BUTLER: We want the Parliament to be recalled as soon as it has the opportunity to consider well-constructed laws. For many years now, now, governments of both political persuasions, going back to the Howard Government, have tried to put in hate laws to control particularly the hate preaching that we've seen far too much of for many, many years now. We've indicated our determination to shut down those hate preachers, to go after them and the organisations that employ them, because we've seen for far too long now their ability to go right up to the line of legal responsibility and still have very awful consequences for the country. It's not easy to construct those laws. We want to make sure we get them right finally for the country because governments of both political persuasions have not been able to shape them down. We will call the Parliament back when we have those laws ready. But we want to do that as soon as possible, and the Prime Minister and the Manager of the House, Tony Burke, the Home Affairs Minister, will have more to say about that, I'm sure, when that work is done. But what I can say to your viewers is officials and relevant ministers have been working day in, day out, right over the Christmas-New Year period to construct those laws.
 
MURPHY: Minister, what do you say to Senator David Pocock, who says he's surprised the Parliament hasn't been recalled yet? He says Australians would expect you to be back at work already.
 
BUTLER: Our government is back at work when the Parliament is not in session. I can assure your viewers of that. Our officials, our ministers have been working day in, day out, right through this period. And you can go to other crossbench MPs who have also made the point that they don't want Parliament recalled until the laws are ready, until the laws are legally watertight, and that's what we are working on. Of course we want to see the Parliament deal with these matters as soon as is possible, but the laws have to be right, and governments for a long time of both political persuasions have tried to put in place restrictions on these hate preachers, proper powers for the Home Affairs Minister to deal with visa holders and visa applicants. And I think the events of the past period have shown those laws haven't been adequate.
 
MURPHY: Let's talk about the developments in Venezuela. A lot to talk about overnight, Minister. The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, says it's up to the US to make clear the legal basis for their intervention and capture of the deposed President. As an ally of the US, will Australia be seeking those details?
 
BUTLER: I'm not going to go into the engagement that we'll have with the Americans. Obviously, we're engaging with a whole lot of our partners overseas in the wake of this event. We do want to see more dialogue and diplomacy between the two parties, not further escalation. We do want to see a transition to more democracy and freedom, which has been a serious issue in Venezuela for many, many years now, a point that we have made over those many, many years as Australia. But look, this is still an evolving situation, it's still relatively recent, and I think Jim Chalmers was stating the obvious. Now, of course it's for America that took this action in a unilateral way to outline the position in relation to international law.
 
MURPHY: Let's talk about the new health announcements that you've made. You've announced cheaper medicine for Australia as a $25 limit. Also, 1800MEDICARE, a Mental Health Check In. How many Australians do you expect to use that 1800MEDICARE service and the Mental Health Check In?
 
BUTLER: We've already seen tens of thousands of Australians use 1800MEDICARE in the relatively few days that it's been up and running. We know that of those who indicated they were considering going to a hospital emergency department, two thirds of them don't end up going to a hospital ED because of the advice that they get from this free 24/7 service. There's also the ability to have a GP telehealth appointment after hours and many, many hundreds of Australians have been able to avail themselves of that opportunity over the phone, over the video, completely free of charge. And of those Australians who are thinking otherwise of going to their local hospital, three quarters have ended up not going as well. This is not only providing terrific quality care to people at their home when they need it, including after hours or on the weekend, it's also relieving pressure on our crowded emergency departments.
 
MURPHY: Minister Mark Butler, thank you so much for your time this morning.
 
BUTLER: Thanks very much, Catherine.