TV interview with Minister Butler, Sunrise – 3 April 2026

NATALIE BARR, HOST: In breaking news just in, Donald Trump has officially slapped a 100 per cent tariff on pharmaceuticals, one of Australia's top exports to the US, valued at $1.6 billion.
 
Let's bring in Health Minister Mark Butler and Opposition Leader Angus Taylor now. Good morning to both of you. Mark, we'll go straight to you. This has just been announced. Could this push up the cost of medicine and mean we're paying more for drugs in this country?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Good morning, Nat. This is the latest of several different announcements President Trump has made over the last 12 months about pharmaceuticals, so we'll study it carefully. Our immediate concern, obviously, is our great exporters that have been sending product to America for many years, for 20 years under a free trade agreement with no tariffs. The biggest of those exporters has very big manufacturing operations over in America, so we're pretty confident they'll be carved out. We'll be working with all of those businesses to understand any impact it would have on them and on Australian jobs. But to your question, we've said very clearly there is no way we're negotiating about those fundamental elements of the PBS that have served Australia so well for 80 years, bringing the best medicines from around the world to Australian patients and keeping prices affordable. Indeed, we've been cutting those prices, so there's no way we're negotiating about that.
 
BARR: Okay, so this is about drugs that go into America. Like CSL, one of our big drug manufacturers, I think they've been moving a lot of their manufacturing to the US because this was mooted. Angus, are you concerned about this?
 
ANGUS TAYLOR, OPPOSITION LEADER: Oh, absolutely, Nat. And we want to see free trade, I'm a strong believer that that's ultimately good for Australians and that includes in pharmaceuticals, and it'll be important now for the government to work and seek and assert themselves to get exemptions to this for Australian exporters and to ensure, as Mark said, that it doesn't have any impact on the price of drugs and the cost of drugs in Australia. This is obviously not welcome news. We don't want to see it. We'll work with the government to do anything we have to to get it overturned or get an exemption for Australian exporters. But that has to be a first priority.
 
BARR: Okay, so Mark, just qualifying, drugs in Australia, the price of drugs on our PBS won't go up?
 
BUTLER: No, that's right. That won't have an impact on the price of our drugs here, but it certainly is going to create uncertainty for those exporters Angus just talked about, and we will be working with them. But we keep sending this clearest of possible messages to the US because we know they get the big drug companies in their ear trying to unpick the PBS here in Australia and equivalent schemes in other countries around the world. We are not negotiating about those fundamentals, and I'm glad we've got the support of the opposition on that.
 
BARR: Okay, moving on, the government is reportedly in talks with fuel companies about lowering our fuel standards again in a bid to allow for more fuel imports. Mark, what does it say to the uncertainty of this crisis that we're in right around the world if you're considering lowering the fuel standards again?
 
BUTLER: I hope your viewers would expect governments are leaving no stone unturned to keep fuel flowing, Nat. That  was the purpose of the National Cabinet meeting earlier this week, where there was a very high degree of common purpose by all governments to have a plan for any scenario. I think Australians understand that this is all happening because of a war we're not a party to. No one really knows when Trump's war with Iran is going to end and how long this will drag on and what the ultimate impact will be on our economy, this global fuel crisis. So we're leaving no stone unturned. We're securing supplies to come here to Australia. And we are, of course, going to look at any opportunity to maximise the amount of fuel that's available at the bowser.
 
BARR: Would you support this, Angus?
 
TAYLOR: Well, we haven't seen any detail, but we want to see more fuel going to the bowser. We want to see lower prices, anything that's going to have real prospects of reducing the price of fuel and ensuring the fuel gets to the customers. We see over 700 service stations now out of fuel. We keep being told by the Energy Minister and the Prime Minister that there's no shortage of fuel stocks in the system, and yet that's not what people are witnessing and seeing. So we want more fuel. We'll look at anything sensible. There's no doubt Chris Bowen's emissions obsession has had an impact because he was forcing one of our refineries to export all of its petrol. But we will look at sensible proposals that are going to take pressure off of the bowser, of course.
 
BARR: Okay. Look, we're going into Easter. Mark, have you got a message for the country as we head into this break?
 
BUTLER: Take a break if you can. Spend time with family. Obviously, stay safe. But I also want to send a message out to those people who aren't getting a break. Our hospitals aren't shutting down. Our aged care and disability homes aren't shutting down. So while most people viewing your program now are hopefully at home in their dressing gown, putting far too much butter on their hot cross bun, more than the Heart Foundation would recommend, there's also a lot of people going out to work today, and I want to send a shout-out to out to them.
 
BARR: Yeah, that is a very good point as we have our reporters standing at the Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne for the Good Friday Appeal. Angus, what about you? A message?
 
TAYLOR: Oh, well, I'll add to that. Our Defence Force, of course, there's many people in our Defence Force who are working over the weekend as they do and serving our nation. But can I say, this is an absolutely wonderful time of year. It's my favourite time of year. It's a time for reflection, to reflect on sacrifice and hope. And we need hope right now because the world does feel tough. And I really wish everybody a wonderful, wonderful Easter.
 
BARR: Okay. Thank you both. Thank you very much.