TV interview with Minister Butler, Sunrise - 6 February 2026

NATALIE BARR, HOST: Well as we go to air, an increasingly dangerous situation is unfolding across this country. It’s sending our children to hospital every day, and in several tragic cases, it is claiming lives. We’re talking about e-bikes. Talk to any emergency doctor in a major city and they will tell you they’re beds are being filled with children suffering catastrophic injuries. We know because we’ve had so many of those doctors on this show. And these are not only concussions; we’re talking about skull fractures, brain bleeds and spinal injuries. This has become a national health emergency, and we need to start treating it exactly that way.
 
For more, we are joined by Health Minister, Mark Butler, and Liberal Senator Jane Hume. Good morning to both of you. Mark, this is taking over our hospitals, parents are frustrated by it, people in the streets are too. What will it take for this government to declare it a national health emergency?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: It needs to be something we work with all governments on, Nat. You're absolutely right. I'm lucky enough to be back in Adelaide. I think Jane's still stuck in Canberra. But I can tell you down at the beaches here, people talk to me all the time about these things. They are a total menace on the road. But you're right, health professionals, doctors, nurses, talk to me as the Health Minister about what it's doing to our hospitals. Kids have done stupid things on bikes ever since the penny-farthing was introduced. But it was abrasions, it was small fractures. The injuries that are coming into our hospital emergency departments are absolutely devastating. Obviously, the riders, the young riders themselves, but people they're knocking over with these e-bikes and e-scooters as well.
 
Now, we've toughened up the standards on imports, but what we do know is tens and tens of thousands of these bikes on the road are illegal. They don't comply with standards in place by state governments. We've got to work together. We've got to make sure we stop these things coming into the country in the first place. But where they are in, and a lot are, you saw them on the Sydney Harbour Bridge, police are given the powers to crack down, to take them away, to crush them, to destroy them.
 
BARR: But, Mark -
 
BUTLER: This is a real emergency.
 
BARR: But, Mark, it seems to most people, when they saw that Sydney Harbour Bridge footage, and we'll just bring it up again, that these guys, and it seems like they were mostly young boys, drove past the sign that said no bikes on the Harbour Bridge. They did a U-turn around it, went against traffic and kept going. And we know police are going through footage, but no one can believe that that happened in Australia's biggest city.
 
BUTLER: Oh, it's just extraordinary. I know New South Wales Police are investigating this, but this has got to be the subject of strong action by all governments. It’s one of those problems that really sort of creeped up on us under the cover of COVID and has just exploded. And I don't know, I'm sure Jane feels it as well, people, as a local MP, people are talking to me about it all the time. It's driving them absolutely to distraction. Footpaths, roads, just these kids buzzing past, not pedalling bikes as we all did when we were young, sometimes doing stupid things, but these high-powered motorised things causing real danger and ending up in the hospital system.
 
BARR: Okay. Jane, in WA they're crushing them. So if you can go over 25 kilometres an hour, it's classed as a motorbike, and so if you go on the road with that vehicle, then it needs to be registered. And, of course, they're not, so they seize them and they've crushed more than 50. Is that what every state needs to do?
 
SENATOR JANE HUME: Well, I think we need to be really careful here that we don't demonise kids on bikes more broadly. We want kids out there on bikes.
 
BARR: But they’re dying out there.
 
HUME: But what we really want is community safety and we want enforcement of the road rules. This doesn't need to become a bureaucratic nightmare. There are solutions that are being offered, and I think they should be considered, whether they're those that are being considered in WA, or my good friend Natalie Ward in New South Wales has suggested that we introduce low-cost identification plates for e-bikes. I think that's a really good start, particularly for those young cohorts, those under 18, as well as those that are using them for commercial purposes, whether they're food delivery or whether they're hire bikes. I think that's a really good start, so at least the police know who it is that they're dealing with. That comes along with some e-bike safety education and enforcing the road rules. We need to be able to enforce those road rules so that the police have some powers to stop the kind of behaviour that we saw on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
 
BARR: Jane, your good friend Natalie Ward increased the speed that's now double every other state in this country. So that's why it's 500 watts in New South Wales. That happened three years ago.
 
HUME: Don't you think though, Nat, if we knew who these e-bike riders were, then the road rules could be enforced. Now, we want to make sure that there is community safety and there are community standards and that the police have the power -
 
BARR: But that’s why they’re going so fast.
 
HUME: To address the issue as opposed to just watch these kids whiz on past and not have any consequence.
 
BARR: Okay, so we've got a lot of problems here. There's quite a few issues. There's illegal modifications. There are the high speeds, there are the no helmets, there's the alcohol attached, there's everyone going to hospital. Mark Butler, as the Federal Minister, do we need to get a roundtable? Because this is affecting everybody.
 
BUTLER: Transport ministers are dealing with this, I know, and I think having different laws in different states is a crazy way to deal with this. This is a real menace to young children and the community more broadly. I think doubling the speed for these bikes in New South Wales is a terrible idea, 25 kilometres an hour, which is the speed limit in other states, that's fast. Pretty hard to pedal a bike at 25 kilometres an hour. We've just got to get sensible about this stuff. I'm all in favour of having kids out doing activity as well, but what's wrong with pedalling a bike? Why do they need these high-powered motorised devices?
 
BARR: So, do we get everyone together?
 
BUTLER: Yeah, transport ministers are already talking about having more common standards. We've cracked down on imports. Look, health ministers talk about the problems we have coming into our emergency departments all the time. People are raising this with me, but we've got to stop at its source. We can't fix it in the emergency departments. We've got to fix it out in the community.
 
BARR: Okay. Before we go, Jane, let's get you on this. Pauline Hanson says she's willing to support a reformed coalition to take on Labor at the next election. Will we see a Liberal, National, One Nation alliance?
 
HUME: Now, I think Pauline might be getting a little bit ahead of herself here. We're two years out from an election, and at this stage, One Nation has only one member of the House of Representatives. I think the Liberal Party can govern on its own, on its own merits too. Now, I can understand -
 
BARR: Without the Nats?
 
HUME: … why people are tending towards grievance politics. People have a lot to be aggrieved about right now. We've seen an interest rate rise just in the last week. We've seen immigration run out of control. We've seen the economy is stalling. The cost of childcare has gone up.
 
BARR: Yeah, but back on you guys -
 
HUME: The cost of healthcare has gone up.
 
BARR: You don't seem to be reforming with the Nats anytime soon. Do you want to just tee up with One Nation?
 
HUME: No, people are rightly aggrieved, and that's why they're talking about One Nation. But come the election, I want to make sure that it's the Liberal Party that are presenting those credible and genuine alternatives to a Labor Party that is letting people down -
 
BARR: So you don’t want a threesome with Pauline?
 
HUME: A Labor Party is letting people down. That's why people are looking for answers.
 
BARR: Is that a yes? Is that a possibility?
 
HUME: I want them to look for answers in the Liberal Party on their own.
 
BARR: Jane, are you going to talk to her?
 
HUME: Yeah. Nat, the Liberal Party can do this without Pauline Hanson. The Liberal Party can do this on its own because we need to fight the Labor Party who have let Australians down.
 
BARR: On its own without the Nats?
 
HUME: Nat, that's why people are looking to One Nation.
 
BARR: Without the Nationals?
 
HUME: They need answers. That’s why they need answers.
 
BARR: Are you reforming with the Nats?
 
HUME: Nat, the Liberal Party can do this on its own, but we need to make sure that we get our act together.
 
BARR: Hang on. Just to clarify -
 
HUME: We get our act together.
 
BARR: Okay, are you reforming with the Nationals?
 
HUME: We're talking to our coalition partners, our former coalition partners, because, let's face it, we're better in coalition with the National Party.
 
BARR: Okay, just clarify -
 
HUME: But the Liberal Party can do this on its own. Do not be under any illusions that we can't.
 
BARR: Okay, thank you very much. See you next week.