TV interview with Minister Butler, Today Show – 3 June 2026

SARAH ABO, HOST:  Well, business leaders are sounding the alarm this morning, warning the minimum wage increase will stoke the inflation fire and drive costs up. Joining us to discuss today's headlines is Health Minister Mark Butler and National's Leader Matt Canavan. Good morning to you both. Mark, this is going to impose an economy-wide cost of about $11.7 billion. Can we afford it?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Let's put that into perspective, Sarah. It's about one tenth of one per cent of the nation's wage bill, more than the employers were submitting to the Fair Work Commission. This is the wage increase I think low-paid workers need right now. I'm delighted, frankly, myself that in four weeks' time, some of the lowest-paid workers in the community are going to get a real wage increase, as well as a tax cut. The Commission made it really clear that this group of workers are facing the toughest impact of the inflation that's flowing from the war in Iran. They don't have much discretion in their household budget to pull back on. Almost all of their household budget goes on essentials. This is a really important wage increase for people who are doing it toughest, and it's something we're strongly supportive of. We were in the Commission arguing for a sustainable real wage increase, and that's what the lowest-paid workers are getting in four weeks' time.
 
ABO: I mean, it's pretty tough across the economy, though. That's the issue, Mark. And I guess, Matt, you know, look, it equals to about just under $2 extra per hour. We know small businesses are having a tough time of it at the moment. Is this increase likely to make it worse for them?
 
SENATOR MATT CANAVAN: Look, it's going to make it worse for everybody because this government's spending too much money. You just heard more lies and spin from Mark there. This is not a real wage increase, because the wage increase is lower than what inflation's running at the moment. It's running at over 5 per cent. This wage increase is below that. So people are going backwards. People are going backwards, and they, the Labor Party continues to seem to think that they will be- people are mugs, and will believe this rubbish they're telling them that because your wages go up, you're better off. You're not, because everything's costing way much more in the shops. That's putting more pressure on small business as well, because their costs of everything are going up. And this government has lost control of spending.
 
We are spending now, in this country, $35,000 for every household more than we were before COVID. This COVID -
 
ABO: Matt, are you saying they deserve a bigger pay rise?
 
CANAVAN: All those programs came off and they didn't bring spending back down. That's why inflation is out of control. It was out of control before the Iran war. We had the highest inflation rate before that, and it's only getting worse. Because again, this government, in their last budget, had no plan to bring that down.
 
ABO: So, they should be getting more?
 
CANAVAN: Look, I don't, I think workers have got to keep up with inflation. So, the increase has to keep up with that. But that doesn't mean that people are better off. As I just said, this is a three-card trick from the Labor Party, trying to suggest that people are better off with this when the price of everything they buy from their wages goes up at the same rate, or even higher, actually, at the moment.
 
ABO: Alright, let's move on because we've got a little bit to get through this morning. Anthony Albanese is, of course, facing a revolt over AUKUS, we're seeing internally, after the US downgraded the deal, snubbing us with second-hand subs. Mark, when there are those internal murmurings, you know something's up. I mean, Ed Husic says this isn't the deal we were promised. He's not wrong.
 
BUTLER: We're very, very happy with the way in which this project is tracking. The three defence ministers -
 
ABO: Who’s we’re? Because not everyone is.
 
BUTLER: The government, the government. There was one backbencher -
 
ABO: Well, he’s part of the government, isn’t he?
 
BUTLER: There was one backbencher out of a caucus of about 120 who's raised some questions -
 
ABO: He’s the only one, Mark, is he?
 
BUTLER: The government is very happy with the way in which this project is tracking. The three defence ministers of the three countries met earlier this week, as you know, Sarah, and came to the view that this is on track. Come down to my electorate in Port Adelaide and you'll see the things starting to be built. We've got hundreds of workers who are training at Pearl Harbor and in the UK.
 
ABO: But you've got workers' unions who are concerned about it as well, though, Mark.
 
BUTLER: This project is not a plan. I've seen it described as a plan; it is now a reality. We need a submarine capability as an island nation in the most challenging strategic times since World War II. And I am convinced this is absolutely the right option for Australia going forward. And we're pressing ahead. It's full steam ahead as far as we're concerned, and also as far as the US and the UK are concerned.
 
ABO: But I’m not sure it is. It sounds like you're paper-machéing over cracks here because there are issues that keep arising with this. I mean, Matt, even Peter Garrett, for what it's worth, has weighed in. He's launching an inquiry into AUKUS. Are you, on the other side, as worried about the rollout of this deal under the unpredictable Trump administration? Things do seem to keep changing constantly.
 
CANAVAN: Oh look, what I'd like to see, Sarah, is us take more control of our own destiny here. I just don't think the Labor Party's heart's in it. I think Mark was soldiering on there, but they just don't seem that excited about defence, and it's very important to get excited about that because we're in the probably most difficult geopolitical environment since World War II. We've got to rebuild our industrial capacity. Waiting for subs in 10 or 15 years' time is not a defence strategy in and of itself. We need to pursue AUKUS, we need to keep that on track, but under this government, we've lost our capacity to make fertiliser, we've lost our capacity to make plastics, we've lost our capacity to make nickel. We can't even make flat glass, you can't make buildings at the moment from scratch in this country under this government. If we don't have industry in this country, we won't be able to defend ourselves.
 
And last night at Senate estimates, it was revealed that the CSIRO under this government has no plan to increase liquid fuel security. They have no research going on into oil. They got lots of climate modelling going on in the CSIRO, they're doing nothing to increase our supply of oil. That is the most strategic, the biggest strategic risk to our country right now.
 
ABO: Alright, and that's an issue we don't have time to debate this morning, unfortunately, guys. Thank you so much for joining me. Appreciate it.