TV interview with Minister Butler, Today Show - 30 January 2026

KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Well, Australia is this morning being advised to tighten border controls following an outbreak of a deadly infectious disease.
 
SARAH ABO, HOST: Health Minister Mark Butler joins us live now from Sydney. Minister, thanks for your time this morning. What do we know about the Nipah virus so far?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: The Nipah virus is very rare, but it's also very deadly. There have been two confirmed cases in India. The Indian authorities tell us they've got that outbreak under control but nonetheless we're monitoring it very, very closely because this is a very serious virus. It's never been detected in Australia. Human to human transmission is very difficult. It doesn't spread in the way that COVID or the flu does through airborne viral particles. It really needs quite close personal contact, so it's spread through essentially human fluids, but we're monitoring this very closely. The Centre for Disease Control, our CDC, has put advice on its website which I encourage anyone interested to go to. It's pulling all the advice from around the world together in a single authoritative piece of advice for Australians. But obviously we're also taking advice about anything extra we should do to protect Australians.
 
STEFANOVIC: Yeah, look, I think everyone gets cold sweats when they hear deadly virus. So let's get the right information out there. How is Australia tightening its borders to keep this virus out specifically?
 
BUTLER: We have very clear protocols for sick travellers as they're coming in from wherever they might be coming across the globe. We've got no advice to change those protocols at this stage, but we're monitoring on a daily basis. This is, as I said, a very rare virus. It's very difficult to transmit from human to human. But if you do get it, the mortality rate is very, very high, between 40 and 75 per cent. We're taking it seriously, but we've got no advice at this stage to change what are already very clear protocols for sick travellers arriving in Australia.
 
ABO: Alright, listen to that advice. And just moving on now to the NDIS, children with mild autism are now starting to come off the program. What's happening there? Are you just going to hand that to the states to look after?
 
BUTLER: Well, existing participants aren't coming off the program. I made a very clear commitment that existing participants would stay on the program subject to all the usual rules. But state and territories and the Commonwealth agreed way back in 2023 that far too many young children were ending up on the NDIS. In some parts of the country, as many as one in four young boys were ending up on a scheme that was established for severe and permanent disability, usually lifelong disability. There was agreement to do something, but nothing really happened for a couple of years until last year I decided to kickstart this process with development of the Thriving Kids program, and we've seen a terrific amount of work in the last six months. National Cabinet, as you probably know, is meeting later this morning.
 
STEFANOVIC: Sorry Mark, we're almost out of time. I just want to get that answer. So what's going to happen now? Because you haven't made a decision yet?
 
BUTLER: National Cabinet is meeting this morning. We've got a report in front of them. We've got money on the table. They've committed money as well to develop this new Thriving Kids program that will give parents and families and young children access to services in a broad-based way, very easy to access, no need for a formal diagnosis that can take years and cost many thousands of dollars to make sure that our young people thrive.
 
STEFANOVIC: Good to talk to you, Mark. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.