Mark Butler to stay on as Health Minister

RACGP President Dr Michael Wright has welcomed the re-appointment of Mark Butler as the Federal Health Minister.
 
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese revealed the cabinet for his newly re-elected Government on Monday afternoon following several days of behind-the-scenes discussion.
 
Prime Minister Albanese also announced that the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) will now fall under the auspices of Minister Butler’s health portfolio, moving from the Ministry of Social Services.
 
His full title is now Minister for Health and Ageing, and Minister for Disability and the NDIS. Senator Jenny McAllister was also assigned as Minister for the NDIS.
 
Former Tasmanian Labor Leader Rebecca White will replace Ged Kearney as the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Indigenous Health and Women.
 
Emma McBride remains in her post as Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention and for Rural and Regional Health.
 
Sam Rae was named Minister for Aged Care and Seniors, Malarndirri McCarthy as Minister for Indigenous Australians, Josh Wilson as Assistant Minister for Emergency Management, and Dan Repacholi as Special Envoy for Men’s Health.
 
Dr Wright said he looked forward to working with Minister Butler, as well as Assistant Ministers White and McBride, and other cabinet members over the next term of Government.
 
‘Investing in general practice is the most cost-effective way to improve the health and wellbeing of all Australian communities, and we look forward to working with the Albanese Government which has made healthcare its top priority during the election campaign,’ he said.
 
The retention of Minister Butler in the health portfolio means he will oversee the implementation of the returning Government’s election promise of $8.5 billion earmarked to expand bulk billing, as well as to boost the general practice workforce.
 
Dr Wright said the increased funding will help redress the impact of the previous long-standing freeze on Medicare patient rebates.
 
‘This shows the Government’s commitment to general practice and the health and wellbeing of our communities,’ he said.  
 
‘We look forward to working with Minister Butler and the Albanese Government to implement their election promises, including training more specialist GPs, and reshaping Medicare.’
 
Following the election earlier this month, Dr Wright congratulated the returning Government while also noting the concern of many RACGP members about proposed changes to bulk-billing incentives.
 
‘We are now looking forward to helping the Government implement its promises and making sure the investment supports high-quality care and financial viability of general practices all around the country,’ he previously told newsGP.
 
‘Supporting our members around the country to adopt the best models that work for them and their communities remains a priority for us.’
 
In his announcement of the new cabinet, Prime Minister Albanese said the transfer of the NDIS to the health portfolio has been under consideration for some time.
 
‘Mark Butler has a great interest in this area,’ he said.
 
‘He has had an interest for a long period of time but Jenny McAllister has shown in the work that she has done in emergency management in a short period of time that she has been in the ministry that she is someone who has a capacity to have a great attention to detail and that is precisely what’s required when it comes to the reform of the NDIS.’
 
The RACGP has long called for more GP involvement in NDIS planning, which it says will improve health outcomes as well as make the system more efficient and accountable.
 
First elected to Federal Parliament in 2007, Minister Butler previously served as Minister for Ageing and the Minister for Mental Health under the Gillard Government.
 
Shortly after becoming the Federal Health and Aged Care Minister in June 2022, Mark Butler set up the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
 
The tripled bulk-billing incentive for health cardholders was a signature policy from the first term of the Albanese Government, with a $5.7 billion injection of funds revealed in the 2023–24 Federal Budget.
 
Minister Butler also labelled the pressures on GP recruitment as the ‘highest priority’ in health policy during that first term, and set in motion a move to fast-track registrations for overseas-trained GPs from select countries.
 
Following his re-appointment, he said Labor will ensure Australia’s systems of care and support always put patients and people first, and that he looks forward to ‘delivering on that commitment’.
 
‘Our task is crystal clear: to strengthen Medicare, protect the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, deliver generational reform to aged care, and secure the future of the NDIS,’ Minister Butler said.

The new cabinet will be sworn in by the Australian Governor-General Sam Mostyn in Canberra on Tuesday 13 May.

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Federal Election Health Minister Mark Butler