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Mark Butler

This Month

Beachgoers inspect a dead Snapper on Glenelg Beach

No longer a ‘state issue’: Feds stump up $14m for marine crisis

The federal government has pledged millions to help South Australia deal with its catastrophe, but experts say much more is needed.

A dead Port Jackson shark on Glenelg Beach

Environment minister bows to pressure on SA sea life crisis

After weeks of insisting the South Australian marine catastrophe is a state issue, Murray Watt will visit Adelaide on Monday.

Government, business reject criticism of PM’s China ‘working holiday’

As Anthony Albanese flew home, the opposition said his six-day visit lacked tangible outcomes and was just a photo opportunity.

A before and after of the damage created in south australian waters by the algal bloom.

‘It’s a state issue’: Watt won’t step in over marine crisis

The federal environment minister is yet to offer support for SA’s unfolding ocean catastrophe, as scientists ask the state to lobby the PM.

Anthony Albanese with his four SA cabinet  ministers, Mark Butler, penny Wong, Don Farrell and Amanda Rishworth

Ministers urge PM to deal with SA algae crisis as backlash grows

Some of Anthony Albanese’s closest confidants will petition him for a response to the escalating algal bloom in South Australia as anger increases at inaction.

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Healthscope chief executive Tino La Spina is pitching a plan which will see the hospital operator bid for itself.

Healthscope’s not-for-profit plan to bid for itself

Healthscope’s lenders are weighing up a proposal to restructure the hospital operator into a not-for-profit company which will save $100 million on payroll tax.

Stop the mental health blowout, says Labor MP

Paediatrician and MP Mike Freelander says the way society diagnoses mental health is part of the problem behind a huge rise in compensation claims.

June

Health Minister Mark Butler in Canberra last week. On Sunday, he warned major pathology providers he would begin a price fixing inquiry if they hiked the cost of some testing.

Labor threatens pathology giants with price fixing probe over fee hike

The three largest providers, Sonic Healthcare, Healius and Australian Clinical Labs, say bulk-billing changes will leave them millions of dollars worse off.

Health Minister Mark Butler xxxxx

Health insurers dodge funding intervention

Health Minister Mark Butler says health insurers have coughed up as much as $350 million in extra hospital funding this financial year.

Federal Health Minister Mark Butler has distanced himself from the ACT government’s new public hospital tax

Hospital tax makes mockery of Labor’s health claims: Libs

The federal Liberals say an ACT Labor budget measure imposing a $250 hospital levy sets a “concerning precedent” for the rest of the country.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pushed back against self-interest states looking for better GST deals.

Chalmers pushes back on states over GST reform

The treasurer wants a national view of tax reform ideas at his productivity roundtable, while the states continue to squabble over their share of GST.

Monash IVF chief executive Michael Knapp resigned this week.

Monash IVF bungle leaves booming sector under the spotlight

After two embryo transfers were botched, there are growing calls for nationally consistent laws to strengthen regulation of the sector.

Psychologists will face the biggest pay increase of up to 31 per cent.

How specialist fees of $900 per visit are hurting private hospitals

Australians are paying hundreds of dollars to see a doctor that they cannot claim back on health insurance.

May

Health Minister Mark Butler.

Brookfield has made private equity’s life harder after Healthscope

The failure of the country’s second-largest private hospital operator will have implications for private investment in social infrastructure for years to come.

Healthscope’s terminal prognosis could be just the start

Another eight private hospitals are earmarked for closure as the operator’s collapse raises questions about the business model.

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Foreign hedge funds could take equity stakes in Healthscope if they cannot find the right buyer.

Hedge funds weigh up longer-term ownership of collapsed Healthscope

Polus Capital and Canyon Partners are considering whether they should tip money into the failed hospital operator amid questions about private equity ownership.

Keith Crawford of McGrathNicol has been tasked with selling Healthscope. He is pictured with the company’s chief executive Tino La Spina at the John Fawkner Hospital in Melbourne.

States demand assurances from Butler after Healthscope collapse

The future of the failed private hospital giant is partly in the hands of five Chinese state-owned banks and asset managers which control a fifth of its debt.

Healthscope chief executive Tino La Spina says it is business as usual for the country’s second-largest hospital operator.

Healthscope lifeline to keep hospitals afloat amid buyer search

While the company says it has 10 prospective suitors, Health Minister Mark Butler has flagged that overseas private equity firms are unacceptable hospital owners.

Getting medicated has never been easier, and Canberra is worried

Online prescriptions – for everything from weight loss to medicinal cannabis – is now a big business backed by Woolworths and NIB. But regulation is coming.

Prime Minister Albanese arrives in Indonesia and is met by Airlangga Hartarto, Indonesia’s Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs.

After three wobbly years, Albanese’s second term is taking off

The stack of new Labor MPs is reminiscent of the “class of 96”, which acted as John Howard’s praetorian guard for many years.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/person/mark-butler-47a