PM announces Butler aged care minister
Mark Butler returns to the aged care portfolio under Albanese administration.
Mark Butler is being sworn in as Minister for Health and Aged Care today after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unveiled the Labor Government’s inaugural Cabinet last night.
The aged care portfolio is a familiar one for Mr Butler. He held the post of Minister for Mental Health and Ageing from September 2010 to July 2013 under prime ministers Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd.
While serving under the Gillard administration Mr Butler ushered in the Living Longer Living Better aged care reforms.
Last year, while Labor was in Opposition, Mr Butler returned to the portfolio as Shadow Minister for Ageing.
In the outer ministry, Anika Wells becomes the Minister for Aged Care and Sport.
Ms Wells joins a record number of women in the Albanese administration: 10 in Cabinet, 13 in the ministry and 19 on the front bench.
Speaking on Radio National this morning Ms Wells said: “We will be delivering on our promise that we made to the Australian people at the election. And I really look forward to getting the keys and getting in and talking to department today about what is underway, what is yet to be underway.”
She added “I feel very honoured that I have been given such a big reform task in the Albanese Labor Government and I am looking forward to getting started.”
Ms Wells told RN Breakfast that she had worked in aged care while at university. “So I do have some shop floor experience of aged care, albeit that was in the late 2000s … My mum worked in aged care before she retired so there is a bit of family history in the area.”
Meanwhile, Ged Kearney has been appointed the new Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing. Ms Kearney expressed her excitement on landing the role on Twitter.
While announcing the new ministry, the Prime Minister urged his colleagues not to waste a day in government. His comments add to hopes that there will be greater movement on aged care reforms under an Albanese administration.
Just six days after the election, Mr Albanese tweeted that a Labor Government would be making a submission on the aged care worker wage case before the Fair Work Commission.
The Albanese Cabinet and ministry will be sworn in at Government House on Wednesday morning and the subcommittees of the new cabinet will meet for the first time Thursday.
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Does Mr Albanese know that aged care workers are not on the minimum wage, the are on particular awards relevant to their area? So raising the minimum wage will not help the wages in aged care.
Great news having Mark back in the saddle he did a lot in 2012 looking for big things from him 10 years on…
Melanie Howard, you are incorrect.
Google: The Effect of Minimum Wage Increases on Wages, Hours Worked and Job Loss, James Bishop Report.
From this, this quote:
“The NMW and all award wages are adjusted at the same time every year, usually in early July. The size of these adjustments is decided at a national level by the FWC. Any adjustments are applied consistently across awards; historically the FWC has either added a flat dollar amount to all award wages (1993–2010) or raised all award wages by the same percentage amount (2011–18). “
Butler was one of the better Ministers in my 29 years in Aged Care along with Warwick Smith and perhaps Peter Staples. The only stupid thing he did was introduce that ridiculous discriminatory additional care subsidy payment if you embraced an Enterprise Agreement. Forget what it was called. Discriminated against those residents and staff who unfortunately were in homes whose providers used the Award.
Are you referring to the $1.2 billion workforce supplement launched in March 2013 after some delays? https://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/executive/policy/workforce-compact-announced/
It provided a wage supplement (rather than care subsidy) to go towards wages for those providers who signed up to the program to commit to increasing wages.
The new Abbott government scrapped it nine months later https://www.australianageingagenda.com.au/executive/government-succeeds-in-scrapping-workforce-supplement/