Hot off the back of a bulk-billing victory lap, the health minister faced some tough questions at the annual RACGP conference.
Having spent the better part of 2025 predicting how GPs will react to investments in bulk billing, federal health minister Mark Butler has now – finally – had the chance to address a room of them.
Around 1300, in fact.
November has been a big month for Mr Butler, with two of the most ambitious initiatives in Medicare history going live; the expanded triple bulk-billing incentive (BBI) and the bulk-billing practice incentive payment (BB PIP).
Over the past fortnight alone, he has issued no less than five media releases about the investments, as well as two press conferences and five radio or TV interviews.
One of his more eye-catching talking points this year has been the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing forecast that bulk-billing rates would reach 90% and that 75% of GP clinics would be universal bulk billers by 2030.
These figures have been heavily questioned by actual GPs.
Speaking at the RACGP’s annual conference, GP25, in Brisbane on Friday, the health minister conceded (not for the first time) that the BBPIP was “not for every practice” but said he remained confident in his department’s modelling.
“We have access to information about every dollar that’s charged, whether it’s charged to Medicare or charged to private patients,” Mr Butler said.
“We can crunch those numbers [and] we’re pretty confident in that.
“But I also recognise that practices and individual doctors who are working in those practices may make decisions that aren’t necessarily just based on that financial model.
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“We’ve never tried to pretend that every practice would shift. We’ve been very frank about that.
“We’ve, frankly, been pretty conservative about when we think the bulk-billing rate will get to our target of 90%.”
He also revealed that more than 1000 previously mixed-billing clinics had signed on to the BBPIP over the past few weeks.
RACGP president Dr Michael Wright questioned the minister several times about mainstream media reporting that GP visits would become “free” under the new investments.
“We’ve seen the media saying, ‘GP visits are now free, and go question your GP if they’re not free’ – but for thousands of practices, they won’t be free because the rebates don’t cover the cost of care,” Dr Wright said.
“What’s your advice for those practices for whom these changes aren’t beneficitting?”
In response, Mr Butler reiterated that he trusted in the departmental modelling.
“My focus is on ensuring there’s two things – first of all, it’s on patients to ensure they have affordable, accessible support from primary care through GP-led teams,” the minister said.
“That’s our most important lodestone.
“Connected to that, inextricably, is support for a thriving general practice sector. And although we might not agree on every single aspect of what we’ve done over the last three and a half years, I think it’s pretty hard to argue that this government has not done more to support the general practice sector than any I could certainly remember.”
This year’s RACGP conference, GP25, was held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre between 14 and 16 November.
