Press conference with Minister Butler, Adelaide – 19 June 2026

Media event date: 19 June 2026 Date published: 19 June 2026 Media type: General public PETER DE CURE, RFDS SA/NT CHAIR: Good morning. My name is Peter de Cure. I'm the chair of the RFDS SA and NT, and I'd like to welcome everybody here today.

Before we begin, I'd like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the lands we meet on today, which is the Kaurna people, and we pay our respects to them, to their elders, past and present, to their cultures. As you'll appreciate, this is a working aviation hanger, so there may be some background noise. We'll do our best to get the presentations over before the jets start up.

It's an absolute pleasure today to welcome the Federal Health Minister, the Honourable Mark Butler, here to celebrate our partnership in terms of providing new aircraft to the Royal Flying Doctor Service in Australia. Minister Butler has been a very strong supporter of the RFDS and our work for the Commonwealth and has visited RFDS places in Adelaide and in William Creek, where he was present for the opening of our virtual healthcare clinic there two years ago.

Minister, thank you for your ongoing support and thank you for being here. And I'll pass over to Emma Buchanan, the Federation CEO, to welcome you all here today. EMMA BUCHANAN, FEDERATION CEO, RFDS: Thank you, Peter.

I'd also like to extend a warm welcome to the Honourable Minister Butler. We are delighted to have you here at our Adelaide base today to see one of our Pilatus PC PRO aircraft. The Pilatus PC PRO aircraft is one of 12 new aircraft we are receiving over the next two years, and it marks one of the largest fleet upgrades in RFDS's history.

The aircraft's advanced technology, improved safety features, and enhanced aeromedical capability will directly benefit patients, crews, health partners, and communities who rely on us every day. It is essentially a flying intensive care unit and is the first aeromedical-fit version in the world. We are incredibly pleased, proud, and privileged to have our 10-year strategic partnership with the Federal Government.

On behalf of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, I would like to thank the Australian Government for contributing funding to this significant uplift in our aeromedical capability. The strategic partnership with government is critical to our ability to be the lifeline for people who live, work, and play in rural and remote Australia. For almost 100 years, Australians have trusted and supported RFDS to establish infrastructure, equipment, capacity, and community links.

This partnership and the enduring support of Minister Butler and the Australian Government provides a strong foundation for the RFDS to continue to serve our mission for happier and healthier rural and remote communities across Australia. It's a pleasure to welcome Minister Butler. MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Thank you, Emma and thank you, Peter and the other staff of RFDS SA and NT for welcoming me here this morning for this exciting announcement.

Also, thank you, Aria Bolkus, for joining us today. Aria is the South Australian parliamentary representative for this area, West Beach, and representing the South Australian Government, which is also a great supporter of this icon. Icon is sometimes a bit of an overused word in Australia, but the RFDS is genuinely an Australian icon.

It's 98 years old, and the Commonwealth has enjoyed a productive partnership with Flying Doctor for almost all of that period commencing back in the 1930s. And the terrific thing about the Royal Flying Doctor Service is it's constantly innovating, constantly renewing its technology and its ideas about how to close that gap, that tyranny of distance in a country as vast as this in access to quality healthcare between those of us who live in the cities and those Australians who live in rural, regional, and remote Australia.

And this upgrade of the fleet to the PC-12 PRO is just one example of many, many examples of the innovation that the RFDS is doing right across our beautiful country. This aircraft is quite an extraordinary piece of kit. It's fitted out with some of the best healthcare technology you can get anywhere in the country, anywhere in the world.

And as I go around our country, Australia, that comfort that people outside our major cities have in looking up into the sky and seeing the red belly of the RFDS planes is and has been for more than nine decades an extraordinary thing for our country. Delighted to be here to celebrate this fleet upgrade, the first that has been fitted out with the technology that Emma talked about.

We've got this productive partnership between the Commonwealth and the RFDS across Australia. It's important to say we only contribute as government about a quarter of the cost, very vast cost, in purchasing an RFDS aircraft just for SA and NT. All of the rest of the money is raised by the terrific staff here at RFDS and the long list of donors, philanthropists, corporate donors, who've backed in this organisation for more than nine decades and made it what it is today and what I'm confident it will be for at least another nine decades into the future.

We're happy to take some questions about this, but I'm going to take the opportunity also to provide an update on where we're at in relation to the Hantavirus outbreak. People will remember that on the cruise ship, MV Hondius, there was an outbreak of Hantavirus some week weeks ago. And six returning passengers, five of them Australians and one New Zealander, were subject to a mandatory quarantine order that saw them serve out six weeks in mandatory quarantine at the Bullsbrook facility in Western Australia.

That 42 day quarantine period comes to an end the coming Tuesday, on 23 June. I'm very pleased to report that all six of those passengers have remained well, in good health, over the course of that entire period and have consistently tested negative, including this week, to that Hantavirus. They will be cleared to return home at the end of that period from next Tuesday, 23 June.

I really want to thank them for the extraordinary way in which they've cooperated with this mandatory quarantine order. They've maintained good spirits. And I want to thank them for the sacrifice that they have made not to return to their home and their families and their communities as quickly as I'm sure they would have liked to do, but to maintain and cooperate in this mandatory quarantine arrangement to protect their community, their community here in Australia.

They've just been terrific Australians through this period. I also want to thank the hardworking, highly experienced staff from the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre up in Darwin who relocated to look after these Australians. I want to confirm also the World Health Organization has not reported any additional Hantavirus cases since the last one, almost four weeks ago in Spain.

That was the 13th case reported. All of them in connection with the cruise ship, either passengers or crew from the MV Hondius. We're very confident, the AHPC, our chief health officers from all jurisdictions are very confident that these six passengers, five Australians, one New Zealander, are completely free of this virus and will be free to return home and not subject to any ongoing arrangements from a health point of view.

We're happy to take questions perhaps first in relation to this RFDS issue and then other topics of the day. : Just regarding, it says that there is a fourth aircraft to be delivered. When is the next one supposed to be delivered? In the next month.

It'll be here before Christmas. : Okay. I was going to ask how much money exactly has the Federal Government committed to this upgrade? The Federal Government's contribution to this upgrade is about $16 million, and it's a regular part of their contribution to our partnership contract.

The Federal Government has, as Minister Butler has said, regularly contributed to the upgrading of our aircraft program over the life of our many contracts with the Federal Government. : And what difference is this going to make for the community? The thing about these aircrafts is that they have the latest technology. They're capable of landing and taking off in very difficult terrain.

They're capable of working in the remotest communities, and they are equipped with the latest aviation technology. They're safer, they're faster, and they're more nimble. And as I'm sure everybody's aware, the technology in aviation moves probably faster than even the technology in in automotive delivery.

We're trading in some 15 to 20-year-old cars and getting some brand new versions. The technology is fantastic for our crews. It's fantastic for our pilots.

And in particular, the medical capability of these planes for the patients who need them most is at the highest possible level. : Thank you. : Other issues? : We’ll just go back to the Hantavirus. Do you believe the six weeks was enough for these people to be quarantined? : That was the unanimous advice from world health experts, not just here in Australia, but globally as well.

The World Health Organization said that the incubation period was up to 40 days for this particular virus. That advice has not been contested anywhere in the world. It was certainly advice accepted by our chief health officers.

Now, some countries allowed returning or repatriated passengers to return home for a home quarantine. We took a stricter approach here in Australia and made a mandatory quarantine order to remain at the Bullsbrook facility for the entire 42 days. As I said, the six passengers cooperated with that order marvellously and I thank them for that.

But I'm very confident, as the Health Minister, that we have done absolutely everything we can to make sure there was no risk to the Australian community. : Do Australians still need to be vigilant for this virus? : As I said, the World Health Organization hasn't reported any new cases now for some weeks. The only cases that have been reported anywhere in the world are either cruise ship passengers or crew.

The incubation period now certainly for Australia is well and truly concluded, or will be well and truly concluded come Tuesday, so I think this particular outbreak on all of the advice I have from here in Australia and also globally through the World Health Organization appears to be contained. : Did the quarantine, or, I guess, what did the quarantine cost the Federal Government? : We'll make sure all of those costs are reported in due course.

We're still frankly discharging those costs. We've got to repatriate the passengers. The Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre staff need to pack up next week and return home.

Obviously repatriating passengers, keeping the Australian community safe through quarantine arrangements does not come free, but it is an important function of government. : How necessary was it for them to be quarantined at that facility rather than being quarantined at home? : That was the advice that I received from the AHPC. This is the committee of all of the chief health officers chaired by the Commonwealth Chief Medical Officer and the Centre for Disease Control.

It's very clear that that that was the advice I was receiving. Now, some countries took a slightly more moderate approach to that, allowing people to return home. This would have meant people traveling from Perth to Sydney, Perth to Brisbane, maybe via Sydney.

We took the view that the safest, the most precautionary approach would be to require these people to maintain their quarantine arrangements at the facility that was built for that purpose just outside of Perth. : And when can we expect to learn how much this did cost? : In due course, though I can't tell you exactly when those costs will be fully reconciled. : Just on another matter, you've been accused of rushing legislation to make changes to the NDIS through because you need to make budget savings.

Are you putting people with disability at risk for the benefit of the government's bottom line? : No. People with disability are at the centre of these reforms, and the legislation I introduced a little while ago and announced some weeks before that really reflects work that's been going on since the NDIS review was conducted in 2023 and accepted and endorsed by all governments through National Cabinet later that year.

I accept that this is a series of very significant reforms, and for the disability community, big change obviously is going to be confronting. We heard some important evidence through the inquiry last week. We've been monitoring not just the evidence of public hearings but also the written submissions, there are many of them, very closely.

But I'm very confident that this is the right package of reforms at the right time for a scheme that we desperately need to secure for the long-term future. : Sorry, excuse me. The states are clearly unhappy with not being consulted over your draft amendments to the NDIS Act. Are you managing the process of moving towards more state-based disability services effectively? : In terms of state-based disability services, I've been really pleased with the response of state governments to our Thriving Kids agenda for children under the age of nine with more low to moderate support needs.

Almost every state has already registered their implementation plan. We've got arrangements that are ready to go for us to start funding them for those services. There's a degree of enthusiasm by states when the rubber hits the road to do this because they know it's what their community needs and expects.

There's another meeting of disability ministers taking place today in Sydney, which the Minister for the NDIS, Jenny McAllister, is chairing. Again, I know these are hard reforms, but I also know given that they are reforms that were signed off by all premiers, all chief ministers at a National Cabinet meeting earlier this year as part of a bigger package deal, I know state disability ministers know better than anyone else in government because they deal with this on a day-to-day basis, just how important these reforms are. : Would you say you are moving or managing the process of moving towards state-based disability services effectively? : We're working constructively with states.

That doesn't mean sometimes that there's not a bit of friction in the relationship. That is a pretty regular feature of the federation, has been since 1901. But by and large, I have an enormously constructive relationship, respectful relationship with my health minister colleagues but also with disability minister colleagues.

But as the meeting today will show, they've got a power of work to do over the coming 18 months and beyond. I think they recognise that, they recognise the responsibility they have in particular to make sure this package of reforms, as important as they are, is landed properly and with people with disability always at the centre of our thinking. : What deals are you willing to do to get the NDIS legislation over the line? : We've put out a package that, as I said, reflects three years of work and insights.

I was very pleased that the Leader of the Opposition, Angus Taylor, was very positive and constructive about the need to do this work in his budget reply speech. Of course, there's always a bit of politics around this, but I've also been really grateful for the constructive way in which the Shadow NDIS Minister, Melissa McIntosh, has engaged with us. Look, there will be debate around this.

There was when the bill was before the House of Representatives, but I know in their heart of hearts the vast bulk of MPs and senators in the Federal Parliament, and I suspect, in state parliaments recognise that this NDIS scheme has gone off track. It's an incredibly important reform, a significant advance in human rights for our country, but it needs to be brought back on track and it needs to happen quickly. : The report from the Senate committee into the government's NDIS changes will be handed down today I believe.

What will come after this or come from this? : As I said, we've been monitoring this closely. I mean the bill, at some stage, will hit the Senate and will be debated there as everyone who has a passing glance at Australian politics understands. We don't have the numbers in the Senate.

The process that the Senate will pursue in relation to consideration of this bill is ultimately a matter for them. But I know the committee chaired by Senator Grogan has been doing really significant work over the recent weeks to pull this important inquiry together, to hear important evidence in those public hearings and with their secretariat to consider literally hundreds and hundreds of written submissions.

I look forward to seeing their report later today. : Thriving Kids is just months away from starting its first stage. Queensland still hasn't signed on. So what are you doing to get that state across the line? : It's really important that Queensland look at signing on to this agreement pretty quickly.

I think their community will start to ask questions about whether families there are going to get the supports that the rest of Australia is going to get and rightly expect. I know the Queensland Government was an enthusiastic participant in the broader deal that National Cabinet struck earlier this year. That deal delivers billions of additional dollars in funding for Queensland hospitals.

But importantly, as well as part of that deal, charts a path for important reform of the NDIS and implementation of longstanding commitments really to do better for kids under the age of nine. I really want them to sign quickly. I'm very confident they will.

I get, again, that there are some politics around these things, but every other state has signed, including some Liberal jurisdictions. The other Liberal Party jurisdictions have also filed their implementation plan. Their communities are starting to be able to understand what services will be there for them.

I'm pretty confident Queensland families would like to do that as well. : Are you doing anything additional to get that state over the line? : Look, we're constantly engaging with the Queensland Government, so I feel very confident about that. Thanks. : And sorry, just on one last matter, Tony Modra was seriously injured in a crash last night. Do you have any update on his condition? : Look, I don't have any update, but can I say as a South Australian, Peter and I were talking about this.

Peter has known Tony for many, many years as well. If you were watching 40, 30 years ago, he was the most exciting figure playing anywhere in the country and was worshipped here in South Australia as a footy player. Everyone is desperately shocked by what has happened overnight, and all of our thoughts go to Erica and the kids, Tony's broader family and his vast network of friends and supporters who are just hoping and praying for good news. : Thank you.

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