Tuesday, 12 July, 2022 - 15:09
Fix funding, workforce issues first
Amber Crosthwaite’s latest column for Business News takes the form of an open letter to Labor’s new aged care minister Mark Butler and Anika Wells.
Mark Butler
Minister for Health & Aged Care, Deputy Leader of the House / Parliament of Australia
Most Notable Role
Mark Butler is an Australian politician and a member of the Australian Labor Party, representing the Division of Hindmarsh since 2019. He was previously a member for Port Adelaide from 2007 until the division was abolished.
Mr Butler was a minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments, and also served as national president of the ALP from 2015 to 2018 - the youngest president in the party's history. He was made a parliamentary secretary in 2009, becoming a minister after the 2010 election and winning promotion to cabinet the following year. He subsequently held the portfolios of Minister for Mental Health and Ageing (2010–2013), Social Inclusion (2011–2013), Housing and Homelessness (2013), Environment and Water (2013), and Climate Change (2013). Following the Labor Party's victory at the 2022 federal election, Mr Butler became the Minister for Health & Aged Care and Deputy Leader of the House under the Albanese government.
Mr Butler holds a Bachelor of Arts in Jurisprudence and a Bachelor of Laws with first class honours. He was shortlisted for a Rhodes Scholarship, and later completed a Master of International Relations at Deakin University.
