Mark Butler | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Butler in 2016 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Health and Ageing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 June 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Greg Hunt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 13 May 2025 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Amanda Rishworth | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy Leader of the House | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 1 June 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prime Minister | Anthony Albanese | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Leader | Tony Burke | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | David Gillespie | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| National President of theLabor Party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 17 June 2015 – 18 June 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Jenny McAllister | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Wayne Swan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Member of theAustralian Parliament forHindmarsh | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 18 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Steve Georganas | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theAustralian Parliament forPort Adelaide | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 24 November 2007 – 18 May 2019 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Rod Sawford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Division abolished | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Mark Christopher Butler (1970-07-08)8 July 1970 (age 55) Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Australian Labor Party | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alma mater | University of Adelaide Deakin University | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Occupation | Trade unionist | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mark Christopher Butler (born 8 July 1970) is an Australian politician. He is a member of theAustralian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in theHouse of Representatives since 2007. He was a minister in theGillard andRudd governments and also served asnational president of the ALP from 2015 to 2018.
Butler studied arts and law at theUniversity of Adelaide and international relations atDeakin University. Prior to entering parliament he was the South Australian secretary of theLiquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU). He was elected to the seat ofPort Adelaide at the2007 federal election, later switching toHindmarsh in 2019. Butler was made aparliamentary secretary in 2009, becoming a minister after the2010 election and winning promotion tocabinet the following year. He subsequently held the portfolios ofMinister for Mental Health and Ageing (2010–2013),Social Inclusion (2011–2013),Housing and Homelessness (2013),Environment and Water (2013), andClimate Change (2013).
After the ALP's defeat at the2013 election, Butler was a member ofshadow cabinet under opposition leadersBill Shorten andAnthony Albanese. He is a senior member of theLabor Left faction and was elected to a three-year term as national president in 2015.
After the ALP's win at the2022 Australian federal election, Butler has held the portfolio ofMinister for Health and Aged Care and is the Deputy Leader of the House. Following the2025 Australian federal election, Butler also became theMinister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.[1]
Mark Christopher Butler was born inCanberra on 8 July 1970,[1] the son of Lindsay Nicholson and David Butler. His mother was a peace and anti-nuclear activist and campaigned to elect theHawke andKeating governments.[2] His father, a public servant andVietnam war conscript, was the grandson of conservative South Australian premierRichard Layton Butler and the great-grandson of conservative South Australian premierRichard Butler, but was not politically active himself.[3]
Butler's parents divorced when he was five years old, after which he and his brother moved toAdelaide with their mother.[2] He attendedUnley High School, taking a gap year in Italy before enrolling at theUniversity of Adelaide.[2] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts inJurisprudence and aBachelor of Laws withfirst class honours.[2][4] While at university he worked as aparalegal at Duncan Basheer Hannon (DBH).[2] He was short-listed for aRhodes Scholarship,[2] and later completed aMaster of International Relations degree atDeakin University.[5]
Butler was active instudent politics while at university.[6] He was a housemate of future state MPPatrick Conlon and developed friendships with future premierJay Weatherill and future federal ministerPenny Wong; he and Weatherill were best man at each other's weddings.[2]
In 1992, Butler joined theLiquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Workers' Union (LHMU) as a legal officer through his connections with Conlon. He made appearances before industrial tribunals, "pushing for cleaners and hospital workers to get better pay".[2] In 1996 he was elected state secretary of the LHMU,[7] winning by a single vote.[2]
Butler developed a close working relationship with his NSW counterpartAnthony Albanese.[7] He would later be Albanese's campaign manager in theOctober 2013 election for the Federal ALP Leadership.[8] He was also noted for his constructive relationship with theLabor Right faction in South Australia, particularly then-secretary of theShop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association,Don Farrell.[7]
Butler joined the ALP at a young age and became a delegate to state conference in South Australia in 1993.[1] At the age of 23, he was a candidate for ALPpreselection in the seat ofRoss Smith prior to the1993 South Australian state election.[9] He subsequently was preselected for the seat ofHanson prior to the1997 state election, but resigned to become state secretary of the LHMU.[2] Butler served as state president of theAustralian Labor Party (South Australian Branch) from 1997 to 1998,[1] the youngest president in the party's history.[10] He was elected as a delegate tonational conference in 1998 and elected to thenational executive in 2000,[1] representing the Left faction.[7]
Butler was elected as the Labor member for the electoral division ofPort Adelaide at the2007 federal election.[1]
In a 2009First Rudd Ministry reshuffle, Butler was appointed Parliamentary Secretary for Health. On 14 September 2010, he was sworn in asMinister for Mental Health and Ageing in theSecond Gillard Ministry. On 12 September 2011 he was given the additional responsibility of Minister Assisting the Prime Minister on Mental Health Reform. On 14 December 2011, Butler's ministry was renamed Mental Health and Aged Care, and he became a member of Cabinet.[11]
After the 2013 election,Bill Shorten named Butler as the Shadow Minister for the Environment.
On 17 June 2015, Butler was elected National President of the Australian Labor Party and was succeeded byWayne Swan on 18 June 2018, becoming senior vice-president to Swan.[12][13][14]
In aShadow Cabinet reshuffle on 28 January 2021, Butler was moved from shadow Climate Change spokesperson to shadow spokesperson for Health.[15]
At the 2022 election, Butler was elected for Labor in the expanded seat ofHindmarsh, which included most of the area of the former seat ofPort Adelaide, which had been abolished as part of the 2018 boundary redistribution.[16]
In the incomingAlbanese ministry Butler was appointed asMinister for Health and Aged Care.[1]
In December 2022, Butler announced that theMedicare rebate for mental health sessions would be reduced from twenty to ten sessions, after the additional sessions included were temporarily extended by theMorrison government during theCOVID-19 pandemic.[17]
In May 2023 the Department for Health and Aged Care proposed a wide-ranging ban one-cigarettes ("vapes"); Butler said "I want vaping to return to the purpose that we were told it was invented for, that is a therapeutic product to help long-term smokers quit."[18]
After theAlbanese government was re-elected at the2025 federal election, Butler retained the health portfolio in thesecond Albanese ministry, renamed toMinister for Health and Ageing, while also taking on the role ofMinister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.[19]
In 2023, Butler delivered theHugh Stretton Oration at the University of Adelaide.[20]
Butler has two children from a previous marriage and one from his second marriage.[21] In 2021, he married former SBS, BBC World News and ABC journalistDaniela Ritorto.[22]
As of 2024[update] he lives inGrange, a beachside suburb of Adelaide inSouth Australia.[23] Butler supports thePort Adelaide Football Club,[24] and is apescetarian.[25]
| Parliament of Australia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member forPort Adelaide 2007–2019 | Division abolished |
| Preceded by | Member forHindmarsh 2019–present | Incumbent |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Minister for Mental Health and Ageing 2010–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Social Inclusion 2011–2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Environment and Water 2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Minister for Climate Change 2013 | Office abolished |
| Preceded by | Minister for Health and Aged Care 2022–present | Incumbent |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | National President of the Australian Labor Party 2015–2018 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Senior Vice-President of the Australian Labor Party 2018–present | Incumbent |
Prime Minister:Kevin Rudd | ||
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Prime Minister:Anthony Albanese | ||
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| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| Resigned | ||
Prime Minister:Anthony Albanese | ||
| Cabinet | | |
| Outer Ministry | ||
| Assistant Ministers | ||
| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
