The Latest Breaking News from Mark Butler

The federal government is under pressure from its own backbench to reverse a decision to halve subsidised psychological visits.

Labor backbencher Josh Burns has come out against a government decision to halve the number of subsidised psychology appointments.

Medicare data has confirmed what many already knew: GP bulk-billing rates have fallen in the past quarter, prompting more concern that the scheme is failing.

Vulnerable Australians “scared” and “betrayed” after Albanese government announced it would halve subsidised psychology appointments.

The health minister points to an independent evaluation of COVID-era psychology sessions to justify cutting the program — but that report actually recommended keeping the sessions.

The government is halving the number of Medicare-subsidised psychology appointments from the end of the year, following a review of the scheme.

Subsidised visits to psychologists, GPs and allied mental health services will be halved within weeks, with the federal government abandoning a program added at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A referral will be needed from next year if patients require a free PCR test under changes to how Australia will deal with COVID-19.

Out of more than 70 ready-made food products for toddlers, more than 75 per cent fail to meet the proposed guidelines for sugar set out by the World Health Organization (WHO), soon-to-be-published research for the Obesity Policy Coalition has found.

A decade since world-first plain packaging reforms, there is a new threat: the alarming rate of children using e-cigarettes

What are the effects on children? Is anything being done? New research shows just how widespread addiction has become