Do we like Mark Butler?
Our score: 7 out of 10. Solid votes on same-sex marriage, climate and health, with real asterisks on trans youth care, new fossil fuel projects and the NDIS overhaul.
Butler is Canberra-born and has held the South Australian seat of Port Adelaide, now Hindmarsh, since 2007. He did a long stint as Labor's climate spokesman, then rebuilt his standing under Anthony Albanese and now runs health and the NDIS. The Nightly reports Labor sources tipping him as a possible future leader, helped by regular Sunrise spots and a run of Medicare announcements.
There's no court case, scandal or bullying story attached to him in anything we could find. His stoushes are about policy. Critics told The Nightly he authored uncosted policies that hurt Bill Shorten's 2019 campaign, and that Albanese then rescued his career. Today the heat is on the NDIS, where states say they were barely consulted.
On the harm test, his votes on LGBTQ+ equality are good. They Vote For You shows him consistently voting for same-sex marriage and for extending benefits to same-sex couples, and against a marriage plebiscite. The same site tags him as generally voting against transgender rights and protections, and mixed on LGBTI legal protections. He has never voted against his own party, so that reads as party-line voting on specific divisions, not a campaign of his own.
The trans youth call is the one that needs watching. In January 2025 he asked the NHMRC to review national guidelines for trans and gender-diverse kids, with advice on puberty blockers due mid-2026, and asked Queensland to drop its own review. Equality Australia cautiously welcomed that; the Australian Christian Lobby wanted the review free of activist influence. We couldn't find the mid-2026 advice, so where it landed is a gap.
The NDIS overhaul is the fresh stoush. The government wants to move about 160,000 people off the scheme to cut costs, and state and territory ministers have pushed back hard, saying there was little consultation. Butler told The Guardian's politics podcast the change is big and people may feel uneasy, but argued it is necessary. Disability advocates are the ones who will cop the consequences, so this is the part to keep watching.
On the good stuff, As health minister he announced A$26 million in research grants on LGBTIQA+ health in 2023, saying discrimination still affects many people. His voting record also backs a federal anti-corruption commission, closing the gender pay gap, banning non-therapeutic vapes and criminalising hate speech and hate symbols. That is a record that sits on the side of the people this page cares about.