Mark Butler

Mark Christopher Butler (born 8 July 1970) is an Australian politician. He is a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and has served in the House of Representatives since 2007. He was a minister in the Gillard and Rudd governments and also served as national president of the ALP from 2015 to 2018.

Butler studied arts and law at the University of Adelaide and international relations at Deakin University. Prior to entering parliament he was the South Australian secretary of the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union (LHMU). He was elected to the seat of Port Adelaide at the 2007 federal election, later switching to Hindmarsh in 2019. Butler 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).

After the ALP's defeat at the 2013 election, Butler was a member of shadow cabinet under opposition leaders Bill Shorten and Anthony Albanese. He is a senior member of the Labor Left faction and was elected to a three-year term as national president in 2015.

After the ALP's win at the 2022 Australian federal election, Butler has held the portfolio of Minister for Health and Aged Care and is the Deputy Leader of the House. Following the 2025 Australian federal election, Butler also became the Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme. the son of Lindsay Nicholson and David Butler. His mother was a peace and anti-nuclear activist and campaigned to elect the Hawke and Keating governments. His father, a public servant and Vietnam war conscript, was the grandson of conservative South Australian premier Richard Layton Butler and the great-grandson of conservative South Australian premier Richard Butler, but was not politically active himself.

Butler's parents divorced when he was five years old, after which he and his brother moved to Adelaide with their mother. While at university he worked as a paralegal at Duncan Basheer Hannon (DBH).

Butler was active in student politics while at university. He was a housemate of future state MP Patrick Conlon and developed friendships with future premier Jay Weatherill and future federal minister Penny Wong; he and Weatherill were best man at each other's weddings. winning by a single vote. He was also noted for his constructive relationship with the Labor Right faction in South Australia, particularly then-secretary of the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association, Don Farrell. He subsequently was preselected for the seat of Hanson prior to the 1997 state election, but resigned to become state secretary of the LHMU. He was elected as a delegate to national conference in 1998 and elected to the national executive in 2000,

Opposition (2013–2022)

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 by Wayne Swan on 18 June 2018, becoming senior vice-president to Swan. Butler in 2014 addressing a community meeting. Andrew Giles (behind Butler) and Kelvin Thomson (first seated on left) are also in attendance. In a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle on 28 January 2021, Butler was moved from shadow Climate Change spokesperson to shadow spokesperson for Health.

Government (2022–present) At the 2022 election, Butler was elected for Labor in the expanded seat of Hindmarsh, which included most of the area of the former seat of Port Adelaide, which had been abolished as part of the 2018 boundary redistribution.

In the incoming Albanese ministry Butler was appointed as Minister for Health and Aged Care.

In May 2023 the Department for Health and Aged Care proposed a wide-ranging ban on e-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."

After the Albanese government was re-elected at the 2025 federal election, Butler retained the health portfolio in the second Albanese ministry, renamed to Minister for Health and Ageing, while also taking on the role of Minister for Disability and the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

Other activities In 2023, Butler delivered the Hugh Stretton Oration at the University of Adelaide.

Personal life Butler has two children from a previous marriage and one from his second marriage. In 2021, he married former SBS, BBC World News and ABC journalist Daniela Ritorto.

he lives in Grange, a beachside suburb of Adelaide in South Australia. Butler supports the Port Adelaide Football Club, and is a pescetarian.