Health Minister Greg Hunt tipped to quit politics

Australia’s Minister for Health Greg Hunt is strongly rumoured to be retiring from politics at the next election, with insiders saying he is tipped to quit on Thursday, the last sitting day of Parliament for the year.

Mr Hunt, who was appointed minister of health in January 2017, is also minister for aged care. He was previously minister for the environment.

Both the Sydney Morning Herald/The Age and the Australian Financial Review are reporting he will quit politics entirely, despite denying it several times this year. He is also being tipped to be the next High Commissioner to the UK, with current commissioner George Brandis not asking for his appointment to be extended.

In his time, Mr Hunt has overseen the move to an opt-out My Health Record, the lifting of the seven-year pause on Medicare indexation, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality, and the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine strategy.

He also signed highly controversial “compacts” with the AMA and RACGP that saw them commit to encouraging uptake of the My Health Record and participation in the review of the MBS instigated by his predecessor, Sussan Ley, in exchange for the government lifting the freeze on indexation.

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