The last time Greg Hunt saw his mother before she died, she was in a mental health institution.
As Hunt explained in a 2010 speech, his mother Kathinka suffered a form of bipolar disorder.
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New Health minister opens up
Greg Hunt reveals why he's happy to be named the new Health minister and what he sees for the future of Australia's health system. Courtesy ABC News 24.
"It is not something about which I have talked much about," he said. "Her condition was not permanently debilitating but it was significant."
The "shock" of seeing his mother institutionalised (she later died at home) had stayed with him ever since and convinced him there needs to be a national program of support for the children of Australians facing mental health issues.
![Greg Hunt laughs after two nurses said they were too busy to speak with him following his appointment as Health Minister.](/web/20170119102604im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/t/r/6/4/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gttjfg.png/1484750191670.jpg)
Appointed Health Minister by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull on Wednesday, Hunt said mental health would be a particular focus for him in the portfolio.
Although best known for his involvement in environment policy - he famously wrote his university thesis on the case for a market-based response to climate change - Hunt has long been interested in health.
His mother was a nurse, as is his wife.
In his first speech to Parliament in 2002, Hunt said Australia faced five key social challenges over the next 20 years. The first was extending the growth of private health insurance which had made an "extraordinary leap" from 30 per cent of Australians in 1998 to 45 per cent in 2001.
![Greg Hunt is a moderate but became close to the more conservative Tony Abbott.](/web/20170119102604im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/j/9/z/w/u/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gttjfg.png/1484750191670.jpg)
"The next expansion in private health coverage is, I believe, through employer incentives for the inclusion of health care in workplace arrangements - perhaps through creative ways of excluding employer health care from the fringe benefits tax regime," he said.
He argued that adopting more of a US-style healthcare system - in which employers, rather than the government, take responsibility for healthcare - would free up money for governments to spend on aged care and other priorities.
![Greg Hunt visits Frankston Hospital patient Fay Tipping after being announced as the Turnbull government's new Health ...](/web/20170119102604im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/t/t/r/2/2/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gttjfg.png/1484750191670.jpg)
Private health coverage, he stressed, was "not about some special system of privilege, it is about freeing resources for the rest of society".
Having been environment minister in the Abbott government, Hunt is used to difficult portfolios. In that role he oversaw the abolition of the carbon tax and the creation of the government-funded Direct Action scheme that pays polluters to reduce their emissions.
In 2016 he was named "best minister in the world" by the World Government Summit - an honour recognising his work to protect the Great Barrier Reef and his contribution to the Paris climate talks.
While environmentalists would have preferred much stronger action, he was praised for his pragmatism in fashioning a workable climate policy in a Coalition that includes many climate sceptics.
A bouncy and energetic communicator, he slipped in 2013 by referencing Wikipedia when seeking to hose down suggestions of a link between climate change and increased bushfire intensity.
A 'small l Liberal' from the party's progressive wing, Hunt supports same-sex marriage and voted in favour of the abortion drug RU486. He voted for Turnbull rather than Tony Abbott in the 2009 leadership spill; in 2015 he voted for Abbott, whom he had become close to over their years in government and opposition.
After the July election Turnbull appointed Hunt, who was ready for a change, the minister for industry, innovation and science.
By that stage, though, innovation policy had lost its lustre, making it a low-profile role away from daily political combat.
That's all changed now Hunt is in health. Australians regularly rank health, alongside the economy, as one of their top concerns and it has been a traditional policy strength for Labor.
Announcing his reshuffle on Wednesday, Turnbull said Hunt was "ideally suited to the portfolio and praised his "strong policy, analytical and communication skills, developed over a very long frontbench career".
With more frontbench experience than his predecessor Sussan Ley, Hunt will likely be given greater scope to promote the Coalition's policies and rebut Labor's attacks.
He will also have to manage powerful lobby groups - such as the Australian Medical Association and the Pharmacy Guild - as well as money-hungry state governments.
Even for the best minister in the world, it'll be a mighty challenge.
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