Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Parramatta for presenting her motion on ovarian cancer, calling for greater focus on education and additional research funding for early detection and more effective treatments. Although we still do not know what causes ovarian cancer, what we do know is that approximately 90 per cent of ovarian cancers start on the outer covering of the ovary, and this is known as epithelial ovarian cancer. Although a relatively uncommon disease, it claims the lives of 800 Australian women each year, with 1,200 women being diagnosed each year. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often unclear and mirror those of other disorders, which of course makes it difficult to diagnose in its early stages. I agree with the member for Parramatta when she calls for better educational support for general practitioners to provide more early detection tests and for women to have an increased awareness and knowledge about gynaecological cancers and symptoms. Therefore, medical research into this cancer must continue and must be adequately funded.

The previous coalition government’s history of funding research into ovarian cancer included $3.3 million in 2004 for research delivered by the National Health and Medical Research Council, from which the council released guidelines for the management of women with epithelial ovarian cancer. In 2005-06, the NHMRC provided more than $44 million for research into gynaecological cancers. The Australian ovarian cancer study is also funded by a grant from the NHMRC. In 2005, the AOCS secured funding through to 2011 for ongoing collection of clinical data follow-up, allowing the collection of a minimum five-year clinical follow-up on all cases. In addition, the AOCS also obtained funding to manage and maintain its core facilities through to 2010.

In 2007, the former government provided seed funding of $1 million for the establishment of the National Centre for Gynaecological Cancers to combat ovarian cancer. The centre, under the auspices of Cancer Australia, provides education and awareness services relating to ovarian cancer. The National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre is an independent national authority and information source on breast and ovarian cancer, funded by the Australian government to work in partnership with health professionals, cancer organisations and researchers to improve outcomes in breast and ovarian cancer.

In September 2001 the federal government established the national Ovarian Cancer Program to improve the health outcomes for women with ovarian cancer. I commend the work of the Ovarian Cancer Program, which covers all aspects of this disease from risk factors, symptoms and diagnosis to the multidisciplinary treatment of women with ovarian cancer, to raise awareness and improve outcomes. I am concerned that the government’s budget allocation for its national cancer plan to support the Centre for Gynaecological Cancers will fall well short of what is required to not only get the awareness message out to Australian women but also adequately fund much needed continued medical research into the disease to improve early detection, tests, treatment and outcomes. The coalition established an ongoing commitment to the national health priority initiative as a collaborative approach to dealing with a range of conditions that account for a high financial and human burden, including cancer, and had an ongoing commitment to fund more radical research.

The change expected in the large number of people dropping their private health insurance due to federal Labor increasing the threshold for the Medicare levy will put more strain on the public hospital system. It therefore poses a threat to the health dollar, which may well see more funds having to be poured into the states and territories to prop up their underfunded hospitals. But these are the very funds that should be invested in increasing medical research and education campaigns on important issues such as ovarian cancers. I am concerned that the government will fall short on funding the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre and limit its ability to deliver educational awareness campaigns as well as early detection markers to provide more effective treatments for this insidious disease. More funding is required for the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre and this important research must continue. Such investment is necessary to ensure Australia continues to be a world leader in health and medical research.

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