Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Today is Pink Ribbon Day, a day when we reflect on breast cancer and its impact on Australian women, on Australian families and on the nation as a whole. Over the next 12 months, some 12,000 Australian women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and, over the next year, more than 2½ thousand Australian women will die of breast cancer. Also, over the next year, tens of thousands of Australian women will continue their very personal fight against breast cancer and they will prevail—they will win that fight. These are very much the three human faces of breast cancer: shock, suffering and survival. This is the challenge that we are reminded of on this Pink Ribbon Day.

These are mothers, grandmothers, daughters, wives, aunts, nieces, sisters, partners, friends, workmates and neighbours. Each of these diagnoses will touch the lives of the families and communities who support women who are suffering from breast cancer, from the initial shock and disbelief of the diagnosis to the fear and worry about the future, to the traumatic effects of treatment, to thankfully, for most, the joy of remission and recovery—but, tragically, for some, to the despair of losing a mother, a wife, a daughter or a friend.

Like many in this place, my own mother was diagnosed with breast cancer, and she was only 39 years old. She survived and went on to live until the ripe old age of 83. When it came to breast cancer, she was a survivor. Last week, my wife, Therese, helped launch a new audio resource for men whose partners are diagnosed with breast cancer. As Therese said at the time, behind every woman who receives a breast cancer diagnosis there is often a man whose world has also been turned upside down as he is then confronted with the challenge and the responsibility of supporting his partner, his wife, his companion in an extraordinarily difficult challenge. Helping partners and friends and family to effectively support those who are diagnosed with breast cancer is an important part of our national response.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Australian women. It accounts for more than one in four cancer diagnoses in women. The Australian government are currently investing some $2 billion in building a world-class cancer care system. This includes $12 million to the McGrath Foundation to recruit, train and place 44 breast cancer nurses across Australia, forty-three of whom have already started work; $31 million to reimburse women who have had a mastectomy as a result of breast cancer for the cost of external breast prostheses; funding for MRI scans for women under the age of 50 who have a family history of breast cancer; $120 million to replace BreastScreen Australia’s outdated equipment with state-of-the-art digital mammography equipment; and $168 million for the breast cancer drug Herceptin. We are also working with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer Centre and the Breast Cancer Network Australia on special initiatives and programs, including a $2.7 million program to improve supportive care for women in rural areas who are diagnosed with breast cancer.

On top of this, the government is also investing some $1.3 billion in the nation’s cancer infrastructure, including $526 million towards two integrated cancer care centres that will provide state-of-the-art cancer treatment combined with cutting-edge research—the Chris O’Brien Cancer Centre in Sydney and the Parkville Comprehensive Cancer Centre in Melbourne—as well as $560 million to help build a network of best-practice regional cancer centres to help close the gap for cancer patients in rural and regional Australia.

As a nation we have lost far too many good women to this disease. As a nation we have watched and hoped and prayed as some of our best women have battled this disease. We have mourned those who have lost their battle. We have celebrated those who have won their fight against breast cancer. We also celebrate the lives of those women who have turned their struggle with the disease into a rallying call for better services, better treatments, better research and ultimately a better outlook for other women in the future. These are women who exemplify those core Australian characteristics of compassion, courage and resilience. Today all of us in this chamber, government and opposition alike, are proudly wearing pink ribbons to show our support, our admiration and our respect for these brave Australian women, and our determination to do all we can to help raise money and awareness for women battling breast cancer.

See this speech in context