Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Lowe for his question. I know that, along with all members of this House, people understand the great challenge we have in fighting cancer in our community. It remains the No. 1 burden of disease in Australia. Unfortunately, one in three men and one in four women will be diagnosed with cancer before the age of 75. This year, cancer will claim the lives of approximately 40,000 Australians. Although we know that Australia has relatively good survival rates compared to international results, outcomes are not as good for the 30 per cent of Australians who live in rural and regional Australia. I know that is why many members on this side of the House, and I dare say some on the other side of the House, were pleased last week when the Deputy Prime Minister and I announced the next phase of our plans to help improve cancer services and outcomes for regional Australia.

Applications are now open for the $560 million available for the Regional Cancer Centres Initiative. We are now calling for innovative applications from public and private sectors to establish a network of around 10 cancer centres which will help improve access to services in regional Australia and help close that gap in cancer outcomes between the city and the country. Applications for the Regional Cancer Centres Initiative are open until Friday, 8 January. They are a key part of our historic $2 billion investment in cancer care, which was announced in this year’s budget. Our commitment also includes $526 million for two integrated cancer centres—one at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in Melbourne and another at the Lifehouse Chris O’Brien Cancer Centre in Sydney. The Prime Minister was at the RPA last week for the Chris O’Brien dinner. We look forward to turning the first sod soon. These flagship centres will become one-stop shops for patients, with state-of-the-art treatment, support services and research all under the one roof.

We are also continuing to roll out more cancer research and services. At the Bathurst community cabinet, for example, where the Prime Minister and I held a health consultation earlier this month with the member for Macquarie, the Prime Minister and I were pleased to meet two of the McGrath Foundation breast cancer nurses and were able on that occasion to announce that all 44 nurses have now been recruited and are at work in those 44 communities, providing additional services to breast cancer patients. Last Sunday, I also announced that the government is providing another $2½ million to continue the National Skin Cancer Awareness Campaign this summer to help educate and inform Australians, particularly young Australians, about the dangers of sun exposure. Unfortunately, Australia is No. 1 when you look internationally at skin cancer incidence in the world. This is not one of the instances where we wish to be No. 1 and is something we are determined to address.

Last Thursday I was pleased to join the chief executives of Cancer Australia and the NHMRC and some of our key peak cancer stakeholders in announcing funding of $12½ million to fund 42 innovative cancer research projects. These grants are going to help keep us at the cutting edge of cancer research. Consider these investments helping us tackle cancer by investing in research, cancer services infrastructure and cancer prevention. The Rudd government is working hard to tackle cancer on all of these fronts. We know, of course, that there is much more to be done to beat this dreadful disease but we intend to keep working with researchers, clinicians, stakeholders and patients to build a world-class cancer centre and service system for all Australians.

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