Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I am delighted to support this motion from the member for Shortland and I thank her most sincerely for bringing it before the House. It is the case that breast cancer is the most common cancer in Australian women, accounting for 28 per cent of cancer diagnoses in 2006. Pink Ribbon Day is today, 25 October, and this year alone, 12,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and that figure is expected to increase by 22 per cent by 2015. So one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age, with the average age of diagnosis recorded as 60 in 2006.

As we know, mammograms are vital to early detection, with 75 per cent of deaths occurring in women who have never been screened. Screening is absolutely vital. We have all seen the breast cancer vans which do mammograms travelling around our local area and we all know how much easier it is today to have access to this important diagnostic treatment.

There has been a 27 per cent decrease in mortality rates due to breast cancer since 1994. Today I join with the government and Independent members in acknowledging the work of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Pink Ribbon Day has been very effective in raising awareness. I think the pink ribbon that I am wearing today is one of the most recognised lapel badges in Australia today. We also acknowledge the work of the McGrath Foundation and, most importantly, the contribution of the volunteers, staff and researchers—the dedicated medical and nursing community—as well as volunteers and breast cancer survivors who do so much to form that net of support and offer strength to women who have been diagnosed in what is a very frightening period of their life.

Early detection is of course the most important thing. My concern as a rural and regional member is always about how cancer and other serious diseases should be picked up, recognised and treated in rural and regional Australia in the same manner that they would be in our capital cities. Unfortunately that is not the case, with the death rates from cancer being much higher in rural areas. The only thing that that can really be attributed to is the fact that the diagnoses are not happening in a timely manner, and that is a real worry.

As the previous member said, breast cancer is not something that you are alerted to; it is often only picked up by a mammogram or a breast examination, and women should all have those carried out, whatever their age. I can still remember meeting a young woman at Conargo in the west of my electorate, who was what you would describe as a fitness freak. She ate well, exercised well and had a happy, balanced life and, out of the blue, was diagnosed with quite advanced breast cancer. So it can strike anywhere, anytime.

I want to pay tribute today to the support networks that exist in my home town of Albury and, of course, the town across the river and recognise the work of the support groups in our area. There are three groups in particular that I want to recognise. Brave Hearts Australia is part of Dragons Abreast Australia, which is a national organisation comprising breast cancer survivors and some of their very special supporters of various ages. They come from a great variety of backgrounds and have varying athletic abilities and interests. It is founded on the principles of participation and inclusiveness. Competitive outcome is secondary but, having said that, I note that our local chapter of Brave Hearts and Dragons Abreast Australia won gold and silver medals in Bendigo on the weekend in, I think, their third regatta in three years. Those girls are pretty competitive, but they are winners because they are there and they are able to paddle. Because of that, some members have achieved amazing things.

Dragons Abreast members provide a face to the breast cancer statistics, which are all too high, but they also spread the message of breast cancer awareness through participation in the wonderful and very strenuous sport of dragon boat racing. High on the list of priorities is having fun, trying new things, meeting interesting people and being involved in a challenging physical activity while promoting breast cancer awareness. Our local support group meet once a month and there is also a meeting later in the evening for the younger members who are working during the day and cannot get to daytime meetings. They also have a group called Mayfliers, which looks after women who have received that very difficult second diagnosis following a primary breast cancer diagnosis. We have a breast care nurse provided by the Jane McGrath Foundation. I talked to Jenny Black, who looked after our network. She has retired now and is living in New Zealand, but she is always ready to promote and advocate for better breast cancer services in our region. Jenny tells me that we do need at least another half a position for a breast care nurse. The work that those women do is absolutely fantastic. The fear and anxiety that one feels after a diagnosis, if you are a family member of someone with breast cancer as I have, really need to be addressed early on.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago. She had a mastectomy and has recovered very well. I mention my mother because she is a little bit alternative and her view was that chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a lifetime of drugs probably was not for her. She was going to take an alternative path. My mother, Angela Braybrook, has always been a keen follower, as I have said, of alternative therapies. She followed the Gawler Approach. I met Ian Gawler a couple of weeks ago and I was truly impressed by his view of how we can approach a diagnosis such as cancer in our lives. It would be very easy for me, as someone who has not been diagnosed with this disease, to say, ‘Well, if you are diagnosed, this is what you should do,’ but when my mother was diagnosed with cancer I had firsthand knowledge of someone taking that approach. She decided that diet and meditation was the key, and that is the work of the Gawler Foundation. Ian Gawler, as members of the House will know, was diagnosed with almost inoperable secondary cancers some 30 years ago. He has lived a long and happy life since then. Doctors had completely given up on him and he took matters into his own hands and struggled through an awful period when he worked out that the way to go was through diet and meditation. He travelled overseas, he looked into the spiritual side of life and his experiences are recorded in his book The Dragon’s Blessing, which I recommend. In fact, when friends of mine are diagnosed with cancer, as happens all too often, I give them a copy of the book.

My mother implemented the Gawler Approach. It is about organic food, it is about plant based food and it is a vegetarian diet, but the most important thing is the meditation. When I met Ian Gawler in Melbourne a couple of weeks—it was not planned; it was a social event—I asked him particularly about the meditation. I said, ‘We all have such busy lives; how difficult is it?’ He said that it was really difficult. He meets people all the time who say they can manage the diet part, because they just have to work it out and stick to it, but the meditation part is a lot more difficult. His advice was: ‘Practise it, try it, and even if you can only do it for 10 minutes at a time it will come to you. You will learn to do it. You will be so much better for it.’ He said to me, ‘Of course you should start early; you should not wait till you get diagnosed with a serious illness.’ The alternative approaches that do not rely on medication sit side by side with traditional Western medicine. That, I think, is the key thing that Ian Gawler says. Do not throw away Western medicine—it has an extremely valuable place—but look also at what you can do to support yourself in other ways.

It is important that the House recognise breast cancer for the serious disease that it is, but we should also take pride in our oncologists, breast care nurses, support workers and community members and all that they do every day. The reduction in deaths, to the extent that it is happening, is largely a result of their very important work. To meet these people is truly inspiring. So today, 25 October, I urge everybody to buy a badge, wear a badge and do what they can to support more research into breast cancer.

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