Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Dunkley for the motion that he has brought before the House today. This is a very important issue. It affects the entire Australian community and, no doubt as a constituent of his in the seat of Dunkley and the beach down at Frankston, and the sand and the not-quite surf, certainly it is a situation where he knows, and I know, that that community spends a lot of time outdoors and down the beach on the Mornington Peninsula, and many people in those circumstances are susceptible to skin damage and sun exposure. Probably the member for Dunkley and I are examples more than most. I tend to go from white to pink, to very pink, then back to white. It takes some time, but I know to be careful because I am someone who is a prime example of what can go wrong in a situation where we suffer too much from sun exposure. From the circumstances of having lived for many years with my ex-wife, who was a very fine clinical nurse coordinator for many years at Peter MacCallum, I used to hear the terrible stories on a regular basis of the tragedy of those who suffered, particularly from skin cancers, and the nature of what that can do to a family and to an individual. It certainly brings home to you the fact that this is a very serious subject matter, although we might make light of it on occasion

As the motion says, the incident of skin cancer in Australia is the highest in the world and is two to three times that seen in Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom, and skin cancers account for around 80 per cent of all newly diagnosed cancers in Australia. There is no doubt that the rates of melanoma and non-melanoma cancers are on the rise, and although we are seeing a general improvement in attitudes towards tanning, we are still seeing people getting too much sun, and sun protection among young adults and adults is still far from ideal. There was recent information from the Cancer Council with respect to this in a study that was released in February this year, just a few days ago. I quote from that survey:

The research, published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, compares the results of the National Sun Protection Survey conducted in summer 2010-11 with the surveys from 2003-4 and 2006-7.

The proportion of adults desiring a tan fell from 39% in 2003-4 and 32% 2006-7, to 27% in 2010-11. Fewer reported getting sunburnt at the weekend—18% in 2003-4 compared with 13% in 2010-11.

Similar changes were reported for adolescents. The proportion of adolescents desiring a tan fell from 60% in 2003-4 and 51% in 2006-7, to 45% in 2010-11 and 25% were sunburnt in 2003-4 and 24% in 2006-7, falling to 21% in 2010-11.

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But one in five adolescents and one in eight adults still report getting sunburnt so while attitudes towards tanning are improving, we are still seeing people getting too much sun. This means that approximately 363,000 adolescents and two million adults are still getting sunburnt on any given summer weekend.

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Sun protection among adolescents and adults is still far from ideal, with only 23% of adolescents and 45% of adults wearing hats when outdoors. The decrease in adults and adolescents spending time outdoors and hence less sunburn in 2010-11, may also reflect a very wet summer that year.

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While improvements in behaviour are being made, worryingly the number of skin cancers reported is still increasing. The Medical Journal of Australia reported that the total number of non-melanoma skin cancers increased from 412,493 in 1997 to 767,347 in 2010. It is estimated that this will increase to 938,991 by 2015. The cost of treating these cancers exceeds $500 million per year.

When we look at non-melanoma skin cancers, fortunately, the mortality rate is relatively low, but there were still some 445 deaths reported in 2010. Melanoma itself is the fifth most commonly diagnosed cancer, with 11,545 new cases in 2009. It is also the seventh most common cause of cancer death, with 1,452 deaths in 2010. Compared with most cancers, melanoma has a high five-year relative survival with over 90 per cent of people alive five years after their initial diagnosis.

But the incidence rate of melanoma has been rising since national records began in 1982. It is projected that there will be 17,517 new cases of melanoma diagnosed in 2020, an increase of 6,052 cases or 52 per cent compared to the 2009 figure. This is a big problem. It is a problem that is with the community now and getting worse—all the more reason for people to be aware and to take action so that they do not become a statistic.

The motion also talks about supporting policies that focus on early detection, which would in turn significantly reduce the number of Australian lives lost to skin cancer every year. Fighting cancer through prevention, early detection and evidence based treatment and care remain key government priorities. Since 2007, the Australian government has invested more than $2.5 billion in infrastructure, medicines, screening and research to build a world-class cancer care system.

One of the key issues that many of us get involved with when we are looking at the question of what is the best way to deal with skin care is how strong the sunscreen is. We now have on sale sun protection factor ratings of up to 50-plus. That will help in ensuring that people get the sort of preventative care that they need to manage in the Australian skin.

A national skin cancer awareness campaign that ran from 2007-07 to 2009-10 saw some $20 million spent over those four consecutive summers to ensure that there was better awareness of the issue within the community. There have been a range of research grants provided in recent years to try and improve understanding of the nature of the problem, into the early detection of melanoma and into the diagnosis and treatment cancers. That research is important.

The motion also notes the importance of training for general practitioners to ensure that family doctors are able to recognise, diagnose and treat the various forms of precursors or early stages of skin cancer. That is incredibly important. Dermatologists play a crucial role, but the family GP is often going to be the first contact point. The points made by the member for Dunkley about the need for people to more aware of their skin were good ones. People need to ensure that they look for moles that may be changing in shape, size or colour. People need to be on the front foot. Often men are the biggest problem here, because basically on medical issues we are largely stupid.

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