Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on the National Cancer Screening Register Bill 2016. We all know how important screening for cancer is. More than 130,000 Australians will be diagnosed with cancer this year. Sadly, nearly 47,000 of these, our fellow Australians, will die from cancer. The risk of any of us being diagnosed with cancer is staggering. In 2016 the chance of a man being diagnosed with cancer by their 85th birthday is one in two—50 per cent—and for a woman it is one in three.

Like most Australians, I care about this topic and, unfortunately, like many other Australians, cancer has touched my family. In fact, my mum, who was a former nurse, had a screening in 1989 and then was treated with a lumpectomy in 1995. I remember that particularly well because it was the year I was married. Mum was treated a day before my wife's bridal shower and she did not tell anybody. She was just part of that stoic, good old Irish Catholic stock. She did not tell anybody. It was like it was no-one else's business. Thankfully she was treated with the lumpectomy and had the lump removed, and she went on to live a longer life. She died in May 2011. Because of that family history, all of my three sisters were screened below the age of 40. Sadly, on my father's side, my aunt—Aunty Ann—died from breast cancer and my mum's sisters and my cousins also have that breast cancer gene. So it is so important that we get screening right. We know that it is vital.

BreastScreen Queensland do great work. They were the pioneers, in fact, of cancer screening. They were the first public breast-cancer-screening service in Australia. I say an especially big hello to all of those who work at their Brisbane south side service, especially those operating out of the QEII hospital in the middle of my electorate of Moreton. They do fantastic work; they save lives every day. There are 11 services throughout Queensland and each service has several satellite locations. With Queensland being such a decentralised state, even on Brisbane's south side they have seven satellite locations so that everyone can have access to this important screening service.

We know that screening for breast cancer is effective. The mortality rate for breast cancer has decreased from 17 people per 100,000 back in 1968 down to 11 people per 100,000 in 2013. The Cancer Council has confirmed that it is clear that a substantial number of Australian women are alive today because an early-stage breast cancer was detected through the BreastScreen Australia program.

Screening for cancer can save lives. I recently turned 50 and I was happy to participate in the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program. I know it is not a sexy topic, but is just something that all people need to do.

I hear that, Deputy Speaker—that you cannot believe that I am 50, but that is the case!

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