Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

If I were to say to you that we shall fight them on the beaches, most people would think of Churchill exhorting his fellow countrymen to push back against the darkness and, in some ways, I would be talking about something similar. Only the beach I refer to is on the northern part of Sydney, a community which I am privileged to represent, and the fight which I speak of is against the darkness of cancer. Not more than a month ago, I had the honour of attending the Fight on the Beaches ball, dedicated to raising funds for critical research into a cure for breast cancer.

The health minister, Greg Hunt, has said in this House, over and over again, that Australia is one of the world's leading medical researchers and that this activity is set to double in the next five years. But, as the 2017 executive committee of Fight on the Beaches, Michelle Heaton-Armstrong, Meghann Parker, Rebecca Coulson, Ali Warman, Rachel Sadler, Kelly Evans and Danielle Hobbs, can all tell you, these things do not just happen. We have to make them happen. In three short years, this committee has raised over $800,000 for research into cancer.

On behalf of the grateful community, we thank all of you for giving up your time and money to make this happen. You have touched so many lives, some of whom you will never know or hear from. The research you have funded is and will make a difference to those people who suffer a cancer diagnosis and their friends and families. No matter what others may claim, none of that would have happened without you. (Time expired)

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