Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion and, in doing so, I congratulate and thank the member for Greenway for bringing this inspirational story to the parliament but also, importantly, through this motion highlighting the incidence of melanoma in our community and the great work and research that's being done to combat it.

As the member for Greenway pointed out, Australia and New Zealand have the largest incidence of melanoma in the world. Twelve thousand people are diagnosed in our country each year. It's the third most common cancer amongst Australians. For a nation that lives by the water and spends a lot of time in the sun—and we're about to enter the warmer months in this part of the world again—it's very important that we're raising awareness on the importance of being safe when you go out in the sun. I can recall as a kid in the late 1970s and early 1980s going to the beach and spending the whole day in the sun with no sun protection at all and very little sunscreen. You were lucky if you wore a hat. Thankfully, we now know that that is dangerous. Health experts and governments have worked together on campaigns such as Slip-Slop-Slap to raise awareness, and it's working. When we go to the beach now, particularly with our children, we cover them up with sunscreen, hats, rash vests and the like to ensure that they're protected. But we also make sure that we're doing more in terms of research to combat what is a terrible, terrible disease.

I wish to pay tribute to Damien MacRae and his son, Aiden. Unfortunately Damien has been diagnosed with stage IV melanoma. But he hasn't sat on his heels and done nothing about it. He's gone out into the community and worked with Aiden to raise awareness, and what a fine job they've done. We all know that children love LEGO. They love playing with LEGO, and it's a very effective way to get a message across for young children. I have kids in the same age bracket as Aiden, and they love their LEGO and can spend literally hours—days on end—playing with LEGO and building things.

When they were first interested in LEGO, Damien discovered that despite their efforts to try to find a beach theme, a beach setting, they couldn't find one. LEGO simply didn't make it. They set about working on having this developed into a particular LEGO product that could be sold throughout the world. To do that you need 10,000 supporters, and that's exactly what they did: they set about getting those 10,000 supporters, and they did. The prototype for their LEGO set has already been developed, and you can see it there. They've done an excellent job. It include a set of surf heroes—surf lifesavers—being sun safe, wearing hats, covering up and putting on sunscreen. It includes a patrol tower; sunscreen, of course; the iconic surf reel, surf skis; the red and yellow flags; and an inflatable rescue boat. Some of the surf team include Bob, named in honour of Bob Marley, who unfortunately passed away from melanoma at the age of 36; Keats, who's named in honour of Diane Keaton, who's been a longtime campaigner for melanoma research; Hugh, in honour of Hugh Jackman, who himself has fought melanoma; and Nic, in honour Nicole Kidman, who's also a very solid campaigner for Slip-Slop-Slap and melanoma research.

They've got the 10,000 votes. The proposal is now being considered by LEGO. Damien tells of being blown away by the fact that he received a message from Kirk Christiansen, the head of the LEGO dynasty, who was so overwhelmed by the application Damien and Aiden put in. It's now being revised, and we're hoping that this wonderful project gets up. It would be the first time ever, as the member for Greenway said, that LEGO figures are being sun smart and wearing sunscreen! What a very effective way of teaching that message to young kids, not only in Australia but throughout the world. They've also indicated that if their project is successful then some of the funds—a percentage, I understand—from sales will go to the originators of the idea. Some of the funds that they get from this proposal will go into melanoma research and sun safety in Australia. Congratulations to Damien and Aiden MacRae on this wonderful proposal, and thank you for the work you're doing in supporting Slip-Slop-Slap and sun safety and melanoma research in this country.

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