Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd just like to acknowledge the member for Canberra, my colleague who has done so much work on this issue—and we are working closely together to help end the silence on endometriosis. I see we have Endometriosis Australia over here, and a lot of supporters as well. Welcome, ladies; thank you for being here.

I am very pleased to speak about the important work that is being done in this area and the work that will continue to be done over the coming months and years. Since the member for Canberra and I founded Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis Awareness earlier this year. the response I've received from the community has really been quite stunning. It has galvanised my resolve the see this women's health issue better understood, better diagnosed and better treated.

The number of women close to me, whether they're friends or colleagues, who have approached me to talk about endo since the member for Canberra and I put this on the agenda is really quite stunning. The prevalence of this issue is beyond anything that I imagined. I am shocked and saddened that so many women have suffered in silence and so badly for so long. Some of the experiences that have been shared with me are truly heartbreaking and these are the sorts of things where we will be working to make sure they don't happen in the future. Despite the fact there has not been enough research into this disease, we have estimates that it afflicts one in 10 Australian women, and 176 million women worldwide. Anecdotally, if the number of women I personally know who are sufferers is any indication, I can confirm that this figure is not far off the mark, and it could well be higher.

So, what is endo? Endometriosis is a disease that causes the cells that line the uterus to grow as lesions in other parts of the body within the pelvis, causing inflammation, severe pain and scar tissue. These lesions can stick organs together so that women have to have parts of their bowel removed, their ovaries removed, surgery to their bladder or even a full hysterectomy. When I talk about the pain of endo, I mean pain that is so severe that women can't get out of bed to go to school, to university or to work. This may be pain during their period, but it may be pain that lasts longer than that; it may last throughout the month or throughout the year. When women are suffering pain in such a constant manner it becomes chronic pain, and that is when we have very severe complications that are much more difficult to treat.

Women often delay consulting a doctor for years for their condition, in part because we fail to educate women about what is normal in terms of period pain. Also, we fail to educate them as to when they need to seek medical assistance and investigation. But when they do seek medical assistance and investigation, we know that there is often a delay of eight years before they get a diagnosis, which is just far, far too long. Commonly, women see health professionals like physios or bowel specialists and all sorts of other specialists before they finally get to a gynaecologist to deal with their pain. When they do see a gynaecologist, unfortunately, things don't necessarily get better. They are subject to multiple surgical procedures and are told things that, as we now know, are a bit of an old wives' tale—such as, if they just have a baby, things will get better. We know that is not the case.

On 9 September this year, the member for Canberra and I attended the Endo Active Conference in Sydney, which is an initiative spearheaded by the irrepressible Syl Freedman. Syl has done much to raise awareness of this condition and works with groups like Endometriosis Australia and the Pelvic Pain Foundation to support women with endo and to educate us all.

The lack of community and medical knowledge about this terrible condition has made it very difficult to deal with. For too many years, women have suffered in silence. They've suffered interrupted school and university education, struggled to hold down a job and struggled to have babies and start families. The cost to the lives of endo sufferers, their families, the health system and, indeed, the economy overall, must be huge. This is why we need more research and an increased understanding of this disease and how to treat it. This is why the member for Canberra and I are doing our small part to end the silence on endometriosis. We are continuing to advance the cause of sufferers. We have met with officials from the Department of Health and the Minister for Health's office, and I know that the member for Canberra is speaking with the shadow minister for health as well, so that we can do all we can to end the silence on endo and to help find better treatment outcomes for women but also, hopefully, a cure. The friendship group, together with other supporters like our Chief Government Whip, Nola Marino, who is an endo ambassador, will be doing all we can, along with all of the other wonderful groups, to end the silence on endo.

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