Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

By the end of this parliamentary sitting week, 20 women will have, sadly, started their fight with ovarian cancer, and, of these 20 innocent women, 12 will not survive the fight. Every year we have an ovarian cancer breakfast here in Parliament House, which is attended by the Prime Minister and the opposition leader and my colleagues, and by survivors and people who are fighting the fight of their lives with ovarian cancer. Since I was elected five years ago I've attended every breakfast, and, sadly, of the women who have spoken at those breakfasts over those five years, three are now dead. One of them was Jill Emberson. She put up, as her husband, Dr Ken Lambert, said, a gargantuan effort to raise awareness for ovarian cancer.

I want to say to those people who are fighting this disease today: You are not alone. There are supports for you. We are wearing the teal on top of our hearts today to let you know that you are in our hearts and in our heads.

Please donate to this incredible cause, because living with ovarian cancer can be shocking. But let me tell you: dying of it is so much worse, not only for those who are afflicted by it but for the families who live—for the little children who don't have their mums to wave them off to school anymore, for the adults who don't have mum at the wedding, for the grandchildren who are never nursed in the bosom of their grandmother. Spare a thought for those families, who have such incredible holes in their lives.

Today is Teal Ribbon Giving Day. Please, donate to this very worthwhile cause. We have to reverse the statistics. We have to make more women survivors—as they are increasingly surviving breast cancer, which is a fantastic thing. We need ovarian cancer survivors to be in those numbers as well. We just have to do better with ovarian cancer. And it's only by sharing the heartbreak, the loss and the devastation of these brave people that we are going to raise awareness and keep the research dollars coming in and the medicines flowing to prolong life. Ovarian cancer is a silent, deadly killer. We can leave it silent no longer.

I can't let this moment pass without recognising my friend and former radio colleague Jill Emberson, who last worked at 1233 ABC Newcastle. I was a contemporary of hers on the radio. She was a brilliant warrior. Thank you, Jill. Thank you, everyone who is taking up this fight. Don't forget: get the teal on today and donate to ovarian cancer.

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