James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Like all other speakers, I rise to speak in favour of the motion and start by commending the member for Macarthur for bringing it before us, and I also thank the other speakers who have all shared very important contributions, which have often involved personal stories. One of the great things we can do in this chamber is share experiences and perhaps come to understand just how far-reaching some of the issues and challenges that we face are in our community.

I particularly commend the member for Macarthur—being from the government—for moving a motion that is indeed asking for a significant reform of the government that he is a part of. I don't make that as a political point at all. I think that is to be commended, and it reminds us that we humble legislators can indeed make sensible suggestions to the members of the executive, and I hope that this debate is an opportunity to pursue, with some unanimity, reform in this area. So thank you very much.

I also think it's worth, on the positive side, noting how far we have come in awareness around the risk of skin cancer and the sorts of behavioural changes that need to be made. There are some horror stories I've heard from my parents about their childhoods. Far from being sun smart, there were practices in the fifties and sixties that were almost asking for trouble. I think my father's sister used to apply oil on her body and lie in the sun with mirrors pointed at her and a transistor radio on. I know that was because of ignorance and not deciding that a short-term tan was worth the potential risk of death later in life.

I grew up in the eighties at the beginning of the slip, slop, slap campaigns, and I think there are a few other words that the younger ones are aware of now—I think there's a wrap and a something else—that has led to a much transformed awareness of the risk of skin cancer, and that's a great thing. As the member for Parkes pointed out through his own vocation, we live in this country where there is a very significant risks for so many people in the way they live their lives and earn their livelihoods, particularly in this multicultural society. We're very proud of the multicultural society we are in, but I've got Western European heritage, and we're not that good at standing up to the harsh Australian sun. The fact that that awareness is there now and everyone knows what the risks are is really important.

The point I want to dwell on was already made by the member for Riverina, and I make that point as part of my age cohort. I'm still just in my 30s. As an almost 40-year-old man, one of the biggest problems we've got is the 'she'll be right, mate' attitude that the average Aussie bloke like me tends to have when it comes to our own health—across all topics, not just skin. It's probably most concerning around mental health, and it's been great to see the de-stigmatisation of having conversations about those sorts of things in recent years. A very dear friend of mine was diagnosed at a ridiculously young age—in his 20s—with bowel cancer. Regrettably, he didn't take his early symptoms seriously enough. He went on a holiday and decided he would see his doctor about it a few months later when he got back and, regrettably, it was all too late for him. Within 10 years he had died of the cancer that had started as bowel cancer and spread to other parts of his body.

We've got to do all we can, particularly with cohorts like the one I am in, to remind people how seriously to take our health and—to the member for Makin's point—how much of a difference it can make to embrace early intervention and understand that, apart from the important health outcome, whatever the cost might be to government it's actually not the cost that it looks like on paper. The cost of treatment if diagnosis hasn't happened early enough is always going to be much higher than the cost of doing that.

I really welcome the opportunity to contribute to this and make the point that all of us—and it's really a great example, and the Member for Macarthur has brought something into the space—have been able to share personal stories and talk about how we can do better as leaders in our community. That awareness is one thing I would like to take the opportunity to do more of as an elected representative, and this motion has provided that opportunity, so I thank you very much. I commend the motion.

See this speech in context