Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: it is with great sadness that the nation reflects on the passing of Jane McGrath yesterday. Jane McGrath, founder of the McGrath Foundation, passed away at her home with her husband, Glenn, and children, James and Holly, by her side, following a decade-long battle with cancer. When a person is diagnosed with breast cancer, their life is suddenly set on an entirely different course. For Jane McGrath, her diagnosis meant the start of a personal battle, but it also meant embarking on a course of action aimed at inspiring thousands of women who suffer from this terrible disease. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before the age of 85. More than 13,000 new cases are diagnosed every year.

Jane moved to Australia from England three months after meeting Glenn in 1995. She was diagnosed with breast cancer two years later at the very young age of 31. Jane and Glenn married in 1999 and had two kids, James and Holly, and in 2002 she became an Australian citizen. In the same year, following her initial recovery, she established the McGrath Foundation with her husband. The McGrath Foundation is Jane’s legacy, providing hope and support to thousands of women across Australia who suffer from breast cancer. She knew the importance of women taking control of their own health and the value of early detection. Her personal experience informed the direction of the McGrath Foundation. While the majority of women diagnosed with breast cancer are older than 40, breast cancer can affect women at any age and, as I said before, Jane was only 31 when she was first diagnosed. She was passionate about raising breast cancer awareness among younger women.

Another central aspect of Jane McGrath’s work through the foundation was the promotion and funding of McGrath Breast Care Nurses. Jane’s personal experience convinced her of the value of health professionals specially trained to manage the care of breast cancer patients and who provide care, friendship and emotional support for women during this very challenging time. The Australian government recently provided $12 million over four years to the McGrath Foundation to recruit, train and employ up to 30 cancer nurses. The government is prepared to do more work with the McGrath Foundation into the future.

Jane McGrath was and will remain a source of inspiration and hope to all Australians, in particular those personally affected by cancer. It is fitting that, along with her husband, Glenn, she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia this year in recognition of her services to community health and the establishment of the McGrath Foundation.

I understand that the Australian cricket team players, in honour of Jane’s memory, will wear pink ribbons and will use pink grips during the one-day international match in the West Indies. That is a really good thing for them to do. It is a great way of honouring the memory of this truly remarkable Australian woman.

In the face of incredible challenges, Jane’s extraordinary courage and passion for life, I believe, has touched the hearts of all Australians. I believe it has touched the hearts of all members of this place. She will be remembered with great fondness for her work to help women and their families, and that work will continue. The thoughts and prayers of the nation are with Glenn, James, Holly and all of Jane’s family and friends at this most difficult time.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members—Hear, hear!

Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, on indulgence: I join with the Prime Minister in strongly supporting these remarks of condolence for Jane McGrath. Occasionally, this nation loses somebody in whom we see something of the kind of people that we would like to be. Jane McGrath, at the age of 42, has now gone. Her husband has lost a wife, two children, James and Holly, have lost their mother, and Australia has lost a woman who burrowed very deeply into our hearts.

She was, as the Prime Minister just reminded us, diagnosed with breast cancer in 1997. It turned her life upside down, as it does every woman ever diagnosed with breast cancer. Not only did she, with determination, set out to fight the disease and receive all of the support and treatment that this country could offer but also she went on to have her family and, along with Glenn, establish the McGrath Foundation which, amongst other things, has given this country breast care nurses. Both sides of this parliament have committed strongly to significantly increasing the funding for those breast care nurses.

None of us, particularly we men, should ever forget that there are 12,000 women over the next year who will be diagnosed with breast cancer; 2,700 women, over the course of this next year, will die from breast cancer. It is interesting that in 1983 we had 5,000 new cases a year, and now we have 12,000 new cases a year. And, whilst survival rates have increased from 70 per cent five years ago to more than 86 per cent, we still have a long way to go.

As a parent with two daughters, I also say that, in a world where we have paraded before our children—and our young daughters in particular—role models of varying ability and admiration very rarely meeting the standards that we as parents have, Jane McGrath reminds us, in her life and in her death, that the value of one’s life is determined not by the adversities that come to you but by how you choose to deal with them. The McGrath Foundation will continue this important work. She is a woman much admired and much loved, and she will be greatly missed.

Honourable Members:

Honourable members—Hear, hear!