David Bradbury (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to note that September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and I wish to draw to the House’s attention the important work being done in the community to raise awareness of this very serious disease. As part of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, I am supporting the blue ribbon campaign, which is helping to raise funds for prostate cancer research. I am wearing one of the blue ribbon badges to show my support this evening.

Men’s health is a topic that many men studiously avoid. We are more likely to ignore symptoms of illness until it is impossible not to—but, by that time, for many men, it is unfortunately too late. Prostate cancer is one of those diseases that many men would prefer to not talk about. It involves uncomfortable testing in uncomfortable areas, but it is a killer. Prostate cancer is the second highest cause of cancer deaths among men, after skin cancer. Each year in Australia 18,700 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and, of those, tragically, 3,000 men die. This is roughly equal to the number of women who die from breast cancer each year. One in nine Australian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetimes. Those most at risk are men with a family history of prostate cancer. But the chance of being diagnosed with prostate cancer increases with age: it is one in 1,000 for a man aged in his 40s but as high as one in 13 for a man aged in his 80s. Research shows that early detection is the key to survival for men diagnosed with this disease, and this underlines the importance of raising awareness of prostate cancer within our community.

September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and I would like to acknowledge the efforts of the Prostate Cancer Foundation, which plays a key role in campaigning for a better understanding of the disease in the broader community. The foundation helps to fund life-saving research into prostate cancer and provides scholarships for young urologists and prostate nurses to travel overseas and further develop their skills so that they can provide world-class health care to patients in Australia.

The Rudd government has also recognised that we need to do more to look after the health of men and has developed Australia’s first ever men’s health policy. This policy seeks to get the topic of men’s health on the national agenda so that more men are talking about their health care to their healthcare providers. We have also committed $15 million to establish dedicated prostate cancer research centres.

The message of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month is simple: if you are at risk of prostate cancer, have regular tests. I would encourage men to ask their GPs for a simple prostate specific antigen, or a PSA blood test, which can show early signs of any cancer growth. Surveys undertaken by the foundation indicate that only 10 per cent of men between the ages of 50 and 70 have regular prostate checks. This underlines the significant hurdles that need to be overcome if we are to change men’s attitudes towards their own health.

Some months ago I joined my colleagues in celebrating the life’s work of the late Jane McGrath, whose tireless campaigning put breast cancer front and centre of the nation’s mind. The result of the successful pink ribbon campaigns and the support of many high-profile Australians for that message is that many more women and their families are aware of the risks of breast cancer and the need to have regular examinations. Reaching out to men about their health, however, proves to be a more difficult task. Prostate Cancer Foundation surveys show that, while 78 per cent of women feel well informed about breast cancer, just over half of Australian men surveyed felt that they had enough information about prostate cancer.

In my electorate we are very fortunate to have an active group of supporting sufferers and survivors of prostate cancer. The Nepean-Blue Mountains Prostate Cancer Support Group have lent an understanding ear to many men and their families in the local area, and I would like to acknowledge the hard work of President Victor Cipants, Secretary Alan Moran, Vice-President David Price, Assistant Secretary Gabrielle Moran, Treasurer Brett Sowerby and all of the members of that group.

On Friday, 5 September, we were honoured to have the Treasurer, the honourable member for Lilley, join the Nepean-Blue Mountains Prostate Cancer Support Group for an afternoon tea generously hosted by the Penrith City Council and speak about the challenges that face prostate cancer sufferers and their families. Diagnosed in 2001 with the same disease that claimed the life of his father, the Treasurer himself is a survivor of prostate cancer—a member of the secret brotherhood, as he likes to refer to it—and he attests to the benefits of early detection. It is important that we have men of the profile of the Treasurer willing to speak out, who are unafraid to have honest conversations with other men about prostate cancer. It is stories like that of the Treasurer that we can all look to for inspiration, and I would like to extend my thanks to him for his time in coming to my electorate and sharing his experiences.

I also acknowledge that Sydney broadcaster Alan Jones will return to work tomorrow after being diagnosed with prostate cancer earlier this year and I wish him all the best with his battle. (Time expired)

Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to raise the profile of the need for men to continue to have regular check-ups and to commend the good work being done by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia in promoting greater awareness of prostate cancer. As we have heard tonight, every year 18,000 Australian men are diagnosed with prostate cancer and approximately 3,000 will die from it. Prostate cancer occurs mainly in men over 50 years old and is the most common male cancer after skin cancer. The specific causes of prostate cancer remain unknown. A man’s risk of developing prostate cancer is related to his age, genetics, race, diet and lifestyle as well as medications. The primary risk factor is age, as prostate cancer is uncommon in men who are less than 45 years old. However, men who have a brother or father with prostate cancer have twice the usual risk of developing the disease. Prostate cancer risk can be decreased by modifying these known risk factors, such as decreasing the intake of animal fat and meat and increasing the fibre content in one’s diet.

Jill Margo wrote in the Australian in November 2002 on comments from Max Gardner, the chairman of the foundation’s support and advocacy committee:

… most men are poorly informed and only at diagnosis do they realise that early detection would have been their best hope of obtaining a cure.

A divisive argument continues about whether early detection makes a difference:

This is a central debate in the management of prostate cancer.

One side holds that, as the cure can be worse than the cancer, there is no point to early detection. The other side contends that early detection and treatment is the only way the death rate from prostate cancer can be reduced. However, there are three universally agreed points:

… that the cancer can be cured if it is treated while wholly confined to the prostate gland; that once the disease spreads beyond the prostate it can no longer be cured; and that death from prostate cancer is almost always slow and painful.

As Jill Margo writes, these three points ‘should help men think more clearly about their disease’, because unless treated the disease has painful symptoms and is invariably fatal. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia is an umbrella organisation for prostate cancer support groups from all over Australia and seeks the views of thousands of men who have experienced diagnosis and treatment. The article ends:

To those who are debatingwhether to be tested for prostate cancer, Gardner says it is well to remember that every man with advanced prostate cancer greatly regrets not being diagnosed while the cancer was curable.

The health system expenditure on prostate cancer in 2001 was $201 million, making prostate cancer the fourth most expensive cancer to treat. The majority of this expenditure, some $97 million, was for non-hospital pharmaceuticals while some $58 million was spent on treating admitted patients in hospital, usually associated with surgical procedures, and $10 million was for out-of-hospital medical costs such as GP or specialist visits and pathology. Government funding for existing programs for prostate cancer includes the Australian Centre of Excellence in Male Reproductive Health, which aims to increase the knowledge base of health professionals and the community generally on prostate cancer. The centre specifically develops and implements professional and community education programs, undertakes research on men’s sexual and reproductive issues and provides information in the form of publications and newsletters, and via their website. Since 2000, funding of over $6.4 million has been provided to the Australian Centre of Excellence in Male Reproductive Health.

Funding for research into prostate cancer is also directed to the National Health and Medical Research Council. Since 2003 the government has awarded over $29.4 million in research grants, over $8.2 billion for the 2007 year. I note that funding of $15 million was announced by the government in 2008-09 to provide for two dedicated prostate cancer specific research centres to develop improved diagnostic tests and treatment, allocating $5 million for three years. I would strongly urge all men to become more aware of prostate cancer and undertake regular testing with their GP by both the PSA test—the prostate specific antigen test that can detect abnormal prostate cells by a simple blood test—and a physical examination, which can pick up some cancers that are missed by the blood test.

Mal Washer (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.