Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak this evening about the Leukaemia Foundation, which has a vision to cure, a mission to care. Leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma are blood cancers. In 2009, it was projected that 9,792 Australians would be diagnosed with one of these three diseases, the equivalent of one every hour. Of these, half were expected to be diagnosed with lymphoma, a third with leukaemia and a fifth with myeloma. It is estimated that someone loses their life every two hours from one of these insidious diseases. Leukaemia is the most common form of childhood cancer. People with acute leukaemia are typically required to begin treatment within 24 hours of diagnosis.

This weekend the Leukaemia Foundation will be undertaking the World’s Greatest Shave. Like some in this place, I am follicly challenged, but this weekend in the Riverlink Shopping Centre, the biggest shopping centre in the federal electorate of Blair, the Ipswich Mayor, Paul Pisasale, will be undertaking the task of being a hairdresser. In other words, he will get the clippers out and shave my head. I am expected to join about 125,000 Australians in doing that this weekend. Last year my 18-year-old daughter was in fact the pin-up girl for Shave for a Cure in Queensland. Thank goodness she is good-looking like her mother and does not look like me! The Leukaemia Foundation is expecting to raise $13.5 million across the weekend of 11 to 13 March. They have got about 35 per cent of that so far. I want to commend the Leukaemia Foundation, particularly in Queensland, for the work they do.

I would urge all individuals, businesses, organisations, families and friends across my electorate to get involved in this project. People have pledged to shave or colour their hair any time from 11 to 13 March. The World’s Greatest Shave is one of Australia’s biggest fundraising events. People of all ages can get involved. There will be hundreds of people at Riverlink this Saturday. Paul Pisasale is a good friend of mine, but I urge him to do the right thing by me and many others. I am sure Paul will undertake the task with diligence, capability and enthusiasm.

I want to commend Peter Johnstone, the CEO of the Leukaemia Foundation in Queensland, for the great work he does. He is a very hardworking individual, a very capable man. I also commend his offsider, Wayne Gaddes, who is a jack-of-all-trades and coordinates many events across Queensland.

Leukaemia is an insidious disease. My daughter Jacqui decided to do this last year on her 18th birthday because her great uncle suffered terribly from leukaemia and she saw what it did to him. Leukaemia affects many people. It affects children, and as anyone who has seen a child suffering from leukaemia, the tragedy of it and the implications and consequences of it for their family would know, it breaks your heart. It breaks your heart whether they are a young Australian or an older Australian, because no-one should suffer from this disease. We just do not know what causes it and we need to undertake research. We need to spend more money and we need to be aggressive in our campaign to rid our country of this scourge. This is an awful disease that respects no-one. It attacks the rich and the poor, Catholics and Protestants, gays and straight people, and people in rural and regional areas and people in the cities.

Many of us in this House have had our loved ones or friends affected by leukaemia. I would urge all people in my electorate to get behind the Leukaemia Foundation, to get behind the World’s Greatest Shave and to contribute, donate and participate. Let us rid our country of this insidious disease and its associated diseases.