Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1)

notes that:

(a)

Pink Ribbon day is 25 October;

(b)

breast cancer is the most common cancer in Australian women, accounting for 28 per cent of cancer diagnoses in 2006;

(c)

this year alone, 12 000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, which is expected to increase by 22 per cent by 2015;

(d)

one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by age 85;

(e)

breast cancer is the most common cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women;

(f)

the risk of developing breast cancer increases with age, with the average age of diagnosis recorded as 60 in 2006;

(g)

mammograms are vital to early detection, with 75 per cent of deaths occurring in women who have never been screened; and

(h)

there has been a 27 per cent decrease in mortality rates due to breast cancer since 1994; and

(2)

acknowledges the:

(a)

work of the National Breast Cancer Foundation;

(b)

effectiveness of Pink Ribbon Day in raising awareness;

(c)

work of the Jane McGrath Foundation;

(d)

contribution of volunteers, staff and researchers; and

(e)

importance of early detection.

Today is breast cancer awareness day or Pink Ribbon Day, and it is important that all Australian women are aware of the implications of this disease, the facts and figures surrounding it, diagnosis, prevention and the latest treatments available to women.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Australian women, accounting for 28 per cent of cancers diagnosed in 2006. This year alone, 12,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, which is expected to increase by 22 per cent by 2015. One in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age, with the average age of diagnosis recorded as 60 in 2006. Mammograms are vital to early detection, with 75 per cent of deaths occurring in women who have never been screened. There has been a 27 per cent decrease in mortality rates due to breast cancer since 1994.

Breast cancer affects many people’s lives. Every person knows someone who has been diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, there are members of this parliament, past and present, who have been treated for breast cancer. The effects of breast cancer are not limited to the person diagnosed with the disease; it affects their social life, their working life and their family life. It places a financial and emotional strain on the person and their family.

What is breast cancer? Breast cancer is: one or more lumps or a thickening of your breast; nipple alterations, and that can be in shape, redness, crusting, ulcers, sores or an inversion; discharge from the nipple; skin puckering, dimpling, unusual redness or colour change; a change in the size of your breast; or unusual pain that does not go away. These are some but not all of the symptoms of breast cancer.

There are risk factors associated with it. Some people have greater risk factors than others. Some risk factors are: if you have a strong family history of breast cancer or ovarian cancer—and there is a link between the two cancers; if you have had a breast biopsy or a benign tumour diagnosed; breast tissue may be dense or fatty; if you use hormone replacement therapy; if you consume excessive amounts of alcohol; if you are overweight and physically inactive; or if you belong to a high-risk ethnic group. But these are not the only factors.

There are a number of things that women can do to prevent breast cancer. The most important of these is to have a mammogram every two years. Women between the age of 40 and 69 receive reminders to attend for a mammogram, whilst women 70 years and over do not. This does not mean that when a woman reaches the age of 70 she will not get breast cancer. It is equally important for these women to have regular mammograms. So, if you are over 70, put it in your diary or note it on your calendar but ensure you continue to have breast screenings.

The facts I mentioned earlier show that the risk factors associated with breast cancer increase as you age. Fifty years ago, a woman diagnosed with breast cancer had little chance of survival. Since then, treatment and detection has improved. Originally the only treatment was a radical mastectomy. Whilst this treatment is still an option, many women need only a lumpectomy. The removal of the cancer is usually followed by chemotherapy, radiotherapy or, in some cases, both treatments. Recently, clinicians have started treating patients with chemotherapy prior to the removal of the cancer. This treatment enables the surgeon to determine the chemotherapy drug that will react with that particular cancer. If the cancer shrinks then that indicates that that is the appropriate drug. Drugs such as Herceptin and Tamoxifen are also used in the treatment of breast cancer.

It is research that is delivering these new treatments. At a breast cancer morning tea I hosted last Friday, Professor John Forbes, a world-renowned oncologist who received an award from the Clinical Oncological Society for his outstanding contribution to cancer care in the Australian New Zealand Breast Cancer Trials Group research—he is at a conference in New York today—stated that it could be possible to eliminate breast cancer by 2039.

Today the National Breast Cancer Foundation launched a new website, Register4, where volunteers can register for research. The address of the website is www.register4.org.au. Register4 is Australia’s first online community for volunteer breast cancer research participants. By joining the register volunteers will help researchers find better treatments and a cure for breast cancer. By volunteering as a research participant there are many different ways you will help the Register4 breast cancer research community. It is not about raising money; it is about you participating in research. Breast cancer is still the most common cancer affecting Australian women and its incidence is rising. Every person who joins the register takes research one step closer to finding a cure for breast cancer and fulfilling Professor Forbes’s prediction for 2039. People over the age of 18 years age from all walks of life are encouraged to join the register.

Prior to coming in here to make this speech I signed up with Register4, and I encourage all members of this House to do the same. Research is about finding a cure and preventing breast cancer, and that is why it is important for Australians, particularly women, to sign up to Register4. There have been a number of prevention trials. Prevention trials test new approaches such as medicines and vitamins, minerals or other supplements. Prevention trials look at lifestyle changes that may lower the risk factors for getting cancer and look for the best way to prevent cancer in people who have never had it or to prevent second, new cancers in people cured of their first cancer.

Screening trials test the best way to find cancer, especially in its earliest stages. Examples include mammograms. Clinical trials are important. They are the best way to improve the treatment and care of people who have cancer. Clinical trials give us essential information about the effects of different treatments. They are how we discover if new treatments are more effective or have fewer side effects.

The results of clinical trials today will improve treatment for people who develop cancer in the future. A new treatment can only become standard treatment if it is proven to be safe and effective in clinical trials. Many of the most effective treatments used today are the result of clinical trials done in the past 30 years. Clinical trials identify risks and side effects, which must be weighed up against the possible benefits of the new treatment.

Today is a very important day because it does raise awareness of breast cancer, its treatments and the ways in which we can work to prevent it. I would like to encourage members of this House and those people listening to the debate today to hold their own morning tea within their local community to raise awareness of breast cancer amongst people they associate with. As I mentioned, Professor Forbes was the keynote speaker at the morning tea that I held last Friday. Also in attendance was nurse counsellor Jenny Beldham, from the Hunter breast-screening unit, and Sharon Ferris, a breast cancer survivor. I have known Sharon for a long time. She underwent treatment earlier this year. Sharon is extremely fit and active, which shows that no matter what lifestyle you lead you can develop breast cancer. Breast cancer is a disease that we can work to prevent in our community, and there are some very important treatments available.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Childcare and Early Childhood Learning) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I am delighted to support this motion from the member for Shortland and I thank her most sincerely for bringing it before the House. It is the case that breast cancer is the most common cancer in Australian women, accounting for 28 per cent of cancer diagnoses in 2006. Pink Ribbon Day is today, 25 October, and this year alone, 12,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and that figure is expected to increase by 22 per cent by 2015. So one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the age of 85. Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women. The risk of developing breast cancer increases with age, with the average age of diagnosis recorded as 60 in 2006.

As we know, mammograms are vital to early detection, with 75 per cent of deaths occurring in women who have never been screened. Screening is absolutely vital. We have all seen the breast cancer vans which do mammograms travelling around our local area and we all know how much easier it is today to have access to this important diagnostic treatment.

There has been a 27 per cent decrease in mortality rates due to breast cancer since 1994. Today I join with the government and Independent members in acknowledging the work of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. Pink Ribbon Day has been very effective in raising awareness. I think the pink ribbon that I am wearing today is one of the most recognised lapel badges in Australia today. We also acknowledge the work of the McGrath Foundation and, most importantly, the contribution of the volunteers, staff and researchers—the dedicated medical and nursing community—as well as volunteers and breast cancer survivors who do so much to form that net of support and offer strength to women who have been diagnosed in what is a very frightening period of their life.

Early detection is of course the most important thing. My concern as a rural and regional member is always about how cancer and other serious diseases should be picked up, recognised and treated in rural and regional Australia in the same manner that they would be in our capital cities. Unfortunately that is not the case, with the death rates from cancer being much higher in rural areas. The only thing that that can really be attributed to is the fact that the diagnoses are not happening in a timely manner, and that is a real worry.

As the previous member said, breast cancer is not something that you are alerted to; it is often only picked up by a mammogram or a breast examination, and women should all have those carried out, whatever their age. I can still remember meeting a young woman at Conargo in the west of my electorate, who was what you would describe as a fitness freak. She ate well, exercised well and had a happy, balanced life and, out of the blue, was diagnosed with quite advanced breast cancer. So it can strike anywhere, anytime.

I want to pay tribute today to the support networks that exist in my home town of Albury and, of course, the town across the river and recognise the work of the support groups in our area. There are three groups in particular that I want to recognise. Brave Hearts Australia is part of Dragons Abreast Australia, which is a national organisation comprising breast cancer survivors and some of their very special supporters of various ages. They come from a great variety of backgrounds and have varying athletic abilities and interests. It is founded on the principles of participation and inclusiveness. Competitive outcome is secondary but, having said that, I note that our local chapter of Brave Hearts and Dragons Abreast Australia won gold and silver medals in Bendigo on the weekend in, I think, their third regatta in three years. Those girls are pretty competitive, but they are winners because they are there and they are able to paddle. Because of that, some members have achieved amazing things.

Dragons Abreast members provide a face to the breast cancer statistics, which are all too high, but they also spread the message of breast cancer awareness through participation in the wonderful and very strenuous sport of dragon boat racing. High on the list of priorities is having fun, trying new things, meeting interesting people and being involved in a challenging physical activity while promoting breast cancer awareness. Our local support group meet once a month and there is also a meeting later in the evening for the younger members who are working during the day and cannot get to daytime meetings. They also have a group called Mayfliers, which looks after women who have received that very difficult second diagnosis following a primary breast cancer diagnosis. We have a breast care nurse provided by the Jane McGrath Foundation. I talked to Jenny Black, who looked after our network. She has retired now and is living in New Zealand, but she is always ready to promote and advocate for better breast cancer services in our region. Jenny tells me that we do need at least another half a position for a breast care nurse. The work that those women do is absolutely fantastic. The fear and anxiety that one feels after a diagnosis, if you are a family member of someone with breast cancer as I have, really need to be addressed early on.

My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer a couple of years ago. She had a mastectomy and has recovered very well. I mention my mother because she is a little bit alternative and her view was that chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a lifetime of drugs probably was not for her. She was going to take an alternative path. My mother, Angela Braybrook, has always been a keen follower, as I have said, of alternative therapies. She followed the Gawler Approach. I met Ian Gawler a couple of weeks ago and I was truly impressed by his view of how we can approach a diagnosis such as cancer in our lives. It would be very easy for me, as someone who has not been diagnosed with this disease, to say, ‘Well, if you are diagnosed, this is what you should do,’ but when my mother was diagnosed with cancer I had firsthand knowledge of someone taking that approach. She decided that diet and meditation was the key, and that is the work of the Gawler Foundation. Ian Gawler, as members of the House will know, was diagnosed with almost inoperable secondary cancers some 30 years ago. He has lived a long and happy life since then. Doctors had completely given up on him and he took matters into his own hands and struggled through an awful period when he worked out that the way to go was through diet and meditation. He travelled overseas, he looked into the spiritual side of life and his experiences are recorded in his book The Dragon’s Blessing, which I recommend. In fact, when friends of mine are diagnosed with cancer, as happens all too often, I give them a copy of the book.

My mother implemented the Gawler Approach. It is about organic food, it is about plant based food and it is a vegetarian diet, but the most important thing is the meditation. When I met Ian Gawler in Melbourne a couple of weeks—it was not planned; it was a social event—I asked him particularly about the meditation. I said, ‘We all have such busy lives; how difficult is it?’ He said that it was really difficult. He meets people all the time who say they can manage the diet part, because they just have to work it out and stick to it, but the meditation part is a lot more difficult. His advice was: ‘Practise it, try it, and even if you can only do it for 10 minutes at a time it will come to you. You will learn to do it. You will be so much better for it.’ He said to me, ‘Of course you should start early; you should not wait till you get diagnosed with a serious illness.’ The alternative approaches that do not rely on medication sit side by side with traditional Western medicine. That, I think, is the key thing that Ian Gawler says. Do not throw away Western medicine—it has an extremely valuable place—but look also at what you can do to support yourself in other ways.

It is important that the House recognise breast cancer for the serious disease that it is, but we should also take pride in our oncologists, breast care nurses, support workers and community members and all that they do every day. The reduction in deaths, to the extent that it is happening, is largely a result of their very important work. To meet these people is truly inspiring. So today, 25 October, I urge everybody to buy a badge, wear a badge and do what they can to support more research into breast cancer.

Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Shortland for her motion and I am very happy to speak in support of the motion and to be one of many people trying to help raise awareness about this terribly damaging disease on Pink Ribbon Day and World Breast Cancer Day.

In Australia, breast cancer afflicts tens of thousands of women and also a smaller number of men every year. It is the leading cause of cancer deaths for women and one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer before age 85. It is a cancer that can occur spontaneously, but some people are genetically predisposed to this form of cancer. We know that for women and men with certain mutations to the human genes known as BRCA1 and BRCA2 the chance of suffering from breast cancer is much higher. These particular genes, present in all people, actually function to provide some kind of protection against cancer, but unfortunately there are inheritable genetic mutations that for some reason spoil that function. In people whose natural genetic safety mechanism has this flaw the susceptibility to breast cancer can run as high as 80 per cent.

Family history of breast cancer has always been recognised as a strong indicator of susceptibility to the disease, but for a long time medical science could not say exactly why. That all changed in 1990 when, after 16 years of dedicated publicly funded research and the goodwill of hundreds of women who provided DNA samples, a team headed by Professor Mary-Claire King at the University of California in San Francisco made the breakthrough discovery that linked hereditary breast cancer to the human gene BRCA1. It was found to be on human chromosome 17q.

Each of us carries a genome in every cell in our bodies, a complex code that makes us who and what we are. The genome contains 46 chromosomes, and the chromosomes in turn are the repository of some 25,000 protein-coding genes. It is these genes that constitute the blueprint of our inherited genetic information. At the beginning of the 21st century, in a time that is likely to be regarded as an era of great progress in our understanding and use of genetic information, those 46 chromosomes and the 25,000 protein-coding genes they contain are humanity’s most precious common wealth. Our collective ownership of the genetic material we all share is surely one of the indisputable limits to the extent of what can be privately owned. I believe the vast majority of people would certainly think so.

In 1993, only three years after Professor King’s discovery that human chromosome 17q was the location of the BRCA gene and that the gene was linked to hereditary breast cancer, scientists at Myriad Genetics made a further discovery. This US company, formed jointly by Dr Mark Skolnick, a research scientist at the University of Utah, and Mr Peter Meldrum, a venture capitalist, took Professor King’s work a bit further and identified some of the genetic mutations that predisposed people to breast cancer. It is not hard to see how Myriad’s discovery, however valuable, was really only the tip of Professor King’s research iceberg. Myriad was formed in 1991 for the specific purpose of patenting the genetic mutations it hoped to identify as being linked to breast cancer. Dr Skolnick was one of the many US genetic researchers who had become half-scientist and half-entrepreneur. These people were part of a new breed of gene hunters hoping to become rich by first discovering and then owning the genes they identified. This is where the patent system comes in. In Dr Skolnick’s own words, the patent monopoly was ‘the real fruit’ in his company’s research effort, because only with a patent could Myriad control both the information coded within the relevant gene and any medical technique or treatment extrapolated from that information. Myriad realised that the best way to maximise profits for its investors was to prevent any other company or organisation from providing BRCA gene testing in the United States, Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. Today, in the US, the cost of Myriad’s BRCA test is US$4,000. The problem is this: Myriad’s scientific team did not invent the BRCA gene mutations which make people susceptible to breast cancer. They merely discovered them. And they were only able to do so within three years of their research program because of Professor King’s 16 years of work, the results of which she disclosed to the world without any conditions or encumbrances.

That, however, is only part of the story because at the same time, in the UK, another research group was also working towards identifying the BRCA mutations. As so often happens in the course of human endeavour, Professor King’s breakthrough—her eureka moment—had opened up a new branch of competitive scientific research. Unfortunately, from the time that Myriad achieved its patent over the BRCA gene, that research stopped dead. It is a great shame that Dr Skolnick and Myriad were not prepared to be as generous with their incremental insight into our genetic code as Professor King had been with her much more fundamental discovery, because today thousands of women with a predisposition to breast cancer are denied cheaper and potentially better treatment as a result of the private ownership by Myriad of these women’s own genetic information. That might sound like the plot of an evil science fiction film, but it is true.

The greatest cost and the greatest shame is not the price of Myriad’s monopoly over the BRCA diagnostic test, although US$4,000 is a very high price. The real cost is in the obstruction that the patent has represented in terms of further advances in medical science to identify and prevent breast cancer. We know that in Australia research scientists at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre had their work into breast cancer delayed by two years and their costs ballooned 300 per cent because of Myriad’s Australia-held patents on the BRCA genes. Former Australian diplomat and expert on international intellectual property development Anna George has written that ‘patents on human gene sequences that are awarded by IP Australia can at any time be traded as commodities on the global stock exchanges and the stock package can include rights to the samples of DNA harvested from Australian citizens’.

When one considers the affront to common sense that gene patents represent—and, what is more, the affront to the basic legal concept of what is patentable—it is, unfortunately, a poor reflection on our current system of regulating intellectual property in Australia. Both public health and the public purse demand that we reconsider the patent system in Australia and the role of the regulator, IP Australia. And it is for these reasons that I have spoken a number of times in this place recently about the moral and public health policy imperative of amending the Patents Act to make sure that genetic information cannot be monopolised for private gain. If our scientists are to be in a position to deliver the new and wonderful medicines, tests, treatments and cures which we know are possible, then we need to give them free and uninhibited access to the human genome and other biological materials that exist or are derived from nature. If inventions are to be encouraged and technological innovation stimulated by the patent system, then it is essential that the distinction between invention and discovery be properly applied. Granting patents over discoveries of what exists in nature will only leave us in the genetic dark-age because it will inevitably thwart and hinder the progress of medical science and therefore the struggle to win the battle against diseases like breast cancer.

According to Anna George:

The patent bureaucracy and the patent industry, particularly the patent lawyers through a series of legally untested bureaucratic decisions managed to extrapolate from patent decisions made over 30 years ago (which allowed patenting of chemical substances) and to use this rationale to justify awarding patents on human gene sequences. It could be described as incremental ‘patent creep’. A better description might be regulatory capture based on arguments similar to the ‘too big to fail’ arguments used by other industries who demand that governments provide unquestioning support for their operations … This is about awarding monopoly power over the basic scientific tools for health research, it is about the costs of health services paid by the Australian public and it is about the efficiency and the ethical underpinnings of the Australian patent system and who it is supposed to serve.

This Labor government has shown its resolve to advance the fight against breast cancer. The 2009 budget committed a record $2 billion to create a world-class cancer care system, and this included $120 million to upgrade BreastScreen Australia services nationally with digital mammography technology and $168 million to fund the Herceptin program for the treatment of metastatic or advanced breast cancer. The government’s initiatives include support for the training of specialist breast care nurses, better services for women with breast cancer in rural communities and the reimbursement of costs associated with breast prostheses. As part of that effort, it is important that we enable scientific and medical researchers in Australia to forge new and better tests and treatments for breast cancer and other diseases. This will require amending the legislative and regulatory framework that currently allows private companies to own and control, by patent, genetic information which should be incapable of private ownership. Such reform is strongly supported by the National Breast Cancer Foundation and the Cancer Council of Australia, among others. In the words of Ms Heather Drum from the Breast Cancer Network Australia, in her evidence to the Senate committee inquiry into gene patents last year:

If you discover a cure or a treatment, patent it but not the gene. Surely if the genes are available to everyone to research, they can all come up with some sort of treatment. The competition will still be there. Women are still being diagnosed with breast cancer every day. So let us have the competition about the research on how to find a cure then patent the cure.

               …            …            …

Patent the cure, not the gene.

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, 25 October, is Pink Ribbon Day. It is recognition of breast cancer as one of the most common forms of cancer to affect women, although a very small number of men can also have this disease. It is a disease which takes the lives of women in their prime, who are young mothers, but on average the age of diagnosis is at 60. The risk of developing breast cancer does increase with age, and one in nine women will be diagnosed with breast cancer by the time they are 85. Great advances have been made in diagnosis and treatments and breast cancer is no longer inevitably a death sentence for women, as it once was. However, this year over 12,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer, and this is expected to increase by 22 per cent by 2015.

Much of the funding for the research that now leads to early diagnosis and better treatments has been raised by voluntary groups in the Australian community and internationally, but trusts like the Jane McGrath Foundation just cannot be overlooked as some of the most significant new entrants in the area of trying to increase consciousness of younger women needing breast screening. We acknowledge in particular the Jane McGrath Foundation for the support it gives to women with cancer in my part of northern Victoria, the electorate of Murray. I want to focus on my Goulburn Valley community in the seat of Murray, which has done more than its fair share of the heavy lifting in raising money for cancer research over the last nine years. That is in particular as a result of the annual Relay for Life. Of course, that relay was held just two weekends ago. I have been the patron of the Relay for Life in the Goulburn Valley over the period of its work—some nine years—and I have to say that despite the worst drought on record this embattled community has raised more than $2 million for cancer research. We are, in our part of the world, unfortunately particularly prone to certain sorts of cancer.

I want to say, though, that this morning over 700 women attended a breakfast at the Goulburn Valley Hotel. This is the fourth year the event has been held, and it was the brainchild of the Shepparton News Classified Manager, Tracey Bell. She came up with the idea four years ago and it has gone from strength to strength. The breakfast is hoping to raise over $30,000 this year. Just as the Relay for Life taps into the community, raising funds from local organisations, families and sporting clubs, the breakfast this morning had sponsors including the SN Weekly, Blizzards Fine Jewellers, Telstra Stores Shepparton, Showcase Jewellers and Pandora, the Peter and Maria Copulos Foundation, GV Imaging Group, GV Hotel, Shepparton Private Hospital, Bunnings Warehouse and Solar City Office Equipment. This is a great community get-together to try and deal with cancer, because we are particularly affected in our part of the world, being rural and regional. It is harder for women, first of all, to have early diagnosis and then they often have to travel away from home for their treatments.

This morning was a particular tribute to Tracey Jackson, just 37, with a daughter, Rhiana, aged nine, and her husband, Scott. Tracey lost her battle with breast cancer just a few weeks ago. She came to my office back when she was first diagnosed in 2006. Her case was not and is not unusual, unfortunately, for rural women. She had noticed lumps in her breast 2½ years before. She had been to her doctor, who had told her not to worry—they were simply blocked milk ducts. And 2½ years later she was finally diagnosed by another doctor as having, tragically, third stage breast cancer. She was given the all clear for a while, but then it was found that the cancer had gone right through her body and finally into her brain. It is a tragic story of missed diagnosis, of an opportunity for a long life lost.

There has been a lot of research into the realities of an early diagnosis of breast cancer for many rural and regional women. There has been recent research published which followed on from reviews of a huge sample of women in South Australia and New South Wales. What it found was that the women typically had to be away from home for six or seven weeks at a time for their treatments. For a lot of them, that put enormous strain on their young families or their caring partners. Many of them had great financial distress and worries in relation to that time away from home. Very few could access financial support, even when they were eligible, because of the difficulties, the criteria and the red tape involved. I think that is something that this government should look very seriously at. It is a great shame if there is a substantial difference, too, in early detection of something like breast cancer for women in rural and regional areas when there are such things as mobile breast screening clinics. I have to commend BreastScreen Australia, who have been doing a fantastic job.

I also commend the McGrath Foundation. They have made it possible for three breast care nurses to be funded in the Goulburn Valley. One of the problems for our women who are diagnosed with breast cancer is that they live on remote farms and it is difficult for them to get the right postoperative or posttreatment support. I will not forget being in the small town of Stanhope, when a woman came with her supporter, a dear friend, to the community centre so distressed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. She had received some treatment, but because she was literally a few kilometres over the border—in the Loddon Mallee health region—she was not eligible to get support from the breast care nurses who would have been available if she had been a few kilometres further east in the Hume region. There she was, in great need and great distress, needing a breast care nurse’s support, but because of a few kilometres on a map she was unable to access that support. We were able to deal with that issue, but it is typical of the sorts of problems rural women often encounter when they are trying to access services that metropolitan populations often simply take for granted.

I also draw attention to the member for Pearce, who is beside me in the chamber today—the Hon. Judi Moylan. In 1994 she brought to the House a recommendation for a ‘Beat breast cancer lobby for life’ effort to raise money and draw attention of the then Keating Labor government to the great needs of women with breast cancer. She was able to bring forward 100,000 signatures on a petition that did finally make a difference. The Keating government acknowledged, finally, the problem. At the time, the Minister for Human Services and Health was Carmen Lawrence. So some government funding was committed to this very serious problem. I commend that very early work of the member for Pearce and say that it has been a long haul for a lot of women in Australia to have this disease recognised as significant and to have access to the diagnostic services that are so important for early detection.

I also commend those younger women in Australia who have had the misfortune of a diagnosis—people like Tracey Jackson, who has lost her life. Before she died, she became an advocate for making sure people have early screening. She has left a young daughter, who is just nine years old, and a grieving husband. The loss of her life cannot be in vain if a lot of younger women around her no longer take their age as a reason for not seeking early detection. If there is the slightest indication, the slightest lump or the slightest change, that should give them some suspicion that they need to have something checked.

It is important to look at the difference in the survival rates and early detection rates of rural and regional versus metropolitan women. It should not be the case either that Indigenous women—particularly Torres Strait Islanders and Australian Aboriginal women—have a higher rate of incidence of breast cancer. We have to make sure that the differences that bring about those higher rates are better understood and that those women have better treatment and earlier diagnosis.

I commend the member who has brought forward this motion today, which is Pink Ribbon Day. Let us hope that the 12,000 women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer today do not have a death sentence but rather will be able to enjoy the treatments that have been discovered and the fundraising that has meant that more of that research is on the table. It has been a magnificent effort, often from communities that have had very little to spare over their years of drought and distress. There has often been a community response to this disease, and I certainly commend this motion to the House.

John Murphy (Reid, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too begin by applauding the member for Shortland for this very, very important motion on breast cancer and join with the previous speakers in supporting such a wonderful initiative today, Pink Ribbon Day. You would probably be aware that I have spoken on breast cancer many, many times in this House over the years. Today is special. Pink Ribbon Day is an initiative which was founded by the National Breast Cancer Foundation to help raise funds for research into the prevention and cure of breast cancer. Today, thousands of Australians will host or take part in Pink Ribbon Day events, including some that have already taken place at breakfast time this morning as well as dinners and cocktail parties—and the list goes on. Although it is a fun way to raise money, it also raises very important awareness of such a very serious health issue.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in Australian women and, although uncommon, men can be diagnosed with breast cancer too, and we should not forget that. It is frightening to think that about 12,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year in Australia and that an estimated 3,000 women will die from breast cancer in a single year. These women are our mothers, our aunties, our daughters and our sisters, and I know that many of us have been touched by the devastating reality of breast cancer in the loss of someone close to us.

Since the establishment of the National Breast Cancer Foundation, over $67 million has been awarded to Australian based researchers for the benefit of those affected by breast cancer. Research programs funded by the NBCF have included work in genetics and in improving treatments and enhancing ways to support women and their families. In my electorate of Reid we are very fortunate to host one of the best breast cancer centres in the world, and I have spoken about this on a number of occasions. Under the leadership of Professor David Gillett, the Strathfield Breast Centre is a private centre that provides a multidisciplinary, integrated service to assess and manage patients with breast diseases. I have had the pleasure of knowing Professor Gillett and many of his staff and colleagues since my election as a federal member in 1998 and I have come to appreciate the amazing research and treatment of patients with breast cancer that has been undertaken by the Strathfield Breast Centre under the leadership of Professor Gillett.

One of the strongest messages from both the Strathfield Breast Clinic and other breast cancer research is that early prognosis dramatically increases the statistical probability of patient survival, especially for women. The time that it takes to have the examination is surely worth the peace of mind or, in the worst case scenario, early detection.

Breast cancer is an issue that I am very familiar with. For many years in opposition I remember campaigning vigorously with the help of my community to have the breast cancer treatment drug Herceptin listed under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. I well remember the then health minister, the Hon. Tony Abbott, receiving multiple questions on notice from me demanding to know why the government would not approve the treatment under the PBS. I made many speeches in parliament raising the need to publicly fund the drug Herceptin. At the time, treatment was costing women approximately $60,000 per year, which was clearly beyond the reach of most people. And despite record budget surpluses at the time, the life-saving drug was not made accessible or affordable for many women suffering breast cancer.

After a very strong and lengthy community campaign, which I was part of, with thousands of people signing the petitions that I initiated and the constant stream of questions to the minister that I referred to earlier, the coalition government finally supported the listing of Herceptin on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in October 2006. I am very pleased that out community campaign was successful for the thousands of women affected. I know how much that that was appreciated. I hope that we never again take so long to provide affordable and accessible treatments for the benefit of cancer sufferers. Herceptin is a wonderful drug for a particular type of breast cancer.

On a positive note, the National Breast Cancer Foundation report that survival prospects for breast cancer patients are better than ever, with over 96 per cent of women surviving at least one year after diagnosis and 88 per cent of women surviving five years or more. This represents a 15 per cent increase since the 1980s. This is wonderful news. Moreover, since 1994, deaths from breast cancer have decreased by something in the order of 27 per cent. These are very heartening figures and I am sure that the very good work that is being undertaken by researchers and surgeons like Professor David Gillett are greatly contributing to these improved results.

I want to briefly share some stories from the National Breast Cancer Foundation. These stories tell quite a lot about the seriousness of this disease. I will start with Amanda’s story. Amanda was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in 2002 at age 44. Her mother and aunt also had breast cancer. She had four operations in six months, including a mastectomy of the right breast and removal of ovaries, causing instant menopause, in 2003. Amanda has had a close association with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, firstly on the volunteer committee for the ‘Global Illumination: turning Australian icons pink’ and raising funds for breast cancer research and then in the corporate area, expanding the employee giving program and in a corporate relations role. She worked on the Mt Franklin campaign launch of ‘Think positive, drink positive’ in 2008 and 2007, and was the face of Mt Franklin’s full page print advertisement titled ‘Lessons learnt from breast cancer’, which ran in national major women’s magazines. Amanda has shared her story as an NBCF Speakers Bureau ambassador since 2004, and now facilitates training workshops for new ambassadors before they embark on their public-speaking activities.

Then there is Margaret’s story. Margaret was born in 1929. She is over 80 years of age. She said:

My mother died when I was fourteen, leaving a huge hole in my life. I attended Fort Street Girls’ High where I became a prefect. I worked in a Macquarie Street Pathology Laboratory while studying at night to qualify as a medical technologist. This is where I met my husband, David. We had four children.

The common belief then was if you breast fed your babies for 9 months, you would never get breast cancer—how wrong they were! I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1998 at age 69. Then followed a mastectomy, another big emotional experience. Happily I have had no recurrence of cancer.

This experience has made me even more appreciative of my family whose love and support helped me through the challenges that life sent me.

I will recount one final one, Gretel’s story:

My name’s Gretel. I’m 18 years old and am currently taking a gap year after graduating from school last year. I’ve deferred my degree of Communications in Journalism and International Studies at UTS to work half the year then travel to Europe. I’m passionate about drama, music and travel. I also love hanging out with my friends whether it be over a glass of wine or swimming around at the beach. I’m supporting the National Breast Cancer Foundation, because as a daughter and grand daughter of breast cancer survivors, I believe that investing money into quality research and educating young women about the illness is crucial, when so many families are affected by it.

I could not agree more. I stand proudly here today on Pink Ribbon Day with my pink ribbon supporting this very worthy motion. I commend the member who initiated it and all the speakers who contributed to the debate.

Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the member for Shortland bringing this motion on breast cancer before the House on this occasion, Pink Ribbon Day. A year after I was elected to parliament, in 1993, I had the opportunity to speak to a motion on breast cancer brought to this House by the then member for Cowan, Richard Evans. In preparing to speak to that motion and in researching, I was truly shocked to see how little attention had been paid to breast cancer research and how little funding it attracted compared to other areas of research. Following that speech, I had such an overwhelming reaction from the public, when women, husbands and fathers phoned to say, ‘We agree that there should be more funding for research and better support for women who are diagnosed with breast cancer.’ They wanted to help and asked what they could do. It got me thinking about how we could progress this matter. I went back to my office and designed the ‘Beat Breast Cancer: Lobby for Life!’ kit. It included facts about breast cancer—some of those facts we have already heard today—a letter from the then Leader of the Opposition, John Hewson; contact details of every member of parliament, state and federal; and a copy of the petition form. Many members and senators held signing sessions in their local shopping centres.

I want to acknowledge the great support in those days of many in this House and in the Senate—those who assisted to refine the kits and help get them out into the community. I particularly acknowledge then senator Kay Patterson and then senator Jocelyn Newman. I also acknowledge Mrs Gina Rinehart, who generously contributed to fighting breast cancer and supported the cost of getting those kits out into the community. Carolyn Hewson, then wife of John Hewson, travelled with John to many parts of the country to launch the kits and give them a much higher profile than they might otherwise have had. The action resulted in a petition, with 100,000 signatures, being delivered on the steps of Parliament House to then Prime Minister Paul Keating and then Minister for Human Services and Health, Carmen Lawrence. For me as a new chum it was a great lesson in the power of people and in how public engagement in an issue can mobilise governments. It also attracted criticism. Nevertheless, for the women who were diagnosed, it was wonderful to know that more would be done to support research and to establish the National Breast Cancer Foundation. During that time, women diagnosed with breast cancer and their families began sharing their stories on national television, in national papers and magazines. Some of those women were incredibly brave as they fought their own battle and as some of them, sadly, lost that battle. As a result, though, of this successful public campaign we saw more money go into research and we saw the establishment of the National Breast Cancer Foundation. The Breast Cancer Foundation website tells us that, since it was established in 1994 to promote and support breast cancer research in all its forms, it has allocated $55 million to over 230 breast cancer research projects. The good news is that we have seen the death rate from breast cancer fall. It has been very important in helping women ensure they have regular check-ups, ensuring early detection and the best possible treatment.

Having had breast cancer myself in 2007, I would like to say how much I appreciate the work that is being done. All over Australia, not just in Western Australia at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital where I had my treatment, the doctors and the specialists working in the field are wonderful but, importantly, the nurses and the staff in these centres that have been established all over the country are absolutely wonderful, supportive, helpful and attentive.

I would also like to join with the member for Murray in expressing concern about the treatment of women in rural areas. There still seem to be some gaps there. I hope that, in the future, we may address those barriers for women living in rural areas, who find treatment and diagnosis much more difficult. It is great to have Pink Ribbon Day. It is great to be reminded that we need to encourage early detection and early treatment for women and men diagnosed with breast cancer.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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