Matt Williams (Hindmarsh, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Cancer, as we all know, is a killer. I for one know this too well with family members and friends suffering from this insidious disease. The impact we all know is incredible. That is why, this Sunday, I will be running The Sunday Mail city to bay fun run, which runs through the Adelaide CBD through my electorate, to Glenelg, and I will be raising money for childhood cancer as a member of the Bartons to Bay for CCA team.

Astonishingly, Australia has one of the highest incidences of childhood cancer worldwide. One in 500 Australian children will develop a cancer before 15 years of age—that is, 600 Australian children diagnosed every year. Childhood cancer is the greatest single cause of death from disease in Australian children with three children losing their lives to cancer every week.

This year Bartons accountants and financial advisers are dedicated to raising awareness for childhood cancer and they are partnering with the Childhood Cancer Association in South Australia. Last year they raised over $50,000 for childhood cancer. I am proud not only to try and beat my time in the city to the bay but also to raise money.

Bartons was originally established in 1965 in Jetty Road, Glenelg, and I was pleased to attend their 50th anniversary celebrations recently, so congratulations to Stuart Brown and the team at Bartons. It is great that they have been in my electorate for all of that time as well.

The Childhood Cancer Association is South Australia's key childhood cancer support organisation and does an outstanding job providing ongoing tailored support to meet the individual needs of families. I recently attended a moving presentation by their president, Chris Hartley, on the personal impact that childhood cancer has had on his family.

Fifty years ago only two per cent of children with cancer survived. Medical research alone has improved overall survival rates to 80 per cent, but more can be done. This is another reason why I am so proud of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, or SAHMRI, and the government's Medical Research Future Fund which will allow research professionals to advance medical research projects, development treatments and cures, and, ultimately, deliver improved health and medical outcomes for all Australians.

In addition, I have been working to have a dedicated cancer centre built in South Australia with the Cancer Council of South Australia for over a year now. With one in two people being diagnosed with cancer by the age of 85, we need to ensure that we have the best treatment facilities so that South Australians can beat this insidious disease. That is why I organised a letter from the South Australian Liberal federal members of parliament to the former Prime Minister on this important issue highlighting why we believe this is a worthy project.

Anyone who has a loved one go through the trauma of cancer treatment knows what a hard process it is on a patient and their family. The cancer centre will hopefully make this treatment just that little bit easier, ensuring that more people finish their treatment and deliver better outcomes. Under this proposal, the Cancer Council SA will move all of their facilities into a one-stop-shop for cancer treatment and will continue to fight for this cancer centre in South Australia. The activities undertaken at the cancer centre will include out-of-hospital services, including pre- and posttreatment and chemotherapy management, and possibly some research to complement the work undertaken at SAHMRI and other South Australian health institutions.

As a $60 million development, to which Cancer Council SA will be the major contributor, the project has implications for job creation and economic development in South Australia as well. With the federal budget providing $208 million more over four years for South Australian hospitals, I am always looking for ways in which we can help provide better health outcomes for South Australians. I have written to Prime Minister Turnbull to bring this project to his attention and will continue my efforts to work with the Cancer Council in South Australia for a dedicated cancer centre. I have also started a petition, which has been signed and supported by over 4,000 people, and I urge South Australians to add their names to mine to support South Australians who have cancer.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Karen McNamara on her very successful Big Aussie BBQ at Parliament House yesterday. It highlighted the impact of prostate cancer, which claims the lives of over 3,000 Australian men each year, and I was happy to support this great event.