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

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises that endometriosis is a terrible condition that afflicts 1 in 10 women globally and notes that there is:

(a) delay in diagnosis of between 7 and 10 years; and

(b) a huge need for further research on ways to treat this terrible condition;

(2) notes that the Government is committing funding to researching this dreadful disease;

(3) congratulates the Minister for Health for working with the Australian Coalition for Endometriosis to establish the first National Action Plan for Endometriosis; and

(4) further congratulates the Government for also committing funding of $160,000, through the National Health and Medical Research Council, for Professor Grant Montgomery to use genomics to investigate better treatments for women with endometriosis.

I want to thank the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, and the Turnbull government. Both are determined to do more to support endometriosis sufferers around Australia. This chronic disease has been historically under-recognised amongst both the medical fraternity and the general public.

Why does endometriosis matter so much? It matters because at least 700,000 women and girls in Australia are living with this disease today. Some research indicates that it is more common than breast and prostate cancer and diabetes. Around the world, approximately 176 million women and girls are suffering from endo. Endometriosis is a chronic, progressive disease, usually resulting in severe, debilitating chronic pain and often leading to infertility. It significantly impacts on the social and economic participation and the psychosocial health of those women affected. It is taking at least seven to 10 years to diagnose. At the moment, there is no cure for endometriosis.

I want to thank the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, for his commitment to the women and girls suffering from endometriosis. He has led the way in his ministerial portfolio. He commissioned the first ever Australian national endometriosis plan, which is focused on three priority areas to help improve the lives of Australian women and girls who live with endo. The priority areas of the plan are public awareness and education, clinical management and care and research.

Clinical management and care is so important to patients who need access to individual information and support and to services that are right for them and their circumstances; services that are available and accessible. So committed is Minister Hunt that earlier this year he announced $2.5 million from the Medical Research Future Fund for Australia's world-class researchers to develop improved diagnosis and treatment options directly aimed at improving patient outcomes for endo sufferers. In this year's budget, the Turnbull government committed a further $1 million to actually increase the awareness and understanding of endometriosis amongst general practitioners and other frontline health professionals—the actual coalface. This is where, early in the process, young women's symptoms need to be taken seriously.

I want to thank all those who have helped draft the first endo plan: the endo patient advocates, the Australian Coalition for Endometriosis, the researchers, the clinicians, the patients themselves and the members of parliament who were part of it. Equally, I want to thank everyone who has contributed to the plan during the consultation process and those very courageous women who have sent me their personal stories. Even the dads and mums who talk to me constantly about their daughters' battles with endo.

I want to thank my daughter, Kylie, for allowing me to share her endometriosis story. It was not easy to do for her, or for me. But what both Kylie and I want to do is to warn every other young woman to take the symptoms seriously. Please persist until you get a GP and a gynaecologist who will take you seriously. While it is too late for Kylie, it is not too late for thousands of young women in Australia and around the world. It took Kylie nearly 20 years to get that diagnosis, and what she suffered during that time is what thousands of women around Australia are suffering right now and have suffered for so many years.

The government's groundbreaking national endo plan is due for release in July. As an Endometriosis Australia ambassador, I am very proud of this, and I thank Minister Hunt for taking me seriously when I knocked on his door and talked about how serious this issue is. I'm very, very proud of it and I thank Minister Hunt on behalf of every woman who now actually has more hope: more hope for an earlier diagnosis, more hope for better care and management, and for a better quality of life as a result—and not the drastic outcome that I see in my daughter and so many other women around this country.

I actually look forward to the day when our amazing researchers announce that they've found a cure. That's what I'm relying on from you as researchers—that you will come up with the cure. But, ultimately, I'll go back to where I started long ago in this. I want to warn all young women to take their symptoms seriously—please!—and I urge every single GP and gynaecologist to do exactly the same. Take these women seriously, please.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Cyber Security and Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I want to thank the member for Forrest for this motion and for her years and years of fighting to have endometriosis recognised by the leaders of our nation. And I want to thank her daughter, Kylie, for her courage. I want to thank the member for Boothby for reaching across the aisle to join with the member for Forrest and me in establishing the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis Awareness, which we launched last December. I want to thank the journalists and the media outlets that have been reporting on this issue in the past 18 months. I want to thank Esther Han and The Sydney Morning Herald, Gabrielle Jackson and The Guardian, and the Huffington Post. I want to thank the Yellow Wiggle, Emma Watkins, for talking with the nation about her battle with endo. And I want to thank the endo warriors and endo activists who've been advocating on this issue for decades. I want to thank QENDO, EndoActive, Endometriosis Australia, the Pelvic Pain Foundation, the Canberra Endometriosis Network, the Canberra Endometriosis Centre and the Australian Coalition for Endometriosis.

Most importantly, out of the hundreds of thousands of endo sufferers in Australia, I want to thank the hundreds who have bravely and candidly shared their stories of living with endometriosis, and I want to thank their fabulous families and friends for their support. They have shared their stories of being seen as 'the sick person in the office' when they are normally fit women. They shared stories of losing their self-confidence and self-esteem because of not being taken seriously by the medical profession, of being told to go home and have sex to burst a cyst, of being told to suck it up because period pain is difficult and painful and you just have to get on with it, that this is 'part of being a woman'. They shared stories of lost educational opportunities because they needed to have so much time off school or TAFE or university. They shared stories of not being able to socialise like any normal 20-something and go out for a drink or a dinner or a movie because they were too exhausted or too broke or in too much pain. They shared stories of the lack of understanding and discrimination in the workforce and in the medical profession, of the horror of seeing the scars on their beautiful young bodies for the first time after their first operations.

There were stories of the incredible financial burden of endometriosis: the cost of drugs, the cost of specialists, the cost of operations. And there were stories of not being able to work full time, or even part time, because of the endless interventions and the recovery time required after them. They shared stories of having to live at home in their 20s, when their peers were moving into share accommodation or were saving for their first home, because they were not working or they were working part time or they were working sporadically and so they couldn't sustain rent let alone savings. There were stories of hysterectomies too young, of hysterectomies in their 20s, of multiple radical operations by their mid-20s, of battles with infertility. And there were stories of mental health challenges, of depression, of anxiety, of anguish due to constant pain and constant bleeding and constant financial stress and the deeply confronting operations and—to put it in the words of an endo sufferer here in Canberra—'The horrifying realisation at a young age that they will never ever, ever, ever reach their potential.'

Thanks to the efforts of so many over so many years we now have investment in research, as the member for Forrest has highlighted. We now have investment in awareness, particularly targeted at GPs and the medical profession. We now have a draft national action plan that is being finalised after months of consultation. I, too, want to thank all the endo sufferers, the endo warriors, the endo activists, the medical professionals, the members of parliament and others who were involved in that national consultation process and involved in that draft national action plan.

Finally, we now have the leaders of our nation talking about endometriosis, about the one in 10. I want to thank the Minister for Health for his apology last year which acknowledged these women had been ignored for too long. Finally, these women who had been so, so frightened, so, so voiceless and so, so powerless are now not on their own. At last, we have begun the conversation on endometriosis and the one in 10. We now have to make that conversation louder. We now have to make that conversation broader. We now have to have that conversation every day and end the silence on endo. (Time expired)

Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Much more remains to be done to raise awareness on endometriosis and to find better treatments and, hopefully, even a cure for this awful disease. This parliament has made a very strong start in finally recognising and addressing this devastating condition. In June last year, the member for Canberra—I'm glad she is in the chamber—and I started the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis Awareness. We brought together the hardworking and dedicated advocacy groups—EndoActive, Pelvic Pain Foundation, Endometriosis Australia, the Canberra endometriosis support group and QENDO in early September. These wonderful volunteers worked together to identify their key priorities for action on endo. The member for Canberra and I presented the priorities to the shadow minister for health and the Minister for Health. Our quest for action was supported by our colleague the member for Forrest in many ways, but most powerfully by her sharing with parliament and the Minister for Health her personal story of the truly awful impact endometriosis has had on her daughter, Kylie, and the member for Forrest's family. I want to thank the member for Forrest for her tireless advocacy and support, and for moving this motion today so that we can keep endo front of mind for everybody but, most importantly, for women and health professionals.

We are making sure that women no longer suffer in silence and we are acknowledging their pain. That is precisely what the minister for health did late last year when he apologised to women who have suffered from endometriosis, announced funding for endo expert Dr Grant Montgomery and announced that the first-ever National Action Plan for Endometriosis would be developed. In February this year in Melbourne, my colleagues and I joined advocacy groups, health professionals, the Jean Hailes foundation and others to further identify the key actions that should be taken on endo. Extensive public consultation has also been undertaken, and I look forward to the launch of the plan in July. The plan will focus on awareness and education, treatment and research.

The minister for health has also announced a $1 million investment in the May budget to be put towards awareness of and education on endometriosis among the medical and health professions. This means that health practitioners will have increased access to resources and training and will better understand appropriate treatment pathways. The minister for health has also announced that $2½ million from the Medical Research Future Fund will be used to accelerate research translation in the medical research priority areas identified in the National Action Plan for Endometriosis. The minister has further announced that endometriosis will be a feature of this year's Women's Health Week, from 3 to 7 September 2018, which will raise the profile of endometriosis with women around the country.

Awareness and education remain a critical part of our approach to endometriosis. I am determined to ensure that women and doctors understand what endo is and the signs and symptoms of this terrible disease. Endometriosis causes the cells that line the uterus to grow as lesions in other parts of the body and within the pelvis, causing inflammation, severe pain and scar tissue. These lesions can stick organs together, so that women have to have parts of their bowel removed, their ovaries removed, surgery to their bladder and even full hysterectomies. They may have terrible trouble starting a family and have to undergo IVF to do so. When I talk about the pain of endo, I mean pain that is so severe that women can't get out of bed to go to school or to university or to work. This might be pain during their period, but, due to the severe nature of the pain and the condition, pain can be present constantly. When pain is so regular that it becomes chronic pain, it's far more complicated to treat. Women delay, for years, consulting a doctor for their condition—in part, because we fail to educate women as to what levels of period pain are normal and what levels of period pain are not normal and need medical investigation. When women do consult a doctor, there's an average delay of eight years before they are diagnosed with endometriosis.

We have started a conversation, and we must ensure that it continues, in homes, in schools, in medical practices, in hospitals and in the workplace. We have seen people like US actress Lena Dunham, Yellow Wiggle Emma Watkins and radio personality Mel Greig bravely come forward to publicly share their very personal stories and to help end the silence on endometriosis. I was similarly delighted to learn that students at Mercedes College, one of the local high schools in my electorate, recently hosted a presentation with the Pelvic Pain Foundation to raise awareness among their peers about the condition. We, here in parliament, are doing everything we can as well to work for the policy change we know that these women need, and for our future generations of young women.

Ged Kearney (Batman, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion and to speak about a disease that, as we've heard this morning, affects one in 10 Australian women, yet receives less medical attention than erectile dysfunction. I congratulate the member for Canberra, Gai Brodtmann, the member for Forrest, Nola Marino, and the member for Boothby, Nicolle Flint, for their hard work on shining a light on a disease which has caused millions of women to suffer in silence. Without their advocacy, I'm pretty sure we would not have the first National Action Plan for Endometriosis. However, I find it horrendous that a disease as debilitating as endometriosis requires parliamentarians to demand that the medical community believe the women who present with these symptoms and treat them with respect and dignity.

Endometriosis has been, historically, underrecognised by doctors, and has never been properly prioritised as worthy of research or effective management, and, consequently, has been underdiagnosed and poorly treated, causing much pain and anguish for so many women. There are around the same number of diabetes and asthma sufferers as there are endometriosis sufferers. Yet, in 2016, the National Health and Medical Research Council allocated more than $14 million to asthma research, $64 million to diabetes research and less than $900,000 to endometriosis research, which is why I believe it's important to acknowledge that endometriosis is a gendered disease. It's a women's disease.

For far too long, women with endometriosis have had their symptoms and pain delegitimised by the medical profession. Too often they are told, 'You're just being hysterical,' or that they are hypochondriacs, that the pain will soon settle down, that all women get period pain, that it can't be that bad or, as my young friend Rachel, who suffers badly with this condition, is constantly told by doctors, family and friends, 'Just have a baby; that'll fix it.' Let's be clear: having a baby is not a medical treatment. Rachel is a young, professional woman. She has her own life's plan—a plan that has been hampered by a debilitating condition. Telling a young woman to just have a baby borders on contempt.

Endometriosis causes excruciating pain and can lead to infertility. We've heard through the media of Jessica Panetta, a young woman who suffers from endometriosis and recently described the pain as 'like barbed wires are being pulled through my ribs'. Instances of the medical professional not taking women's pain seriously aren't just anecdotal; they are backed up by evidence. The University of Pennsylvania found that women are less likely to receive pain medication in emergency centres than men, and, when they do get it, they have to wait longer for it. Why is it that we treat men's pain quickly and effectively, yet when women tell us they're in pain we tell them to calm down? The cruel irony of endometriosis is that early diagnosis is crucial for effective treatment. The average wait time, as we've heard in this chamber this morning, is seven to 10 years. While one in 10 women in Australia wait for diagnosis and treatments, the excruciating pain of endometriosis can take over. Women miss work and school. Their relationships can suffer. They suffer through missed diagnoses and operations. They can even lose complete control of their lives and any plan that they might've had for their future. And they can often lose hope; that is the greatest loss of all.

But women around Australia are saying, 'Enough is enough'. They are angry about the years of inaction, and fantastic women like the members for Forrest, Boothby and Canberra have listened. They have heard and they are taking much-needed action. This is what we are in this House for: to make legislative changes that make people's lives better, that give them hope, that clear the way for a future. Endometriosis tells us that while we prioritise men's lives and bodies over those of our women many will continue to suffer through pain and medical inaction. As a registered nurse and a woman, I have personally seen and experienced the indignity of being told—and heard talk of—that female conditions are just 'women's problems'. I am pleased to support a motion that, for endometriosis sufferers, means that change is indeed ahead.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Forrest for providing an opportunity to speak about endometriosis in the House today. I also want to acknowledge the work of the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis Awareness, the members for Canberra and Boothby.

This is the first time I've spoken in the House since a period of parental leave, and I'd like to thank the House for giving me some time to be with my wife and son. It's particularly appropriate that I speak on this motion as the first motion since coming back, because I speak today as the husband of a woman who has endometriosis. I want to say something to the women who suffer from endometriosis on behalf of their husbands and partners: to the women in our lives going through the pain of endometriosis, know that we love you, we support you and, indeed, we think you're amazing. I've seen firsthand the pain endometriosis can cause and I've watched my wife endure that pain and multiple surgeries. I know the effect that endometriosis can have on fertility; I know how important it is to have correct diagnosis and specialty care; and I know that other sufferers of endometriosis have had it worse than even Joanna and I. My message to women experiencing period pain is: don't suffer in silence. Get it checked, ask about endometriosis, and ask and ask again.

Endometriosis is a debilitating condition that affects around one in 10 Australian women, in which the endometrium—the tissue that normally covers the inside of the uterus—grows outside and around the uterus, on other reproductive organs, the ovaries and fallopian tubes and, in extreme cases, other parts of the body. The symptoms that endo patients experience vastly differ in variety and intensity from woman to woman. According to research, 60 to 80 per cent of endo patients suffer with period pain, and 40 to 50 per cent experience chronic pelvic pain and intense dyspareunia. In 30 to 50 per cent of cases, patients suffer infertility. Twenty per cent of endometriosis patients present no symptoms at all. Endometriosis symptoms can be horribly unpleasant, but currently researchers are unclear about what causes endometriosis.

Endometriosis affects five per cent of our population, but it has received little to no attention in the media and is rarely ever featured in public discourse. As a result, there are many misconceptions about the condition in the community. This lack of awareness and understanding is prevalent among both men and women. There are far too many Australian girls and women who have suffered too silently with endo, believing their severe period pain is normal or just part of being a woman. It's particularly a problem in some ethnic communities where women's health issues remain taboo. Better endo awareness through the community means that sufferers and their families can recognise the symptoms and seek help immediately. This includes building better support networks so that diagnosed patients know they are not alone in their experiences.

As we've heard from others, there is an average 10-year delay between when sufferers of endo first develop the condition and when they receive a correct diagnosis from a medical professional. That's 10 years of suffering without answers or the correct treatment. While endo is a difficult condition to diagnose, the problem is primarily caused by a blind spot among some medical practitioners. The stories many courageous women have shared about recurring incorrect diagnoses are deeply distressing. Worse are the stories about medical professionals who suggest to children with endo that they are faking their pain for attention. It's absolutely vital that health professionals are trained in recognising the symptoms of endometriosis, and that we work to change attitudes and develop a systemic approach to diagnostics.

There is no cure for endo currently; all can be done is alleviate symptoms with lifelong personal management plans. I want to commend the work of Syl Freedman, who is an inspiration to endo sufferers around the country. I met her a couple of years ago at an AFR Women of Influence awards night where her work in endometriosis was being celebrated. In 2014 Syl and her mother, Lesley, started EndoActive with the aim to empower women with knowledge and information about endo and to campaign for more research. Syl has had multiple surgeries for endometriosis and she experienced the added ordeals that endo sufferers face, in particular: the lack of support networks, the concerning attitudes of some medical professionals and the dearth of research that was being done on causes, treatments and cures. Worst of all, it seemed to her that nobody was talking about these problems.

Syl and Lesley started a national conversation. As a result of their lobbying and hard work, and the wider Coalition for Endometriosis, the Turnbull government was proud to announce the development of the national action plan to raise awareness and provide clinical research, management plans and better medical research. The health minister, Minister Hunt, has announced that the government will commit $2.5 million from the Medical Research Future Fund to accelerate research translation in the medical research priority areas identified in the National Action Plan for Endometriosis, and that endometriosis would be a feature of this year's Women's Health Week to raise its profile. I am proud to support this motion from the member for Forrest, and I am proud to be part of a government determined to provide a national action plan to address endometriosis.

Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I don't know if I know anyone with endometriosis, but I probably do. The more that I've learned about it, the more I know there's a high probability that I know quite a few women who are suffering with this condition. I want to thank the member for Canberra because it was after perhaps the third time that I'd heard her speaking on it in the House that I asked her: 'What is this condition? It sounds horrible.' It is for that reason, and because of her work with our colleagues opposite, that I'm speaking to this today.

The fact that it takes an average of 10 years between the symptoms starting and diagnosis makes me incredibly sad. To know that there are women, our sisters and our mums, out there in the community suffering, not being taken seriously and being affected so much is saddening, but what is encouraging is the work that's being done now. I applaud the Minister for Health for taking the action that he has, but, listening this morning, it's clear that there's a lot more that needs to be done. I want to thank the member for Forrest for moving this important motion. It is enlightening to hear how incapacitating it can be, and, obviously, for too long the serious effects haven't been given the proper attention. It's now very important that greater awareness is on the way to taking place. I want to congratulate the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis Awareness, sponsored not only by my friend the member for Canberra but also by the member for Boothby. They're doing great work in making all of us here in parliament more aware of the need for more research and the need for better treatments and hopefully, ultimately, a cure.

As I said, I want to congratulate the Minister for Health for making funding available to the National Health and Medical Research Council for research into endometriosis and for consulting on a national action plan. As we've heard, the government's put $2.5 million in, as part of the national plan, to fund that research, and that's very important. I understand that there's been a strong response to the draft plan, which has endorsed those three key priorities areas: education and awareness, clinical management and care, and research. I look forward to the release of the final action plan, which I understand might be next month.

The shadow minister for health, the member for Ballarat, has expressed support for not only the work of the parliamentary friends group but also the government's initiative. It's important for everyone that's listening today, those that are here with us here in the gallery, to understand that seeking more support for women suffering endometriosis is a bipartisan effort. All of us want to see more action here, because it is complex disease that is difficult to diagnose, and, as I said, so many out there are suffering without the support that they need. Hopefully those days of medical practitioners not taking sufferers seriously are over; I sincerely hope that they are.

I know there are many support groups for women across the country. In Darwin, we have a support group that you can find on Facebook. I found it because the member for Canberra enlightened me on this. I want to also give a shout-out to some of our great specialists in the Top End; people like Dr Jenny Mitchell, Dr Andrew Miller and Dr Nader Gad. I also want to say to the government and all those working on this important issue that you have my support in raising awareness of this terrible disease and seeking better treatments and cures. I want to thank everyone that's shared their story. To those out there that are suffering from this debilitating condition: I take it seriously. I want you to remember that you are not alone.

Julia Banks (Chisholm, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Forrest on her important motion today and thank her for sharing her passion for eradicating this terrible condition, the chronic and progressive menstrual health disorder endometriosis, and for sharing the significant effect it can have on women, like her beloved daughter.

For many women in Australia like Kylie, endometriosis is a silent epidemic. For so many of our loved ones, work colleagues, friends, mothers, daughters and sisters, endometriosis has been an incredible burden, and a burden that is rarely discussed openly. For the one in 10 women of child-bearing age in Australia who suffer from endometriosis, that's almost 700,000 and potentially so many more; endometriosis is under-recognised and underdiagnosed. Indeed, delays in diagnosis and a lack of definitive research on the domestic burden of endometriosis suggest the number could be far higher. In fact, some research indicates that endometriosis is more common than breast cancer, prostate cancer and diabetes. The condition can affect all women and girls, regardless of our age, our background or our lifestyle. This is why the Turnbull government's first National Action Plan for Endometriosis is directly going to change hundreds of thousands of Australian women's lives.

Following the advocacy of the member for Boothby, the member for Canberra, the member for Forrest and the wonderful women's health advocates like Donna Ciccia, director and co-founder of Endometriosis Australia, who I hosted in Canberra recently, our government has outlined three important priority areas to help improve the lives of Australian women and girls who live with endometriosis: awareness and education, clinical management, and care and research. Our plan has been developed with endometriosis patients, who've lived and experienced the disease's tremendous burden, and researchers and clinicians from around Australia. As such, we've committed $1 million so that our doctors and nurses better understand endometriosis, as well as $2.5 million for Australia's world-class researchers to develop improved diagnosis and treatment for Australian women, meaning that the hundreds of thousands of women with endometriosis won't have to suffer in silence anymore.

I anticipate that the formal launch of the national action plan, due for release in July this year, will provide a strong outline of the government's commitment to improving the rates of diagnosis. Being able to diagnose endometriosis more quickly and often more sensitively will dramatically improve the experience of thousands of women. As the chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Women's Health, I'm particularly delighted and truly proud that our government is continuously striving to improve the health outcomes for Australian women and the thousands of women in Chisholm. It is fantastic that endometriosis will be a feature of this year's Women's Health Week in September, which will significantly raise the profile and awareness of endometriosis with women around the country.

I also rise today to acknowledge that I represent one of Australia's most culturally diverse electorates. I know that women's menstrual health in particular can be quite challenging for any woman to discuss, but the stigma associated with menstrual cycles and conditions like endometriosis can make seeking help almost impossible for some women with certain culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Our National Action Plan for Endometriosis will tackle and remove these barriers to treatment, meaning that every woman across Australia, including regional women, culturally diverse women and Indigenous women, can be empowered to understand their symptoms, know that they need to seek help and that, when they do, they'll be treated with respect, love and care.

The Turnbull government's National Action Plan for Endometriosis is a blueprint for tackling endometriosis in Australia. It will directly aim to improve the quality of life of Australian women and girls with endometriosis by improving awareness and education of endometriosis amongst the Australian community by pursuing medical research for new and improved diagnosis and treatment options. I'm grateful that our friends, our work colleagues, our daughters, our mothers and our sisters will no longer have to suffer in silence, that they will be diagnosed and that they will be able to seek treatment.

I would like to place on record my thanks to my colleague the member for Flinders, the minister for health, for his work on this personally to dismantle taboos that have undermined women's health policy, particularly women's menstrual and reproductive health, for far too long. Thanks to our government's national action plan, I look forward to a future where Australian women with endometriosis no longer suffer in silence and where treatment is sensitive and effective. I commend the motion.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would also like to commend this motion to the House. I'd like to congratulate the member for Forrest and also, in particular, I'd like to congratulate the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends for Endometriosis, Gai Brodtmann, the member for Canberra, and Nicolle Flint, the member for Boothby. Also, I would like to thank my colleagues on both sides of the House for their comments. I really hope that we will see some action on this matter.

I've never spoken in this House with such a feeling of guilt as I do today on this motion. My daughter, one of our six children, has suffered for many years from endometriosis. The diagnosis only became apparent following a biopsy on a groin mass, when it became clear that what she'd been suffering from for many years was in fact endometriosis. As a father, I feel guilty that I tended to downplay her complaints, and as a doctor I feel even more guilty that I downplayed her complaints and her symptoms. It's made me realise what an important issue this is and led me to look into the problem of endometriosis and how much it affects the lives of many Australians.

Endometriosis is a common disease, affecting around 10 per cent of women in various different forms. It can cause many symptoms, many signs, including things like: recurrent abdominal pain; abdominal distention; irregular periods; menorrhagia—excessive bleeding; pain during intercourse; and lymphadenopathy—enlarged lymph nodes. Sometimes, because of the chronic nature of the symptoms, depression and anxiety can be a common feature. Some women experience weight loss. Some women find excessive tiredness and lethargy are part of the symptoms.

My story is a lesson that medical professionals must learn to listen to their patients more and be more aware of a possible diagnosis of endometriosis. All of us could learn more about endometriosis. Certainly the government's commitment to funding a national action plan is a good thing. Funding for research is a good thing. But I think it's almost too little too late, and we need to do more.

There do appear to be some risk factors in the development of endometriosis, and the biggest risk factor appears to be family history. There is clearly a strong genetic component. We need to be doing more in terms of looking at the genetics of endometriosis. We also have some difficulties with treatment. At the present time, there's no clear treatment plan for women suffering from endometriosis that general practitioners can follow. As my own case as shown, sometimes even having a parent who's a doctor may not be a good thing. We need to educate our medical professionals much better.

The symptoms, as I mentioned, can vary from place to place and from patient to patient, and much clearer information on the symptoms needs to be given to our general practitioners so that the diagnosis can be made more quickly and easily. Treatments have been poorly researched, and we certainly need to do more in that regard. Most of all, we need to be aware of the diagnosis and we need to be doing more in terms of women's health and awareness of women's health.

The Labor Party is, of course, committed to doing what it can to support women's health and looking at initiatives to develop more comprehensive women's health policies. One thing it's done and has suggested the government should follow is remove the tax on sanitary products, which would at least reduce some of the cost for women. We also need to be doing a lot more in terms of providing support for women with this chronic disease. I commend the motion to the House. I congratulate the members who have spoken on it today. In particular, I congratulate Ms Marino for bringing this motion before the House.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.