Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On Sunday morning, I was privileged to attend the annual pink ribbon breakfast in Parramatta. It's an event I have been attending for nearly eight years. It was started by Rekha Rajvanshi eight years ago as a way of informing the subcontinent community about the risk of breast cancer. The Indian and Sri Lankan communities in New South Wales have one of the lowest rates of breast screening in New South Wales, so this is an incredibly important event that takes place each year. I acknowledge Rekha's team—Sue Advani, Bharti Gidwani and Meena Mohanty—and also Dr Rosy Khuma, who is the consul-general's wife but a doctor in her own right, who did a really quite wonderful presentation on the risk factors.

Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australia. Each day, 50 women are diagnosed and eight women die. But, since organisations like the National Breast Cancer Foundation have been funding research, over the last 25 years we have seen survival rates improve from 76 per cent to 90 per cent. We know that one of the key indicators that improve survival rates is early intervention. So, once again, I'd like to thank Rehka and her team for working so hard in the subcontinent community to encourage women to have regular screenings, in a community with one of the lowest screening rates in New South Wales. We know the rates are improving in that community, largely because of their work and getting out all the time in their pink saris to raise the profile. Thank you. (Time expired)