Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Aged Care) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last Sunday at the Grange Surf Life Saving Club in my electorate I was delighted to launch the government's $10 million national skin cancer prevention campaign over coming summers, to be delivered in partnership with the wonderful Cancer Council of Australia. Unfortunately, our culture of fun in the sun here in Australia has resulted in thousands of Australians being diagnosed with skin cancer each year, among the highest rates in the world. That's why this cancer is sometimes called our national cancer. Tragically, skin cancer claims the lives of more than 2,000 Australians every single year. That's a number we're determined to reduce.

The campaign begins this week and is built around the well-known sun smart messages we are all familiar with. With over exposure to UV radiation causing 95 per cent of melanomas, Australians are reminded to use the five forms of sun protection whenever the UV level is three or above: slip on sun protective clothing, slop on broad spectrum water resistant SPF30 or higher sunscreen, slap on a broad-brimmed hat, seek shade and slide on sunglasses. This is a really important campaign. It's particularly important to get the message out to men, because almost twice as many men as women die from melanoma every single year. New research from the Cancer Council shows that fewer than half of Australian men actively seek shade to protect themselves and fewer than a third regularly use sunscreen.

This new research tells us that more needs to be done to remind people of those easy steps that we can all take to reduce our risk of skin cancer every day. I was joined at the launch by John Clements from Adelaide, a survivor of skin cancer himself. He said at the launch, 'I grew up in a time when no-one knew better. We'd run around on the beach with just our bathers on, trying to get a tan. My life and that of my two brothers would have been much better had we covered our skin up. I was a bit blase about my health back in the day, like a lot blokes, and now if I am out in the sun at all, I make sure to protect myself.' John and I exchanged stories of being young in the seventies and eighties and lying out in the sun with baby oil or coconut oil on ourselves, actually seeking to fry and tan before we knew what we know now about the cancer risks.

Sun protection saves lives, and the Albanese government will continue to work with our expert partners to save as many Australian lives as possible from this, the most preventable of all cancers. As we approach summer, it's important we all protect ourselves from the sun and reduce our risks of skin cancer by following those five easy steps from the Cancer Council.