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

I had some remarks prepared, but after the event I just attended I want to speak for a few minutes on the extraordinary work of Redkite in childhood cancer. I joined the Prime Minister; the Leader of the Opposition; the shadow health minister, Senator Ruston; and a number of other parliamentary colleagues just then in the Speaker's courtyard to celebrate, commemorate and recognise Redkite's 40 years of work supporting families affected by childhood cancer, which is what they have been doing.

They started 40 years ago. A group of parents came together to raise some funds for research into childhood cancer. Obviously that is desperately important in and of itself, but as they came together 40 years ago they realised that the most significant gap for families impacted by childhood cancer was in non-medical supports—supports for siblings of the child who has received the diagnosis. Siblings are so profoundly affected by the terror of the diagnosis, by the impact the treatment has and by their sibling—their brother or sister—being absent so long in hospital receiving treatment. Then there's the impact on the parents. We as members of our communities and local members of parliament know from talking to fellow Australians impacted by this directly the impact that this has on families. It breaks up marriages and puts enormous financial strain on families. Forty years ago the vision of Redkite shifted somewhat from research to providing these non-medical supports.

We know that Australia delivers to children affected by childhood cancer some of the best medical treatment in the world. We know that this is an area of almost turbocharged discovery, with new types of treatments coming on almost daily. In Adelaide we are putting in place right now the first proton beam, which will be the first in the Southern Hemisphere, that provides treatment for stubborn, mainly paediatric, brain cancers. At the moment families have to travel to the Northern Hemisphere for that treatment.

We do know that they are these non-medical gaps. Redkite is not the only organisation that provides this support. People will be familiar with the work of Canteen and Camp Quality, who both provide their own measure of support to the 1,000 or so families who are placed in this invidious position every single year. I'm delighted that they've come together to form the Cancer Hub, supported by the Commonwealth government. There's a bipartisan position to allow them to learn from each other's strengths and provide even better support to those families than the support that they are so rightly proud of having provided for 40 years.