Matt Burnell (Spence, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Late last month, alongside the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, I was proud to be able to host a community-wide women's health forum in Elizabeth. It is great to see the minister in the chamber right now. Together we heard brave and challenging stories from throughout the north from a community ready to break taboos in women's health and fight for real change. On the night it was made clear that the culture of health care needs a major shift. Dozens of women shared the same old story of walking into a health service, often in especially severe pain, just to be told that they were overreacting, as if it's immature for women to expect anything more than painkillers and a hot water bottle despite presenting with devastating symptoms. This medical misogyny only holds my community back. For women in the north already facing barriers to specialist treatment for illnesses such as pelvic pain and endometriosis, being shut out in the first instance because of that bias simply isn't good enough.

I'd like to give a big thank you to all that attended the forum across our community and, again, to the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care for travelling to hear our stories firsthand. I am privileged to be part of a community that raise their voices to see the issues addressed and to be part of a government working to do so on the ground to produce real outcomes.