Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was very proud, in the run-up to 2018, to work on developing not only Australia's first ever National Action Plan for Endometriosis but the first national endometriosis plan in the world. I was very proud of that work. As a government, we provided funding to back up that particular plan. Part of that plan was to provide pelvic pain clinics, and that was part of our budget in 2022. These pelvic pain clinics and pelvic pain education are very important in managing endometriosis.

However, we lost government, and Labor refused to fund a pelvic pain clinic in my electorate in the South West of WA. One in seven women in my electorate will be affected by endometriosis, and the South West has the highest population outside of the metro area. So I investigated the process and found that the decision was not based on demographics or need in the community. It was actually based on the quality of an application, just like a school essay—a tick in a box. The government, the department and the primary health network in WA all significantly let down the women in my electorate—the majority of women who are outside of the metro area who need access to a pelvic pain clinic. There is a great level of need, it is a lifetime condition and there is no cure.

I was at the local bowling club the other night, talking about endometriosis, and women above the age of 70 and 75 were coming to talk to me about their ongoing experience with endometriosis and how they've suffered all their lives. That's why I want a pelvic pain clinic in my part of the world. There is, as I said, no cure, and if it gets to the heart and lungs it will kill you. I have made repeated requests for a pelvic pain clinic in the South West to ministers. It is something that is very badly needed.

Now, I have personal experience of endometriosis—not only myself but also through my daughter. I've been very blessed that she allowed me, in the run-up to the 2018 development of that first national plan, to tell her very raw personal story, and countless other women throughout the years have repeated their experiences with endometriosis.

In whatever I can do, whether I am the member for Forrest or not, I will keep working to try to secure a pelvic pain clinic for the South West. It is nothing less than the one in seven women who are suffering from endometriosis in the South West deserve.