Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak on an issue of great importance, and one that I feel needs to be spoken about with honesty, compassion and openness. A few weeks ago, I was privileged enough to meet with Nick Lee, whose wife, Jodi, was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2008 at just 39 years of age. Jodi had no symptoms before her diagnosis. She complained of constipation, abdominal pain and some bloating one day. Tests the following day revealed a large tumour blocking her bowel. Jodi underwent emergency surgery but, unfortunately, the cancer had spread to her liver and lymph system. Jodi had stage 4 bowel cancer and at best had only two years to live. It was a tragic sentence. Jodi passed away in 2010, leaving behind her husband, two children, Jack and Arabella, and of course a devastated network of family and friends.

I would love to be able to say that stories such as this are uncommon. But the Lee family's story is, unfortunately, not atypical. Bowel cancer is Australia's single most common internal cancer and our second leading cause of cancer related death after lung cancer. It kills nearly one person every two hours—that is, a staggering 5,000 Australians every year. One in 12 Australians will develop bowel cancer in their lifetime. Worse still, by 2020, it is estimated that 20,000 new cases will be detected every year. Perhaps most critically, if diagnosed early, 90 per cent of bowel cancer cases can be treated and cured.

But we do not place the emphasis that we should on the importance of prevention of this insidious disease. We all know that smoking is the leading cause of lung cancer, and for generations governments have admirably taken on big tobacco by strengthening advertising standards and, most recently, with the push for plain packaging of cigarettes, yet similar attention is not given to the prevention and treatment of bowel cancer.

Bowel cancer currently costs the federal government an estimated $1 billion per annum in terms of health costs, but biennial screening at a participation rate of just 40 per cent could save between $53 million and $71 million per year. But of course these economic costs cannot be measured against the human cost—the human cost to Nick Lee and his family and the human cost of the thousands of Australians who die each year from bowel cancer, yet it is a disease that, if caught early, can have that 90 per cent cure rate.

With bowel cancer, there is not an obvious bad guy to fight like there is with big tobacco and there is no distinct cause, so there are no explicit pictures or messages to scare people into healthier behaviour. There is only screening and early detection. We need to address the reasons why people are shirking screening tests. There is no question that the idea of a bowel screening test is uncomfortable and difficult for many. But what is more difficult, as I am sure Nick Lee will attest to, is losing a loved one to this awful disease. Many people do not experience any symptoms until the cancer becomes more advanced or has spread, which is why early detection is key. Jodi Lee's cancer could have been detected earlier, and we would be telling a very different story today if that had been the case. Bowel cancer predominantly affects people aged over 50, but it is increasingly being diagnosed in people in their 30s and 40s.

While the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program will eventually offer biennial screening to all Australians between the ages of 50 and 74, I am concerned that this program will not be fully implemented until after 2018. Where does that leave those under 50, who we know are still at risk of developing bowel cancer even if they have no family history of the disease? We must be doing more to encourage people to get screened for bowel cancer. Bowel cancer is a major health issue in Australia and it is critical that the Australian public are made aware of the issue and the solution, and that solution is early detection.

I want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the work Nick has done in this regard since Jodi's passing. Nick has taken this tragedy, the kind of event that would make many of us turn our backs on the world, and is using it to try and raise awareness of the prevalence of this disease and to promote the importance of bowel cancer screening. He has established the Jodi Lee Foundation, a charity with a clear message, which is that the early detection of bowel cancer saves lives. The foundation's objectives are to promote awareness about the high incidence of bowel cancer in Australia, to educate Australians about the importance of bowel screening and the tests available and to improve the uptake of regular and appropriate screening for bowel cancer by all people from the age of 40.

These are excellent goals, but I find it hard to understand why it took the death of a young woman to establish such a foundation. If this cancer is our second biggest killer, why are we not hearing about it more? Why are there not more of us, whether politicians, celebrities or everyday people, lining up to raise awareness? Where are the funding, the morning teas, the sponsored walks and the readathons?

I said before that this subject needed to be addressed with honesty and compassion. There is something about human beings that makes us uncomfortable about discussing bowel conditions. But it is time to overcome that. We might not even realise it, but our inbuilt reticence on this subject is costing people their lives. I thank Nick Lee for the work he and the foundation are doing. I am so very sorry that he ever had reason to become involved in this subject, but I believe many, many people will be thankful that he has. I strongly encourage the government to begin working with the foundation to raise awareness of this issue and to begin building an even more comprehensive strategy to increase testing in Australia. Lives literally depend on it.