Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the Senator for this very important question. The coalition government is absolutely committed to fighting cancer, and I am pleased to say that this government is the single biggest investor in cancer research in Australia. Through the National Health and Medical Research Council over $2 billion has been provided for research in to cancer since 2000.

Our medical research is set to increase significantly through our $20 billion medical research future fund. The initiative announced by the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Aged Care over the weekend is further demonstration of the coalition's commitment to beating cancer through research and through supporting those who experience cancer.

On Saturday the Prime Minister announced $20 million for infrastructure and equipment to support the new zero childhood cancer collaboration network. This will be a network of excellence, six hospitals and seven research centres across Australia working together, sharing information, sharing learning, sharing expertise to improve the treatment of childhood cancers. The network will operate in a hub and spoke model, with the Children’s Cancer Institute at the centre. The centres are Children's Cancer Institute, Sydney Children’s Hospital, Kids Research Institute, Centre for Childhood Cancer Research, South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute, the University of Queensland Diamantina Institute, Murdoch Children's Research Institute and Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute. The two-year zero childhood cancer collaboration network will involve working with 200 children across Australia with high risk for relapsed cancer, then move to a national rollout available to all children with high-risk cancer in all children's hospitals. The network of hospitals and research centres will be used to map the molecular and genetic structure of tumours and responses to treatments and share treatment results.