Stirling Griff (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) this week is the inaugural Neglected Cancers Awareness Week, which has been initiated by the Garvan Institute to raise awareness of the 186 less common, high-mortality cancers that account for almost 40 per cent of cancer deaths each year,

(ii) rare and less-common cancers affect up to 12 in 100 000 Australians each year,

(iii) over the past 20 years, the survival rates for many rare and less-common cancers, such as cancers of the pancreas, brain and stomach, have barely improved,

(iv) according to Rare Cancers Australia, 42 000 people were diagnosed with a rare or less-common cancer in 2014, and 24 000 Australians died, accounting for half of all cancer deaths that year,

(v) the Garvan Institute is doing impressive work using genomic technologies to understand more about these cancers and find better ways to detect, diagnose and treat them, and

(vi) the Senate is currently conducting an inquiry into funding for research into cancers with low survival rates, which is due to report on 28 November 2017 – by which time approximately 20 000 more Australians will be diagnosed with a rare or less-common cancer; and

(b) calls on the Government to urgently implement mechanisms it has at its disposal to increase and co-ordinate research efforts into rare and less-common cancers, and to increase the pool of funding dedicated to investigating and affordably treating rare cancers.

Question agreed to.