Wendy Askew (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, want to take note of the Community Affairs References Committee report tabled today. This inquiry examined issues related to menopause and perimenopause. The experience of menopause is a highly personal one, and, while no two journeys are the same, this inquiry highlighted a concerning common thread that was brought sharply into focus. Menopause is still a highly stigmatised experience for women in Australia.

For too long, women have been suffering in silence with systems that can range from hot flushes to brain fog, chronic fatigue, disturbed sleep, itchy skin and menstrual changes, just to name a few. The severity of symptoms is different for every individual woman. For some, it can be just a blip in their day; for others, it can be quite debilitating. Symptoms are also often deeply personal and emotive. It can be difficult for women to share with those around them, even close family and friends.

The purpose of this inquiry was to understand the menopause experience of women across the country, to shine a light on it and to bring it out of the shadows. Sharing personal experiences can be challenging. In this context, I want to thank each person who made a submission or gave evidence to the committee during the inquiry. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the hardworking secretariat for their diligent and in-depth work on this topic. I also want to thank broadcasting, who travel the country with us and make our hearings happen. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes. I want to thank, as others have, the community affairs committee members who participated in this inquiry, all of us women. I'm pretty sure we all learnt something about the menopause experience along the way.

One of the incredible things about participating in these inquiries is that we get to hear the firsthand lived experience of those we hope to help improve their lives and their menopause experience. The evidence we received clearly showed that the experience of menopause and perimenopause and its impact on the workplace is a highly personalised and individual experience. It also highlighted the awareness and education gap across most industry sectors on how best to support female employees entering midlife.

Working together, the committee has taken a collaborative approach, and I am pleased that we were able to agree on constructive recommendations to help improve the experience of women at this stage of their lives. Many of the recommendations in the report are around raising awareness and improving the educational understanding of menopause and perimenopause for medical care providers, workplaces, and the community in general. I believe the recommendations reflect the desire of the committee to improve the menopause experience, including through education and awareness for employers about the impact of menopause in the workplace and the need to provide flexibility and understanding to employees.

I was pleased to be invited to participate as a panel member at the Clifford Craig Foundation's Let's Talk Women's Health Brunch in Launceston a couple of weeks ago. The topic was menopause at work. The keynote speaker was Theo O'Connor, director of menopause@work ASIA PACIFIC. Thea is well known for her innovative approaches to health across various environments and has played a key role in helping numerous workplaces in many diverse industries become more menopause friendly. She was also one of our early witnesses in the inquiry. It was truly refreshing to hear her speak about empowering women to navigate their careers in the life stage of menopause with confidence. I must admit that, as a postmenopausal woman, I certainly felt motivated and challenged to take on the world, and I'm pretty sure the 200-plus women in the room did as well.

I later joined Thea and local Launceston GP, Dr Natasha Vavrek, on a panel to discuss the broader aspects of menopause. Dr Vavrek is a director of The Bubble Tasmania and a consulting specialist women's GP at The Bubble Launceston. She provided a positive approach to the management of menopause symptoms, highlighting the benefits of GPs undertaking additional training in this area. Around the room, you could sense the relief that people were actually willing to talk openly about menopause, even the half a dozen men who dared to come along. The question-and-answer session was extremely interactive and informative.

I look forward to participating in future discussions on this topic in the coming years, which brings me back to the inquiry where many witnesses shared their experiences of dealing with menopause in silence. What a heartbreaking and difficult situation to be in. Some even said they thought they were experiencing early-stage dementia or they were losing it and, as a result, they had considered leaving their workplace rather than seeking support. Unfortunately, that suggestion has been supported by evidence in relation to the retirement age of women.

As coalition senators, we believe there is a need for a balanced approach between government oversight and private sector autonomy to give employers the tools needed to help women experiencing menopause and perimenopause to continue participating in their lives and to continue to be actively engaged at work. However, we want to ensure that any intervention or mandated change by the government does not penalise or ostracise working women. Instead, we need to destigmatise and raise awareness of the symptoms and how they impact women at work.

It's in this context that I and my coalition colleagues do not support the introduction of legislated menopause leave. We believe it is something that should be assessed at a business level, with more flexibility being provided as required. And who is to say that by mandating menopause leave it wouldn't lead employers to consider that hiring men is more cost-effective, ultimately leading to unintended consequences and exacerbating the gender disparities in the workforce.

Despite some disagreement on this point, I was pleased the committee was able to agree to the report's other recommendations, including the need for further awareness and education and the need for a broader community based awareness campaign aimed at destigmatisation. This is particularly prevalent in the healthcare sector, with the committee hearing evidence of the lack of education among primary care physicians. In some cases, as we've already heard, there's just one hour during GP training spent on menopause. I actually recently heard from a GP who was told during their training that menopause patients are known as the 'sinking heart patient'—the one where you know they're coming in and you want to get them in and out as fast as you can. That was the advice she received from her training physician.

One approach could perhaps be promoting a menopause specific check-up, along the lines of the prostate awareness material for men, as women approach midlife. And, in support of that, also encouraging healthcare professionals to participate in modules to educate and specialise in women's health, including menopause. They are available.

We heard evidence that the lack of expertise among healthcare professionals had led to delayed diagnosis and treatment options, including the reluctance among health professionals to recommend hormone replacement therapy. Coalition senators highlighted the importance of enhancing access to menopausal hormone therapies as they are crucial for women experiencing severe symptoms. Also, ensuring equitable access is a key element in effectively managing the more debilitating effects of these conditions.

We all want to improve the experience of women in midlife who are experiencing perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms, and I want to reiterate my thanks to all those people involved directly and indirectly with this inquiry. The majority of the findings of this report are sensible and designed to increase awareness, destigmatise symptoms, and provide access to treatments and supports. We also encourage further research with a view to developing new pathways into vocations related to these conditions. It's only through focused education campaigns, awareness campaigns and efforts to destigmatise and create understanding that will we be able to foster flexible arrangements at work that have the best chance to succeed.

Bringing these conditions and their symptoms into the conversation is important if we are to truly destigmatise perimenopause and menopause. I thank the committee for its role in helping to shed light on it as we seek to improve the experience for women in Australia. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.