Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am passionate about Northern Australia and North Queensland where I live. I am very keen to explain to people wherever I can, that although we only have about five per cent of the population we produce something like 45 per cent of the Australia’s export earnings out of Northern Australia. But there is one downside of living in the north and that is that our fabulous long hours of sunshine in Northern Australia, and Australia as a whole, make us one of the world’s leaders in the incidence of skin cancer.

It was a genuine pleasure last Sunday for me to launch the Townsville campaign of this Skin Cancer Awareness Week that started last Sunday and runs through until next Saturday. Skin cancer is a subject very close to my heart—and for that matter close to my arms, my legs, my face and other parts of my body that have been exposed to the North Queensland sun over many years.

Many of us in North Queensland are paying the price today for the complacency of my generation and the general lack of knowledge about the dangers of sun exposure that existed when I was growing up and when we were all growing up in the north. We grew up in an era when we thought it was cool to have a tan and we happily lay on the beach for hours and did not think twice about mowing the lawn without a shirt. As anyone who has had skin cancers removed would understand, it is not cool to have those skin cancers frozen off or cut off, or to live in constant fear that one of the sun spots may one day be diagnosed as a malignant melanoma.

The introduction of the Slip! Slop! Slap! education campaign 25 years ago has done wonders, I believe, for the incidence of skin cancer. As a result of campaigns like that and of such things as a Skin Cancer Awareness Week, we now know a lot more about the perils of the sun’s rays. Most of us do take necessary precautions. I do say ‘most’ because you still do see people lying around the beaches without proper clothing on or wearing those ridiculous American baseball style caps, which are practically next to useless in stopping the sun’s rays.

It is timely to remember during Skin Cancer Awareness Week that North Queensland, regrettably, leads the world in skin cancer cases. We have to reverse that trend, particularly those of us in the north. We can only do that through education. I do note with some satisfaction that more and more sporting facilities, car parks and outdoor recreation areas are being built with roofs or shade cloth to protect people from the sun’s harmful rays. Whilst I applaud this trend, we must never forget that it comes back to each and every one of us to take our own precautions to prevent being burnt in the first place. Parents of young children particularly carry a very heavy responsibility to protect their children when outdoors and, more importantly, to educate their children about the dangers of the sun. During this week I urge parents to ensure that their children wear hats and clothing that protect their exposed arms and legs and I also urge them never to forget to slap on sunscreen.

In Townsville last Sunday afternoon a street was closed near the Mater hospital and there was rather a carnival atmosphere where about 300 people gathered to release butterflies as part of the publicity for the dangers of skin cancer. It was a magnificent event and it was put together by the important work of Dr Robert Miller, a consultant physician and dermatologist, and his staff. I particularly want to mention the efforts made by Gillian Gilmore, the practice nurse, Kate Stringer and all of the staff of Dr Miller, who worked so hard to organise the event. I also want to acknowledge Lisa McFadden and Herman Herlaar, who represented Melanoma Patients Australia. I thank all of those hundreds of people who came along to support the launch of Skin Cancer Awareness Week in Townsville.

As I mentioned, the launch was accompanied by the release of some 300 butterflies. There is an interesting story about how a lot of work had to be done to ensure the butterflies stayed alive for their symbolic release, but, nevertheless, at the time of the launch they all flew away, or most of them did, and it was a very fitting climax to the launch of Skin Cancer Awareness Week. Congratulations to all those involved. For all of us who live in the north in particular, it is perhaps a very important reminder of the dangers of skin cancer.