Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Leader (Tasmania)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to speak in support of Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. This year, the theme is 'It's time for ovary action'—a clever play on words. You can make what you want of its meaning, but one thing is clear: we need action, 'ovary action', because too many women are dying from ovarian cancer. Each day, four Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer and three will die. It's time for all Australians to be able to identify ovarian cancer and to take 'ovary action' so we can change the statistics for future generations.

When it comes to women's health, and ovarian cancer more specifically, there is no such thing as an overreaction—or, should I say, an 'ovary action'! When it comes to the signs and symptoms of ovarian cancer, we need to know the signs, symptoms and risk factors and we need to talk about them. We also need to educate ourselves on the risk factors of ovarian cancer, because some of us are more susceptible to the disease. There is no early detection test for ovarian cancer, so the best way of detecting the disease is to know and recognise the signs and symptoms. This is what will save lives. The symptoms of ovarian cancer are often dismissed as common discomfort that women experience regularly, but we need to listen to our bodies and take these symptoms seriously. Pushing them to the side or being told by GPs, or anyone else, for that matter, that we are overreacting has to stop.

It is not okay that women like Sue visit the GP an average of three times before being properly diagnosed. Sue knew something was wrong when she started to feel bloated all the time. She just couldn't work out why. She lived with this discomfort for two months before finally going to see a doctor. The doctor told her to give up wheat, milk and alcohol, but nothing seemed to work. She lived with the discomfort, as I said, and eventually went back to her doctor, who told her she had a blockage. She was so unwell that she couldn't get upstairs to her bedroom. Fed up, Sue's daughter booked her in to see a different doctor, who sent her straight to hospital to have fluid drained from her abdomen, and they confirmed that it was stage 3 ovarian cancer. It's also not okay that a woman like Lauren, who was so bloated she looked like she was about six months pregnant, was told by three different doctors that she had irritable bowel syndrome. Lauren specifically told her first doctor she was worried it was ovarian cancer, but the doctor said it was probably IBS and delayed the diagnosis. One night the abdominal pain got so bad she was rushed into hospital, where they found tumours. Lauren went on to be diagnosed with stage 2 ovarian cancer. She ended up having two lots of surgery, chemotherapy and blood transfusions and, sadly, Lauren is no longer with us.

Stories like these frustrate and anger me. We need better awareness and education in the community—and this includes in medical circles. Better education amongst our GPs and specialists is absolutely crucial to survival. When it comes to a diagnosis, every minute is vital because, if ovarian cancer is found in its early stages, women have an 80 per cent chance of being alive and well after five years.

I implore my fellow Australians to not let another Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month go by without 'ovary action'. Let's 'ovary act' by learning the signs and symptoms and having conversations and learning about any family history of ovarian cancer. Talking about it to other women empowers women. Let's encourage women to talk about their family history and health history and have those conversations with their doctors. But the only way we're going to save lives is for women to pursue a second opinion if they're not satisfied with what their local doctor tells them. We have to have these conversations.

I want to thank all at Ovarian Cancer Australia for all the wonderful work that's done by our researchers, who are working hard to learn more about ovarian cancer and how to treat it. Cancers like ovarian cancer, which are often diagnosed at a later stage, are the ones that we need to be funding more. We need to change the statistics around ovarian cancer, and it is the continuing responsibility of this government and future governments to provide more funding to support this research so that we can change these awful statistics.