Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the National Cancer Screening Register Amendment Bill isn't a controversial bill, but I just want to make a very brief contribution to the second reading debate. I'd like to offer some perspectives on this as someone who has been a longstanding advocate for patients of cancers with low survival rates and as the chair of the select committee that inquired into cancers with low survival rates.

According to Cancer Australia, the five-year survival rate for lung cancer between 2015 and 2019 was only 24 per cent. In 2023 lung cancer accounted for 17 per cent, or about one in six, of all cancer deaths. Lung cancer has the unfortunate distinction of having both a high incidence and a low survival rate compared with other cancers, and this deadly combination gives lung cancer the highest mortality rate of any cancer in Australia. In 2023 this was an age-standardised rate of 33 deaths per 100,000 people.

One of the issues the committee looked at was how the incidence and mortality of cancers compared to the funding they received from the NHMRC. The committee's report was tabled in 2017. At the time, lung cancer, which caused more deaths than any other cancer in Australia, was ranked ninth for NHMRC research funding. A number of submitters and witnesses to that inquiry highlighted the difficulties cancers with low survival rates have in attracting research funding. Among these difficulties is having a more limited research base, which makes it more difficult to design a study that will lead to a successful research grant proposal. More prominent cancers, which may have higher survival rates, typically attract more philanthropic funding and fundraising revenue because there are more patients and, obviously, more families and carers with a personal experience of those cancers. They are also more likely to attract commercial interest in treatment. These sources of funding—philanthropy, fundraising and commercial investment—help to establish the research base on which proposals for public funding can be put forward with the likelihood of success.

Another observation of submitters and witnesses to the inquiry was the correlation between early detection, screening and diagnosis and increased rates of survival. An example put forward was that since 1990 the survival rate for breast cancer has increased from 60 per cent to over 90 per cent thanks, in large part, to screening.

I know we will hit a hard marker fairly soon, so the key message I want to get across is that, if we're going to improve outcomes for cancer patients overall, there needs to be a greater focus on the cancers that have the greatest impacts on the community, and lung cancer is definitely one of those. That is why I'm proud to be part of a government that is making this vital investment in lung cancer screening and expanding the National Cancer Screening Register to include lung cancer. The five-year year survival rate for lung cancer is 24 per cent, which means that a little over three in four patients will die five years after their diagnosis. We know that early detection means early intervention, and the screening program this bill enables is expected to save over 500 lives a year.

I'd like to finish by thanking the Minister for Health and Aged Care and his representative in this chamber, Senator Gallagher, for this initiative. I also thank Lung Foundation Australia for their hard work and advocacy, in particular their CEO, Mark Brooke, who's passionate about improving outcomes for lung cancer patients, their families and their carers.

Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the outset I'd like to commend my good friend and colleague Senator Bilyk for her outstanding and diligent advocacy in relation to these matters over a number of years.

The National Cancer Screening Register Amendment Bill 2024 amends the National Cancer Screening Register Act 2016 to add lung cancer as a third 'designated cancer' to the coverage of the register. The National Cancer Screening Register is national electronic infrastructure which currently supports the delivery of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program and the National Cervical Screening Program. This bill will expand the register to include lung cancer screening along with bowel cancer and cervical cancer screenings. The new National Lung Cancer Screening Program was announced by the government last year and will allow screening to be available nationally to eligible individuals from July 2025. In line with Medical Services Advisory Committee advice, the NLCSP will target asymptomatic individuals aged 50 to 70 who have a history of cigarette smoking.

The coalition support this legislation—as we supported the establishment of the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program—as we strongly support the intention of this register and screening program to increase rates of early detection of lung cancer in Australia. This builds on the work of the coalition to support better lung cancer outcomes across our country. On World Cancer Day in 2019 the coalition announced that we were inviting Cancer Australia to conduct an inquiry into the prospects, processes and delivery of a national lung cancer screening program in Australia. Following this announcement, Cancer Australia launched a consultation hub through which organisations and individuals could make submissions about the proposal. The coalition provided our commitment to establishing a lung cancer screening program pending the results of this inquiry and the approval of the medical expert panel. The National Lung Cancer Screening Program that has now been announced by the government is the culmination of the coalition's announcement back in 2019—this is a case of the current government continuing the good work of the previous government—resulting from Cancer Australia's feasibility assessment, which reported back in May 2023, and a recommendation from the Medical Services Advisory Committee. We welcome the government's decision to continue the important work we started in government to establish a lung cancer screening program. It is great to see that the coalition's commitment to this goal has now been realised.

The coalition understood that early diagnosis is integral to improved lung cancer outcomes, including better survival rates and better quality of life. Early detection and intervention, as Senator Bilyk said, literally save lives. In line with the coalition's intentions, the National Lung Cancer Screening Program will target high-risk individuals to detect lung cancer in its early stages to increase the likelihood of successful treatment and improve lung cancer outcomes. To facilitate the delivery of the program, the National Cancer Screening Register will be expanded through this legislation to support patients with their screening pathway. The inclusion of the National Lung Cancer Screening Program is a welcome step in preventing and detecting lung cancer amongst Australians and ensuring better health outcomes. Once again, the coalition supports this bill.

Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank colleagues for their contributions to the National Cancer Screening Register Amendment Bill 2024, and I'm pleased to see senators from right across the political spectrum support this bill's swift passage to help us fight this terrible cancer. I commend the bill to the Senate.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.