Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  For too long in this building, women's health hasn't received the attention, solutions or funding that it has deserved. I doubt—actually, I know—there's not a single woman in Australia who is without a story about how our health system has let her down or let someone she loves down. A woman's health journey is simply and categorically different to a man's, not just because our bodies tick differently but because there's a stigma that surrounds everything from our first period to our last. That stigma has not just a personal impact on women and their health journey but a policy impact in the way we fund and deliver services. This stigma has stopped the right conversations happening about women's health, and therefore it has impeded policy solutions which would make a difference in women's lives.

I am deeply proud of the work of two recent Senate inquiries into women's health that have taken place through the Community Affairs References Committee this term—one into the impacts of menopause and perimenopause, and the other on women's sexual, reproductive and maternal health. I want to thank and acknowledge the work of the members of that committee: Senators Pratt, Allman-Payne, Kovacic, Hughes, Askew and, most of all, Waters, who herself is an incredible advocate on these issues.

Our inquiries deliberately harnessed the great big spotlight we have available to us in this chamber through our committee system. We shone that light brightly on an area of public policy that has been shrouded in stigma and ignored for too long. Our work confirmed what I've long been raising the alarm on. We know that, when it comes to women's health, you don't need to look very hard at all to see where women's pain or symptoms are too often ignored or minimised but also where they're just outright dismissed—where women walk into their doctor's surgery and aren't believed for the pain they feel. Women are sick to death of it. They're sick to death of going unheard. They're sick of having their pain minimised by someone who has never felt it. They are sick of feeling like the only part of their health journey that matters is the one that takes place between puberty and childbirth, like nothing of consequence will happen in a woman's life—like she is nothing of consequence—beyond the moment she becomes a mother and as if, when she enters mid-life, she stops mattering.

Over 600 women and organisations shared their stories with our Senate inquiries. These women shared intimate, personal stories of trauma and pain. They fought through the stigma they felt and their fear to share what had happened to them and what needed to change. They told us their stories of being let down by their GPs, of walking into a doctor's clinic—a doctor who they had had a relationship with for years and who dismissed their symptoms and their pain and wasn't equipped with the information needed to help them. They told us of the crappy and misinformed advice that wasn't at all up to date with modern research, that wasn't informed by the availability of modern medicine and that stopped them getting the care they needed; of having to go online, scrolling through Instagram, desperate for answers, desperate for solutions, because they couldn't get that from their GP; and of shopping around for one GP or two GPS—up to six GPs. Women in regional areas are travelling hundreds of kilometres to find a GP who will listen to them, who has time for them and who will be able to help them with their symptoms in a way that is empathetic, well informed and effective.

They told us of their difficulties getting support at work, of being too scared to ask for climate control, of being too scared to ask for a breathable uniform and of not being able to manage the morning train because their symptoms were so overwhelming that travelling to work in peak hour was enough to stop them going to work that day. They told us of their difficulties accessing HRT—of not being able to afford the HRT which helped them. They told us of the stigma. They told us of the information deficit which was stopping them getting help. They told us how they'd been dismissed and denied, not believed. We heard from women in every city around Australia—hundreds of women who shared their pain and fear in the hope that they would see change. As a committee we heard them, and now, as a government, we have heard them, and change is here.

On Sunday I stood with the Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Ged Kearney, and our Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, as we announced a half-billion-dollar investment in women's health. I could barely express my relief as women around the country went: 'Thank God! About time! You're hearing us.' When you get public policy right, you can change lives for the better, and this announcement will change women's lives. It is a massive step forward in ensuring they get the care, support and treatment they need. It shows them that they have been heard, that they are believed and that we take their pain and their experience seriously. It shows them that women in midlife matter as much as every other person in our community, and that their health matters too.

Our committee had over 285 submissions and seven hearings. The message was resoundingly clear: when it comes to their experience of menopause, women felt fundamentally let down in two ways. Firstly, when they walked into their doctor's clinic to get care from a clinician they were unheard and dismissed. They didn't get quality information. It's not all on the doctors. The doctors themselves told us that they wanted to help but in their medical education journey, in their years and years of university and placements, they'd received one hour of training in menopause and perimenopause—things that are not an optional part of any woman's life, not an optional part of ageing. Any woman lucky enough to reach midlife will go through menopause, yet our doctors are getting as little as one hour of training to help them. I don't think it's an unreasonable ask that 51 per cent of the population should feel that their GP knows what they are talking about, that their GP understands the modern medicines that can support women. That's what GPs want too.

Secondly, women told us that the stigma that surrounds these issues, which I've spoken about, is stopping conversations in their workplaces about flexibility and the support that some women need if their symptoms are troubling. I emphasise that it's some women, because many women will go through this period of life with no impact on their work. These are women at their peak, in the prime of their lives, but if there's a single woman in Australia—and we know there are some—whose symptoms mean they're turning down a promotion, missing an opportunity, giving up something they love, whether it's in study, in sport or at their workplace, then that's a problem. There are simple and small changes which could make an impact and keep those women at work and thriving. We don't want a single woman in the prime of her life to miss out on achieving everything she is capable of achieving.

Our package will make a transformational difference. We're funding an extended Medicare health consult so that when a woman walks into a GP clinic she can spend a decent amount of time talking through her symptoms and talking through the solutions, what options might be appropriate for her. We're increasing the number of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics and expanding their remit to include menopause and perimenopause, so women can access specialist centres of excellence to get support. We're furthering the training and upskilling of GPs so they're better equipped to support women. We're funding a public education campaign, because the work to overcome the stigma that surrounds these issues needs to continue, and women should be empowered with good information that means better quality health care when they walk into their GP clinic. For the first time in two decades, we're putting new medicines, new hormonal therapies, on the PBS. A lot has changed in medicine in 20 years, and it's time that women were able to access more choice and therefore ease the pressures on supply when it comes to these therapies.

These are massive measures that are part of a women's health package which will make a difference in a woman's life, from young adulthood to later in her life. Women have been heard. For too long women's health has been shrouded in stigma. That has left women in pain, feeling dismissed and unheard, and it's not acceptable for it to continue any longer. A half-a-billion-dollar investment isn't just about good policy; it's about showing these women that they are heard and that they matter. It's not an optional part of aging. Now good quality health care for these women won't be optional either.