Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House notes that:

(1) Melanoma March takes place this month and will involve hundreds of Australians around the country participating in community walks to raise awareness of melanoma;

(2) 12,500 Australians are diagnosed with melanoma each year and 1,650 of those are diagnosed with advanced melanoma;

(3) advanced melanoma kills more than 1,500 Australians each year—this is one death every six hours;

(4) melanoma is:

(a) the most common cancer in young Australians aged 15 to 39 and those diagnosed with advanced melanoma have a median survival of only 8 to 9 months;

(b) estimated to be the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian males in 2014 (7,440 cases), after prostate and colorectal cancer; and

(c) also estimated to be the third most commonly diagnosed cancer in Australian females (5,210 cases), after breast and colorectal cancer; and

(5) advanced melanoma costs hundreds of millions of dollars each year.

This motion relating to melanoma is very important and very timely. We have just heard from the member for Swan. In a very significant speech, he tabled the report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Skin cancer in Australia: our national cancer. It details what we are dealing with when it comes to melanoma. As the report's title shows, melanoma is Australia's national cancer.

Overexposure to ultraviolet light causes 95 per cent of melanoma, which is fairly clear proof that prevention is the key to avoiding it. The best way to prevent melanoma is to prevent your skin from the sun. Despite one of the most successful health campaigns in Australia's history, it is important that Australians always remember: slip, slop, slap. We have to make sure that we continue to remind them to do so. And that is why Melanoma March is such an important event in this nation. From 22 February until 29 March, participants across the nation are uniting to take action by being part of Melanoma March. Now in its fourth year, Melanoma March is an Australia-wide fundraising and awareness campaign which brings communities around Australia together to march for a cure.

Melanoma March started in 2012, by a Sydney man who lost his 18-year-old son to melanoma. In 2014, over 6,000 people marched for a cure in 16 locations across Australia. Last year they raised $550,000 and this year their goal is to raise $1 million. This year, 23 events will be held, and already over $600,000 has been raised. Over the time that it has been running, Melanoma March has now raised over $1.3 million for research projects that help us towards the goal of lessening the impact of melanoma on the community and ultimately creating a future free of melanoma.

Each year melanoma kills more Australians than the national road toll. That is what we are dealing with here. With Australia having the highest incidence of melanoma in the world, awareness campaigns like Melanoma March are vital in spreading awareness and educating all Australians about the risks associated with melanoma. Funds raised from this year's Melanoma March will assist melanoma researchers around Australia to develop the next generation of treatment options. This new initiative is phase 2 of the genome project, and it is this type of project that we need to accelerate the development of cures within Australia.

I commend this motion to the House, and I encourage every member to support it.

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