Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I, too, am delighted to join with colleagues in supporting the member for Shortland's motion to raise awareness about ovarian cancer in this Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, which raises awareness about ovarian cancer but, more particularly, tries to engage with the community so that we can actually save lives.

Ovarian cancer has not, it is fair to say, achieved the same level of public recognition as other cancers, such as the magnificent work that has been done in recent years to raise awareness of breast cancer; and yet ovarian cancer is an insidious disease which takes a terrible toll on women in Australia and around the world. Ovarian cancer is the second most commonly diagnosed women's cancer in Australia and the leading cause of burden of disease from gynaecological cancers. Almost 1,500 women in Australia and over 250,000 women worldwide are newly diagnosed every single year. Mortality is very high and barely improving, with around 1,000 Australian women dying from the disease every year. While Australia's overall cancer survival rates are the best in the world, with two-thirds of people alive five years after diagnosis, for ovarian cancer that figure is below 50 per cent, with just 43 out of every 100 women still alive five years after diagnosis. Although there has been some improvement since 1982, survival rates are low and remain well below the average for all cancers.

The reasons for that are fairly straightforward. As the Cancer Council states on its website: 'There is no screening for ovarian cancer currently available in Australia.' Under the heading, 'Preventing ovarian cancer', it states: 'There is no proven method of prevention.' With no detection and no prevention, it is an insidious cancer. It is no wonder that most women do not find out they have ovarian cancer until the disease is at its very advanced stages. The symptoms are hard to spot and are often mistaken for women simply feeling tired or rundown or going through menopause. But, with early detection vital to survival, it is crucial that we do more to raise awareness—for women and for the men and partners who love them—so that we can save more women from this disease. We have already heard that symptoms include abdominal or pelvic pain, increased abdominal size or persistent abdominal bloating, needing to urinate often or urgently, and difficulty with eating or feeling full quickly. Australia's most famous survivor of ovarian cancer, Raelene Boyle, describes the symptoms as being so minor—having a distended tummy, a sore back or bleeding—that women put up with these things. But if you do think there might be something wrong, go and get it checked out.

The average age of ovarian cancer diagnosis is around 64, but it can also affect much younger women. This was evidenced by Raelene Boyle, and just last week by the announcement that one of Australian's most successful indie-rock bands, The Jezabels, were cancelling their worldwide tour because keyboard player, Heather Shannon, had to undergo urgent treatment for ovarian cancer. She is just 36. I had an Afternoon Teal in my electorate office on Friday and I met lovely Marg, whose daughter, Loo, passed away at the age of 33 some years ago. Marg, together with Fay, who is facing her third bout of ovarian cancer—she is a tenacious one, is Fay!—and Dot, who supports them, are doing a huge amount in my local community to raise awareness. The clock tower on our town hall this month, is teal. And every time I speak to anybody in our community about the clock tower being teal, I take the opportunity to raise awareness of ovarian cancer.

For me—as I know is also the case for the member for Lindsay—this is a very personal journey. I lost a very good friend and a very good mentor, Betty Leahy. Before she succumbed to her own illness, she had also suffered the tragic loss of both her husband and her daughter—in her 30s—both of them from cancer. Bet was an extraordinary and gorgeous woman who provided financial counselling services at Child and Family Services before she retired, and who mentored me as a young social worker and friend when I worked there. Shortly before she died, Bet asked me come and see her in St John of God Ballarat Hospital. She particularly asked me to use my position as Labor's health spokesperson everywhere I go, to talk about ovarian cancer, to champion the cause, and especially to focus energy and efforts on getting more research into diagnosis, prevention and treatment. Bet, I hope I am slowly honouring your memory by doing so. I particularly want to make sure that I elevate this cause, not just here in this place but that we all use our positions in our constituencies, and our friendship and community networks, to raise awareness of ovarian cancer every single day.

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