Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak in support of the member for Adelaide's motion relating to Asbestos Awareness Week. The motion notes that November is Asbestos Awareness Month and as part of that campaign 25 November to 1 December was National Asbestos Awareness Week. It is so important that we are all critically aware of the devastating impacts asbestos related diseases have on individuals and indeed on the broader community, especially because Australia has one of the highest rates of mesothelioma in the world. As mesothelioma's latency period is between 20 and 50 years, a peak is yet to be reached in relation to this matter.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's analysis found an average period of 11 months between diagnosis and death. Australia has one of the highest rates of asbestos related disease in the world. Tradespeople and renovators are among the most at risk for asbestos exposure. At least one in three homes built between 1940 and 1990 is believed to contain asbestos, and in some parts of Australia this may potentially rise to as many as one in two houses. Asbestos was used in over 3,000 products prior to 1990, and a great many of these were in residential construction and fit-outs. What's more, there is no known safe minimum level of exposure. In fact, houses built or renovated before 1987 are highly likely to contain asbestos in fibre sheeting, cement pipes, roofing shingles, guttering and textured paints and textiles. So many people, especially those in the building related trades and their families, were exposed to asbestos just from earning their living or going about their day-to-day lives.

Thus far, treatment of mesothelioma has been limited to radiation, chemotherapy and surgery. However, immunotherapy is an emerging treatment showing some promising results. In some cases, immunotherapy has provided longer life expectancy for some who have been diagnosed with mesothelioma. Keytruda is an immunotherapy quite different to the traditional treatments of cancers, like radiation and chemotherapy. I understand that Keytruda has been examined in over 600 worldwide cancer trials, with some promising results. Reports indicate that there are also benefits of Keytruda to those with late-stage malignant melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma and non-small-cell lung cancer.

I was very privileged recently to meet with Peter and Nyrie Tillotson, two local volunteers from the Asbestosis & Mesothelioma Association of Australia, AMAA. It's a non-profit charity that operates in my electorate of Richmond. The AMAA has an outreach centre based on the ground floor at the Tweed Heads Bowls Club and it's run by local volunteers who offer a number of support services, including telephone support, home and hospital visits and monthly support group meetings. The AMAA raise awareness within the community of the dangers posed by asbestos exposure, and they work to minimise the risk of asbestos exposure for future generations.

It's a devastating fact that mesothelioma kills approximately 700 Australians per year, and that number, sadly, is predicted to rise in the coming years. Even though Australia banned the use of asbestos in 2003, asbestos related disease kills an estimated 4,000 Australians every year—this is double our annual road toll—and asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma in Australia.

Over the last four years, the AMAA has been gathering handwritten signatures petitioning for Keytruda to be listed on the PBS. They're doing this because the cost of the medication is thousands of dollars for each treatment, with the number of treatments required unknown at this time. There are now just over 5,000 signatures on their petition. I commend them for working so hard to get all of these signatures. I now seek leave to table that petition with those 5,000 signatures collected by the AMAA.

Leave granted.

I, therefore, present this petition relating to Keytruda and the PBS. I would also like to take this opportunity to commend the Asbestosis & Mesothelioma Association of Australia and all their volunteers for their tireless work in raising awareness, in training people to safely handle asbestos, and for providing important support for the victims of asbestos related diseases. I thank them for getting all those signatures and raising this important issue. The government is well aware of the community support for a PBS subsidised Keytruda treatment for mesothelioma, and I call on the Minister for Health to look favourably upon the petition signed by those 5,000 people. I commend the member for Adelaide for this most important motion and for raising this very vital issue.

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