James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bendigo moving this motion on endometriosis. It's an excellent opportunity for us to do exactly what Endometriosis Awareness Month is all about and continue to highlight and increase awareness throughout our community and society. So I obviously wholeheartedly support the motion and thank the member for the opportunity to contribute.

Whilst sometimes we might be glib about the attention we think there is in the community to discussions in the Federation Chamber, this is a great example of an opportunity for all of us not just to speak on this but also to push our own speeches and this debate out through all the communications channels that we've got, because it's a very important role for us as parliamentarians to provide leadership in this area. I really want to join the mover's commendation of the former member for Boothby and the former member for Canberra, Nicolle Flint and Gay Brodtmann. I never served with Gai Brodtmann, regrettably, but was always aware of the pioneering contribution she made to endometriosis awareness, particularly through my colleague, who I did serve with, Nicolle Flint, the former member for Boothby. They both have a lot they can reflect on in their careers, but I'm sure the work they did on endometriosis awareness is at least equal to some of the things they're most proud of in their legacy, because they absolutely should be. They've made an enormous difference.

I know, in serving in the Morrison government, when a whole range of initiatives were announced and funded and supported by that government, it was always pointed out by the then Prime Minister and the then health minister that it was the work of Nicolle Flint and Gay Brodtmann and others in the Labor Party that she worked with to make sure that in government there was awareness and action taken about how important it was to be doing more to support endometriosis awareness.

As has already been said, and as others will say, one of the most important things about endometriosis that is such an opportunity for all of us is that it has not been until recent years that it has had the attention it so rightly deserves. It is heartbreaking to be learning stories of people who have taken so long to be diagnosed with endometriosis very much because our society hasn't done as good a job as we are now, and that we can enhance into the future, in making sure that there is awareness of endometriosis and that potential sufferers have a much greater likelihood of getting earlier testing and screening that will identify that. Of course, that early testing screening can make such an enormous impact in treating and managing endometriosis as a health condition.

As a member of parliament I have certainly had experience hearing from members of my community and even friends of mine where their endometriosis has been discovered because of fertility challenges, and it has been at that point that they have for the first time in their life become aware that they have endometriosis. As the previous speaker indicated, it's something that, until that point, has had an unnecessary amount of ambiguity and therefore discomfort and probably even suffering, because it is an undiagnosed condition that once diagnosed opens up a whole range of opportunities to treat and manage.

So we in government need to always come together as much as we can in politics and in this parliament around causes like endometriosis awareness. I don't think anyone would suggest that what the current government is doing, what the previous government has done, is excellent progress, and equally an opportunity to improve upon even further. What we want is that bipartisanship and unity around causes like raising awareness around a condition like endometriosis, supporting each other and ensuring that we're playing our roles as community leaders on supporting endometriosis awareness, and also that governments and our bureaucracy are looking for opportunities to do even more than we already have done in the last few years thanks to the fact that we are all in unity raising these issues.

A final shoutout, as the mover did, to all of the groups and people in our community that are doing so much. They obviously, in particular, deserve the credit for raising levels of awareness. I want to be a part of continuing to support them and everyone in making sure that we continue to improve in this very important area of public health.

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