Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Hansard source

Women's Health Week is not just a reminder for women to prioritise their own health; it's a call to confront the sexism that still runs through our health system. And I must say that the former speaker, the member for Leichhardt, expressed it so beautifully as a great ally amongst the men in the Labor Party, and it's great to see that the men are now comfortable speaking about these things. See what happens when you have a majority women government?

I know the sexism that runs through the health system not just from my experience as the former assistant minister for health but also from my own life and from my decades as a nurse, and I am surrounded by my women colleagues here today whom I know have had their own experiences. Too many times I saw women in tears; they were dismissed and ignored, their pain left untreated until their health worsened. I also experienced it in my own life, and it was then that I truly understood how it felt. In my 50s, I thought that heavy periods—or, as they're medically known, menorrhagia—and exhaustion were just a normal part of menopause. And then I found out that they weren't. But it took me collapsing at work with a haemoglobin level that was 'simply not compatible with life', as the doctor told me, before something serious had to be done. Just how far do women have to go? How bad does their health have to get, before it's taken seriously?

I know my story is not uncommon. Almost every woman I speak to has their own version. The #EndGenderBias survey found that two in three women had experienced discrimination or bias in the healthcare system, with 70 per cent saying that that experience was via a GP clinic and half saying that it happened in our hospitals. Women have told me stories of being told their pain surely wasn't that bad or that they were exaggerating it somewhat. There were stories of being shamed by family and friends for actually speaking up. This isn't just bad luck or bad practice; it's what we call medical misogyny. It's why conditions like endometriosis, PCOS and chronic pelvic pain take years and years, sometimes decades, to diagnose. It's why too many women still, to this day, feel shame when talking about their menopause symptoms. It's why too many unplanned pregnancies happen, simply because women can't afford the contraceptives that work best for them.

But something is changing. For the first time, I believe Australia is turning a corner. The Albanese Labor government has made the single biggest investment in women's health in our nation's history—almost $1 billion worth. This investment comes from the incredible advocacy of Labor women, many of whom are in this room, because when a government has more women in the room, its priorities change—and what a change we've made.

Our investment in women's health is delivering real, practical change, including cheaper contraception, with more pills on the PBS and higher rebates for IUDs and contraceptive implants. This has been decades in the making, particularly with listing these drugs on the PBS. We have better rebates for GPs now to insert IUDs or contraceptive implants. This is going to make a huge difference for women, for whom the cost of having an IUD or long-term contraceptive was absolutely prohibitive. Nurse practitioners will be able to provide the service to women to insert IUDs or contraceptive implants, which means access will be greater. This is going to be a great boost, I believe, for rural and regional women who simply cannot access their GPs in a timely manner. The cost of contraception, the cost of unplanned pregnancies—these are costs that are predominantly borne by women. This has definitely been a gendered issue that the Labor government has been absolutely prepared to address—and we have.

There's expanded menopause care, including new PBS listings, Medicare rebates for longer consults and our first national menopause guidelines. I can't tell you the difference this has made to women's lives. Women have been going to the chemist, taking a photo of their receipt and sending it to me, saying they cannot believe their menopause treatment is now accessible and so much cheaper. One lady said she just wanted to smother it all over herself! I didn't advise that; just take the recommended dose. But she was so happy, absolutely so happy with that. Our national menopause guidelines will mean, hopefully, that more health professionals will understand menopause and will understand how to treat women appropriately.

Something that I am particularly proud of are the 33 new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. These will now be supporting women with perimenopause and menopause. So many women have told me the huge difference this has made to them. They walk in to get health care, they are heard, they are believed, their pain is validated, and they get expert treatment. I want to give a big shout-out to all health professionals working in those endometriosis clinics, who are trying new, innovative and very holistic ways to treat women with that disease.

Medicines will be capped soon at no more than $25, giving women across the country real cost-of-living relief. We have had some data released today that shows more than 715,000 cheaper prescriptions have been accessed, including contraceptives, menopause therapies and endometriosis treatments. Since July, my goodness, the Medicare funded menopause health assessments have seen 20,000 women access those services—20,000 women who now are getting better care for menopause. From 1 November, even more changes will take effect, with women accessing those IUDs and contraceptive implants at a much cheaper rate. The cost of medications will reduce even more because we've passed a bill to freeze the cost of medicines at $25. This builds on our broader agenda of making health care affordable for all Australians right across the country.

These are life-changing reforms, and this is why leadership matters. This is why having strong advocates in this space matters. And there's no stronger advocate than the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Rebecca White. The assistant minister is not just a leader; she is a change-maker. With years of experience and a deep understanding of the barriers women face, Assistant Minister White will combine compassion with determination. She will fight to ensure that women's health is never pushed aside again, and I know she will make the system fairer, and she will ensure that every single woman, no matter where she lives or who she is, will get the care she deserves. As for me, I'll be working closely with Assistant Minister White on the intersections between health and family and domestic and sexual violence, because we know violence and trauma can be incredibly detrimental to a woman's physical and mental health, and often health services are victims-survivors' first point of contact when disclosing violence.

This government has already invested record amounts of funds into family, domestic and sexual violence. It's over $4 billion. But we aren't stopping here. The Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, the Assistant Minister Rebecca White and I are determined to end the scourge of family, domestic and sexual violence in this country. We want all women to be healthy. We want women to feel safe. We want women to live their very best lives. As a government, we have introduced so many measures, including great measures through the health system.

We are the party that built Medicare. We are the party that legislated paid family, domestic and sexual violence leave. We are the party that had the first woman prime minister. Now we are the party that is championing women's health, safety and economic equality. This Women's Health Week, we are absolutely determined to make sure that we will celebrate how far we've come. We will absolutely commit to finishing this job, which may never be finished, but we need Labor governments, like our government, the Albanese Labor government, that has a majority of women, that has an equal number of women in cabinet, that is sitting around the table, that is changing the priorities and that is fairly and squarely putting women's issues on the agenda. Whether it is health, family and domestic violence or women's economic equality, we are standing up for women all the way. We are a government that is majority women, and we are a government that has great allies in the men in the party as well. We are determined to lead—and that's just what we will do.

See this speech in context