Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party, Shadow Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I want to rise and make a brief contribution to this debate as the husband of a woman who suffers from endometriosis and also as the co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis, alongside my friend the member for Bendigo. I was one of the founding members of the Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis, a very effective parliamentary friendship group in this place that was founded by former members Gai Brodtmann and Nicolle Flint. Nicolle's story is particularly relevant in that Nicolle decided to get involved on the issue of endometriosis because of friends that she had who had endometriosis and then Nicolle herself found that she had endometriosis and has been undergoing treatment. I also want to acknowledge on my side of the House the former member Nola Marino, who was generous in sharing the stories of her daughter, who had suffered from endometriosis and had a very difficult and trying experience as an endo sufferer.

I want to say to the women of Australia who suffer from endometriosis on behalf of their husbands and partners: we love you, we hear you, we support you and we think you're amazing. For any husband that's gone through watching their wife suffer from multiple surgeries and difficult diagnoses it's almost impossible to fully appreciate what they're going through because the pain can be so severe. My message to the women who have not had a positive diagnosis of endometriosis but suffer from debilitating period pain is, if the diagnosis hasn't been properly revealed, go and get a second opinion and, if you still don't think that that diagnosis is correct, get another second opinion.

One of the things that we in Parliamentary Friends of Endometriosis have done in this parliament is stage a very important day back in February about the importance of endometriosis, in conjunction with Endometriosis Australia. I want to acknowledge the people involved in Endometriosis Australia and, in particular, Monica Forlano and Donna Ciccia, the chair and the deputy chair of Endometriosis Australia. They put on a series of forums that highlighted some of the challenges that people who are suffering from endometriosis face. I want to acknowledge Ellie Angel-Mobbs, who is the broadcaster that moderated some of these sessions, and she did such a great job. She is a sufferer of endometriosis.

One of the things that Endometriosis Australia is promoting at the moment is the idea of being accredited with EndoThrive—so becoming a workplace that is supportive of people who have endometriosis. Divya Gokal, along with Dani Difalco from Showpo, talked about some of the benefits of signing up to the EndoThrive program, which is something that I would encourage other employers to do. It provides support for people in your teams that have endometriosis and shows how you can enact best practice as an employer. The gathering was also addressed by Professor Anusch Yazdani, who is a world leader in endometriosis research and who reminded us that Australia is a world leader in this space.

I particularly want to acknowledge Greg Hunt, the former minister for health and aged care, for the work that he did when he was health minister in the former government in supporting research into endometriosis, listing medicines and raising the profile of this issue. I want to acknowledge Senator Anne Ruston, who is the current shadow minister for health and aged care in this space, and I want to give credit to the current government for continuing the good work to make Australia a world leader in endometriosis. It's so very important.

One of the most affecting presentations at the parliamentary friendship lunch was from Lucia Field and her mum, Miki Field. Lucia is the daughter of Anthony Field, the blue Wiggle, and she is now one of the blue Wiggles. She and her mum both have endometriosis, and it was really only because of her mum's experience that she was successfully diagnosed. But even a woman in her 20s in Australia today, in 2026, was still given the run-around of the health system in terms of getting a proper diagnosis. This really has to be, in my view, the focus of ongoing work, given that we know one in seven women in this country have endometriosis by the age of 49.

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