I start with a story:

I suffered for many years with migraines, not realising they were hormonal. I also became severely anaemic, but was told it wouldn't be because of my period. My Mum had polycystic ovaries, and had a total hysterectomy at 42. She never really talked about why (no one really talked about women's problems then). It would have helped my sister to know more, as she has PCOS too. When I was 18 weeks pregnant, I started bleeding and was instructed by the public hospital midwives to go to ED. As a first time mum I was extremely worried. I had to wait 6 hours before a midwife was available to check the foetal heart rate. This could have been done easily by an RN or Dr with a simple foetal monitor available in ED. I work in health (Nuclear Medicine) and I see women every day for their PET scans for breast and gynaecological cancers, plus pre-surgical mapping of the lymph nodes in breast cancer. I acknowledge how far we've come with early detection and better treatments, but there's still so much more research and improvements that can be made. For example, I am currently caring for my 15 year old daughter who has high clinical suspicion for Endometriosis. It has made her so unwell that she was hospitalised for a month. Her GP was excellent helping her from the start, but there was quite a wait to see the Gynaecologist. Some of the paediatricians dismissed her symptoms while she was in hospital. I think there had been access to a multi-disciplinary women's health service she may not have ended up as unwell as she is now.

This is the story of a woman in South Hurstville, in my electorate of Barton. It chronicles not only the pain of ill health but also the pain of being misunderstood across generations of her family. This is what we mean by women's health: real, debilitating chronic pain that is simply not understood by a health system build for men's bodies.

I ran a survey to understand what women in Barton are experiencing in the health system so that I could best represent them to the current Select Committee on Women's Health. This excerpt reflects most, though not all, of the responses I received—misunderstanding, misdiagnosis and years of pain, culminating in conditions that are now extremely hard to treat or worsening because there was no accessible service that listened to these women. I've now compiled these responses and put them to the select committee because I know we can change this system. We can reform it. That means equipping out GPs with a real understanding of women's health and giving them the support and resources they need. It means creating spaces where all women can speak openly, particularly women from multicultural backgrounds who may not be used to discussing these issues at home because they are seen as taboo. It means making the medicines that treat these illnesses affordable and accessible.

We need to make these changes because I don't want to hear these stories anymore—not because I'm not listening or because I don't think it's important, but because I don't want it to exist anymore. I want women experiencing pelvic pain to be able to go to their doctors, explain what's happening and receive timely treatment. It's a simple ask: to be seen, to be heard and to be treated. But that's not what happens for many women. We have made progress, and I acknowledge that, but there is still a long way to go. Thank you to all those women who participated in sharing their stories with me. I'm sorry that our healthcare system has let you down. You'll have a champion in me for as long as I'm in this place and beyond.