A fortnight ago I attended Brain Tumour Alliance Australia's Head to the Hill event here at Parliament House. It was a deeply moving reminder of the devastating impact this disease has on Australian families. I want to share the words of Jessica, from Greenslopes in my community, whose eight-year-old son Max underwent brain surgery recently:

A few months ago, Max was an ordinary eight-year-old boy, playing cricket and soccer, building in Minecraft and laughing with his friends at school.

Then an MRI we thought was checking for concussion revealed something no parent ever expects to hear; our son had a brain tumour.

Within weeks, Max underwent almost nine hours of brain surgery.

It saved his life, but his life is changed forever.

We are incredibly grateful that Max survived, but not every family gets that outcome.

Brain cancer has a five-year survival rate of only around 23 percent and remains the leading cause of cancer death in Australian children and adults under 40.

Australia has world-class doctors, scientists and researchers.

What we need is the investment to give them a better chance of changing these numbers.

I thank Jessica for sharing Max's story and also thank Pam Hubner for her tireless advocacy in memory of her daughter Angie.

The Albanese government has invested close to $20 million through the Medical Research Future Fund in childhood brain cancer research, supporting new treatments and a national clinical trial. We've also made a further $8.4 million available for brain cancer research and new therapies. We must continue investing in our research as there's more work to do to give people who have brain cancer more hope.