Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak in the parliament today to pay tribute and to add my voice of congratulations, both personally and on behalf of the people of Ryan, to Professor Ian Frazer, a constituent of mine in the Ryan electorate who represents a proud tradition in this country of medical research and distinction. Professor Ian Frazer lives in the suburb of St Lucia and, as we all know, on Australia Day this year was honoured by this country for developing the world’s first vaccine to combat and treat cervical cancer.

We know that cervical cancer kills some 300,000 women world wide, and between 500 and 1,000 women in this country are affected by cervical cancer. Ian Frazer is a 52-year-old who has dedicated his life to medical research, to the treatment of cervical cancer and to the discovery of a cure, so overdue in this country and, indeed, around the world. I understand that at one stage Professor Ian Frazer had to take out a second mortgage on his family home to continue to raise the funds for research into this important area in the world of medicine.

Estimated global sales of more than $2 billion will come from this drug when it is marketed. I think that women around the world—and, of course, in our own country—will be so pleased that the world of medicine and medical research has been able to discover a drug that will cure cervical cancer. No doubt Professor Ian Frazer will personally reap some degree of financial reward, but so it should be. Role models should not be confined just to the men and women of business and to our elite athletes; they should also be our men and women with brilliant minds—doctors and scientists like Professor Ian Frazer of St Lucia in the electorate of Ryan.

The crucial breakthrough in this medical research that I refer to took place some 15 years ago when Professor Frazer and a colleague, Dr Jian Zhou, discovered how to make the virus itself make the vaccine that they had been working on work. I want to pay tribute also to Dr Jian Zhou. He died before I had the pleasure of meeting him, but his lovely wife, Ms Xiao-Yi, is a very dear family friend and I want to acknowledge in the parliament Dr Jian Zhou’s overall contribution to the success of Professor Ian Frazer’s work. As the Prime Minister said recently when he paid tribute to Professor Frazer’s success, this country must acknowledge the contribution of people other than those in the world of sport; we must honour those who make a wonderful contribution to this country in the world of medical research. (Time expired)