John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Many members would be aware that the much loved and respected anti-asbestos campaigner Bernie Banton was recently diagnosed with mesothelioma. Bernie is the most famous anti-asbestos campaigner in Australia and is the face of the hard-fought struggle to bring the corporate giant James Hardie to accountability. We know that the campaign headed by Bernie was successful in establishing a $4 billion compensation fund which is designed to offer financial security to thousands of asbestos disease sufferers and their families. Now it is time for the community to take up another commendable cause which Bernie is extremely passionate about. Just weeks before his diagnosis with mesothelioma, Bernie Banton was campaigning to have the drug Alimta listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for mesothelioma patients. Mesothelioma is an insidious cancer caused by exposure to asbestos fibres. These fibres are contained in over 3,000 products commonly found at home and at work. Alimta can inhibit tumour growth, increase life expectancy and relieve the pain of cancer patients.

In the absence of any cure, a drug that can increase life expectancy and reduce the pain of those suffering from cancer should be readily accessible; Alimta is not. It costs $20,000 for patients who contract mesothelioma through inadvertent exposure to asbestos at home or at work. Incredibly, while Alimta is subsidised for those suffering from lung cancer caused by smoking, it is not subsidised for those with asbestos related diseases caused by blameless exposure to asbestos products.

There is enormous inequity of access to Alimta depending on which state or territory mesothelioma cancer patients reside in. Workers who believe that employment in New South Wales exposed them to the inhalation of asbestos fibres may receive Alimta free of charge through the New South Wales Dust Diseases Board. Given Bernie Banton’s employment history, he is eligible to receive Alimta without having to find $20,000 to receive this standard-of-care treatment. Not all workers have this opportunity and not all states have the same schemes.

Furthermore, mesothelioma is increasingly being contracted by ordinary Australians not in the course of employment but in casual exposure to asbestos fibres through washing asbestos laden overalls or undertaking basic renovations at home. Outrageously, none of these people can receive affordable access to Alimta. The discriminatory access to Alimta does not end there. The partner who washed asbestos covered clothes, the child who played on asbestos fibre pieces in the backyard and the home renovator who innocuously drilled a hole into a wall at home will all be denied affordable access to Alimta.

The number of mesothelioma cases in Australia is not expected to peak for another decade. This is not surprising, given the ease which with asbestos related cancers can be contracted, the understandable confusion about which products at home and at work contain asbestos and the general lack of awareness of the dangers of asbestos fibres. Asbestos is a silent killer striking ordinary Australians many years down the track without warning. Treatment for this most insidious of asbestos related diseases should not be based on how or where the disease was contracted, yet this is how the recommended treatment for mesothelioma patients is administered in Australia. We cannot imagine the stresses involved with being struck by an illness that gives such a poor prognosis of survival. For those in that situation, every second with family members is sacred. The government cannot allow those moments to be tainted by the anxiety caused by an inability to afford a drug that will prolong life and reduce suffering.

Bernie Banton is currently being treated for mesothelioma and I had the great honour of meeting him and his wonderful wife, Karen, a few weeks ago at Concord Hospital in my electorate of Lowe. Such is the measure of the man that, even from his hospital bed, he was still campaigning on behalf of other mesothelioma cancer patients who will not have access to Alimta. Surely we cannot expect Bernie to take up this fight alone from his hospital bed. I have made a pledge to Bernie to continue the campaign he commenced, not because it is popular but because it is right. I understand that the manufacturer of Alimta has made three unsuccessful submissions to the PBAC for listing on PB Scheme. (Time expired)