Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week, the Cancer Council of Australia held a breakfast here at Parliament House to raise awareness of Australia’s anonymous killer, a disease that does not have the profile it deserves within the Australian community. Cancer causes more deaths than any other cancer except lung cancer. Around 4,000 Australians will die from it this year and more than 1,200 of those deaths will occur among people aged in their 50s and 60s. Economic analysis shows that annual bowel cancer treatment costs will reach $1 billion next year, making it the most expensive cancer for Australia’s health system.

We know, of course, that prevention is better than cure. This is why the Cancer Council recommends a healthy lifestyle and a diet featuring more fruit and vegetables and less red meat. The next best thing is early detection. The National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines recommend screening for bowel cancer at least every two years from the age of 50. This is because bowel cancer often develops without symptoms and it is very difficult to treat once the cancer has gone through the thickness of the wall or out into the tissues or lymph nodes beside the bowel. Currently, screening is available through the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program for Australians who turned 50, 55 or 65 between January 2008 and December 2010. The Cancer Council is asking that this important program be extended to all at risk age groups and I welcome the response of the Minister for Health and Ageing to a question from the member for New England on Monday that the government will consider an extension of the screening program in the context of the forthcoming budget discussions.