Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister update the House on action the government is taking to support the more than 700,000 Australian women currently living with the debilitating condition of endometriosis?

Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to thank the member for Forrest, who, along with the member for Canberra, the member for Boothby and many others, has been a powerful advocate for action on endometriosis. She brought to this parliament the story her daughter Kylie, how Kylie's condition destroyed so much of her life and how as a consequence she became a passionate advocate. But I also acknowledge, as I have earlier, the member for Canberra, the member for Boothby and many others. This is an example of this parliament working at its very best. The result of their collective work plus the work of many others, a Parliamentary Friends group was created for endometriosis. At that meeting the government gave a long overdue national apology for the silence that had confronted so many women and that they themselves had been forced to adopt in relation to this condition. Endometriosis is a menstrual condition that can have a debilitating impact, not just for Kylie but for 700,000 women—if not more, because of underdiagnosis. Their lives can be deeply affected. They can lose fertility, they can suffer from chronic pain and of course as a consequence they can also be exposed to mental health conditions.

As a result of that joint Parliamentary Friends group, in which people of all sides are involved, the government agreed to put forward and develop with the community and the sector a National Action Plan for Endometriosis. People from all sides of parliament, the community, the women's movement and the medical profession came together to develop that. There were four key elements. One was in relation to education for women and girls to acknowledge the condition, to identify the signs and to seek help, but also for the medical profession, where there had been too little information for too long, as many have acknowledged. The second one was better approaches to diagnosis, the third was better approaches to treatment and the fourth was the search for a cure through research. In response to that plan, the government has committed about $4.7 million to the treatment of endometriosis and to pursuing those four goals. That includes $2½ million for clinical trials, seeking new treatments and working with women who are afflicted with endometriosis. This is a profound and important step forward. It's accompanied by the funding of $1 million for GPs—working with the medical profession to assist them in better understanding and in earlier diagnosis. All of these things come together.

This has been a tough week in some ways, in the sense that the parliament has been at its most conflictual. But when we look at this topic we see the parliament working, we see democracy working and we see outcomes for women around Australia.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Ballarat on indulgence.

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Medicare) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Speaker. I seek to associate the opposition with the remarks of the minister. I do think it is an example of the parliament at its best, when a Parliamentary Friends group is established to highlight such an important disease for women. And I do, as the government has said and as the opposition has said on many occasions, particularly the member for Canberra and the member for Boothby, commend the government for its actions in recognising endometriosis, and we certainly want to continue that fight ourselves as well.