Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wear a white shirt. I rise today to bring awareness to the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation and the White Shirt Campaign, which took place on 8 May, World Ovarian Cancer Day. One woman dies every eight hours in Australia from ovarian cancer. Every year around 1,800 Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer. If detected at stage 1, a woman has a 90 per cent chance of surviving beyond five years. However, if detected later, at stage 3 or 4, only 29 per cent of women will survive beyond five years. Unfortunately, there is no effective early detection test for ovarian cancer and, because the early stages of ovarian cancer have no obvious symptoms, most women are not diagnosed until the late stages of the disease. This is the bleak reality and severity of ovarian cancer in Australia. Improved early detection tests and treatments could address this and survival rates of women with ovarian cancer could improve. However, this is only going to happen if we invest in and further support in-depth research into ovarian cancer. There have been some setbacks in recent international research, but with every setback the commitment of our researchers must be backed in. This is the way in which scientific discovery works.

The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation has provided funding over the past 21 years that has been essential in advancing research undertaken into ovarian cancer as well as being instrumental in raising awareness for ovarian cancer, a field of cancer research which has historically been overlooked and underrepresented. The foundation has been able to successfully raise both awareness and funds for research through amazing partnerships with companies, such as their White Shirt Campaign with Australian retail icon Witchery. The White Shirt Campaign is a 13-year collaboration that has contributed more than $13.8 million to ovarian cancer research. The campaign occurs every year in the lead-up to and peaks on World Ovarian Cancer Day.

Each year Witchery releases a new white shirt specifically dedicated to ovarian cancer research, and 100 per cent of the proceeds made from this shirt are donated to the foundation. The white shirt has been adopted because it symbolises the white lab coat of researchers who dedicate their lives to researching new and better treatment models and methods for early detection. This year the white shirt, this white shirt I'm wearing, was designed by Australian fashion designer Toni Maticevski for Witchery. In the lead-up to 8 May many women across the country participated in the campaign by wearing a white shirt and posting about it, aiming to raise awareness of the incredible work of the foundation and support the strong women in our community that are battling this terrible disease.

All sides of this parliament recognise the vital importance of funding this groundbreaking research. Since 2011 the government has invested more than $71 million into ovarian cancer research through the National Health and Medical Research Council, with $16.9 million also invested through the Medical Research Future Fund into groundbreaking ovarian cancer projects like the work done by Ovarian Cancer Australia. We have also listed lifesaving medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, including the recent extension of the PBS listing of Lynparza, meaning an additional 300 Australian women with ovarian cancer will have access to a medicine that would otherwise cost $140,000 per course of treatment. With this listing they will pay as little as $41.30 a script, or $6.60 with a concession card. Through the 2021-22 budget, the government is providing a further $1 million to Ovarian Cancer Australia for the extension of the ovarian cancer management pilot. This pilot project ensures women with ovarian cancer can have access to support and care, no matter where they live in Australia.

To the women—the mothers, sisters and friends—no longer with us and to those battling ovarian cancer now: your courage and resilience compels us to continue the work to find a cure. It compels us to continue to raise awareness and talk about this dreadful disease. From grassroots to government, we all have a role to play.