Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for the Environment representing the Minister for Women. Will the minister please outline to the House how the Morrison government is supporting the more than 800,000 Australian women and girls living with endometriosis—including me, as I discovered to my shock in early 2020, after years of advocacy for everyone affected by endo.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for the Environment) | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Boothby for her question and particularly thank her for her advocacy for women struggling with this dreadful condition, something that she was doing so many years before she received her own shocking diagnosis of stage 4 endometriosis.

Around one in nine Australian women suffer from endometriosis. It's a painful and debilitating condition, and, like the member for Boothby, they face it with incredible bravery, because it has such a significant impact on their health, their mental health, their family, their work, their education and their participation in all kinds of social activities, starting often as a teenager and affecting you in your school years and on through your adult life. While it's a highly individualised condition, common symptoms include pelvic pain that often puts life on hold once every month, and it can also impact fertility.

This government launched the first ever National Action Plan for Endometriosis in July 2018 to support improved treatment, understanding and awareness of this condition. Since the release of our national action plan we've committed $22.5 million for awareness, education, clinical management, care and research. And as part of tonight's budget there will be an additional $58 million allocated to support women with endometriosis, including $16 million for new specialised endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics in each state and territory, $25 million to support women with severe endometriosis and other conditions that affect fertility so they can access a new Medicare funded MRI scan, more funding for an endometriosis management plan that supports patients in primary care, a digital platform providing access to the best information, a national endometriosis clinical and scientific trials network, funding to increase awareness and education, and a workplace assistance program so that more people can understand how you have discussions about this in the workplace.

Our plan, now over $80 million, will improve the quality of life of women with endometriosis. People who listen to conversations about the budget often deal with that in terms of strong, responsible economic management, and they might not immediately think of measures for women's health. But I do. We do. Because it's measures like this that reflect the approach the Morrison government is taking to this budget. A strong economy guarantees essential services, such as the PBS, where we can list new treatments for ovarian cancer and breast cancer. That responsible economic management affects all Australians, particularly women.