Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The South Eastern Melbourne Primary Health Network has started a campaign to decrease cancer in my community by increasing participation in screening programs. No doubt almost every one of us knows someone who has been impacted by cancer. In the south-east Melbourne region, which includes my community, approximately 43,000 residents are currently living with some form of cancer, and Frankston has amongst the highest rates with 3.2 per cent of people. Unfortunately, since the pandemic there has been a 10 per cent reduction in cancer screening, which ultimately leads to late diagnosis. Due to this, it is predicted that all cancer diagnoses will increase by 50 per cent within the next 15 years. First Nations people, who have a slightly higher rate of cancer diagnosis, are 40 per cent more likely to die from cancer than non-First Nations Australians. But there is some good news. Many cancers can be detected through screening. Screening allows for early detection, intervention and treatment. Cancer screening can and does save lives—take it from me.

Australia offers three funded national screening programs: the National Bowel Cancer Screening Program, for people aged 50 to 74; BreastScreen Australia, for women aged 50 to 74; and the National Cervical Screening Program, for people aged 25 to 74—plus the Albanese government has just announced through the excellent health minister, Mark Butler, that more than $260 million will be invested in a new National Lung Cancer Screening Program that will prevent more than 4,000 deaths from lung cancer. At-risk Australians will be able to get a lung scan every two years, as recommended by the independent Medical Services Advisory Committee.

Despite breast, bowel and cervical cancer screening being funded and available Australia-wide, current data from south-east Melbourne shows that screening rates are low among certain populations and areas in the Dunkley electorate. We have low participation rates in breast cancer screening—41 per cent, compared to the Victorian average of 45 per cent, for example—and in bowel and cervical screening. Screening rates are low amongst First Nations people. We must do better. We must promote education about the importance of screening and raise awareness of available screening programs. We must enable pathways for screening to give people early access. Jodie from Sandhurst recently shared with me a message. She has stage 4 cancer, and she wants people to know:

This is your reminder, check, and if something doesn't look right, feel right or you are just worried, seek your doctors advice or a second opinion.

Everyone in this chamber: get checked, and encourage everyone to get screened.