Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It wasn't very long ago that women's health was completely taboo. It wasn't very long ago that, when health issues were spoken about, they were spoken about quietly, in hushed tones, secretively and privately. When it comes to women's health issues, women's voices weren't heard, because words like 'miscarriage', words like 'endometriosis' and words like 'menopause' weren't shared and their experiences weren't shared. Women dealing with medical issues often felt like they faced stigma and were coping alone. Many of them still do to this day. Many women suffered from delayed diagnosis for their conditions because the issues were not spoken about, or they had their pain dismissed. Many struggled to receive the support, care and medical attention that they desperately needed.

I'm pleased to say that this is starting to change under a Labor government. Labor has listened to Australian women and is delivering more choice, lower costs and better health care for women and girls right across their life span. It is not surprising that this movement comes at a time when, in this place we are standing in right now, the House of Representatives and the Senate have more women's representation that we have seen in generations—the most we have seen ever. Ensuring that women's voices are heard in parliaments and ensuring that women are represented so that our parliaments and democracy are reflective of our communities is critical to ensuring that women's health is brought to the forefront and that it is given the funding and attention that it truly deserves.

I had the great pleasure this morning of standing at a press conference with the member for Lyons and many, many women across Australia coming together to talk about not just Women's Health Week and the women's health package that Labor has put forward but also the many thousands of women that this is impacting every single day, in many different ways for all different ages. That's what Labor reforms have done in the space. We've made the biggest investment in women's health ever, and it is changing lives.

Women's health is now part of the national conversation, and it is timely to reflect on that this week, during Women's Health Week. Women now feel empowered to discuss their health concerns, to talk about them and to advocate for change. Importantly, the Albanese Labor government has boosted this with more funding and more services for women's health. I want to acknowledge the fact that the contingent from Queensland parliament was here earlier today. As a sign of how much our things have changed when it comes to misrepresentation, not very long ago there were more people in the Queensland parliament with the name 'Mark' than there were women in the Liberal Party. That is a pretty stark example of how, by ensuring that in this place women's representation is front and centre, women's voices are more likely to be heard and indeed are heard.

In February this year, Labor announced a historic half-a-billion-dollar investment in women's health. A crucial part of this was adding medicines to the PBS. This includes the first PBS listing for new oral contraceptive pills in more than 30 years. Women who rely on Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda—there are 150,000 of them across the country—are now saving hundreds of dollars a year. Additionally, two national trials for contraceptives and uncomplicated UTIs will benefit 250,000 concession card holders. Under that trial, users will be able to consult a trained pharmacist at no cost, and, if medications are required, they will pay only the usual medicine cost. An additional 150,000 women are benefiting from the addition of new menopausal hormone therapies to the PBS for the first time in a long time.

There are further supports for women going through menopause, with over 20,000 women undergoing a Medicare funded menopause health assessment since they became available on 1 July. Labor has provided funding to train health professionals and supported the development of the first-ever clinical guidelines and a national awareness campaign, making menopause an open conversation. This is really relevant because, for so long, when many women have walked into their doctors' offices and consulted with their clinicians, they have simply not been taken seriously. This work makes it clear that they deserve to be taken seriously and, when they are taken seriously, that that work is backed up by funding. That's what Labor's done.

There is also more affordable and earlier access to Pergoveris, a fertility treatment for Australian women undergoing IVF. It was added to the PBS, and the number of pens per script was doubled to four. A new endometriosis treatment option, Ryeqo, was also added to the PBS. What this means is significant financial relief for women. At a time when the cost of living is the number one issue facing our community, that is more important than ever. When you consider that, from 1 January 2026, the co-payment for PBS medicines will decrease to $25—and never any more than $25 per script—the savings just keep adding up, particularly for women. Around 8,500 Australian women suffering from endometriosis could save more than $2,300 a year. Additionally, women who use Yaz and Yasmin contraceptive pills will pay nearly one-quarter of the original amount from 1 January 2026.

The opening up of more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics only bolsters the support that Labor is delivering for women in this crucial space. I want to specifically mention Labor's initiative in supporting those women with endometriosis, because endometriosis is complex, debilitating and chronic, and it can be hard to diagnose. It takes an average of six to eight years to diagnose this progressive condition. At least one in nine girls, women and those assigned female at birth suffer from endometriosis.

In February this year, the Albanese Labor government announced an expansion to the number of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. This includes 11 new clinics, bringing the national number to 39, the largest number we have ever seen. These are clinics that provide multidisciplinary care with a focus on improving diagnosis timelines and promoting access to intervention, care, treatment options and referral services for endometriosis and pelvic pain. They also build the primary care workforce to manage this chronic condition. Of course, all these initiatives come on top of Labor's enormous investment in Medicare—an investment that has not been matched since Labor introduced Medicare all those years ago.

Labor is making the largest investment in Medicare since we created it over 40 years ago. It bears repeating, because, when it comes to Medicare, when it comes to health care and when it comes to making sure that health care is affordable and accessible, it is in our DNA. Our DNA has always meant that Labor prioritises health, and making sure that that health support extends to women's health is so important.

With the aim of delivering an additional 18 million bulk-billed GP visits annually, we are investing $8.5 billion to expand bulk-billing. By 2030, we expect nine out of 10 GP visits to be bulk-billed, tripling the number of fully bulk-billed GP practices to nearly 5,000 nationally. I'm also really proud of Labor's urgent care clinic program. Many constituents in my electorate of Moreton, on Brisbane's southside, have benefited from both the urgent care clinic in Oxley and the Buranda urgent care clinic, across the road at the PA. Fundamentally, we know that Labor will always prioritise health, and this week we acknowledge that women's health is an important part of that priority.

Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to take note of the statement made by the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care for this Women's Health Week. I recognise that I am the only man speaking on this statement. This should not be unusual. It should not be strange. What is strange is that we as a species essentially sidelined half the population for millennia and thought we would get a good outcome. Making sure women get quality health care like all Australians is not just the job of women, just like it's not just the job of women to call out domestic and family violence or to make sure women's voices are heard in discussions on important policies. It should be expected that men stand with women. Women shouldn't be forced to fight alone for the laws they need. Whether for health care, housing, education, or any part of government big or small, it is the job of every member in this place to make sure it responds to the needs of every single person in our community. Sadly, this has not always been the case in important policy areas.

Health care is one such example. Health care excluded women for much of its history. Even when women were included, there were some gross generalisations made about anatomy, not to mention the horrific health advice given to women such as: delayed childbearing causes illnesses like breast cancer and endometriosis and will be cured by pregnancy. Or we have the situation where women were pegged as suffering from hysteria due to symptoms ranging from anxiety and fainting to shortness of breath and loss of appetite. Perhaps showing that women used to be seen only as obedient wives and mothers, hysteria could also be diagnosed on the basis of impulsive sexual desire or a loss of appetite for sex—diagnosed by men for the purposes of men. In extreme cases of hysteria, the woman may have been forced to enter an insane asylum or undergo surgical hysterectomy.

While this might seem a thing of the distant past, this is not the case. These colossal stuff-ups in our medical history still have real-world impacts today. Diseases present differently in women and are often missed or misdiagnosed, and those diseases affecting mainly women remain largely a mystery—understudied, undertreated and frequently misdiagnosed or undiagnosed. Women still too often experience delayed diagnoses for conditions such as endometriosis and heart disease. They have their pain dismissed and struggle to get support for issues such as unplanned pregnancies, menopause and miscarriage. These bad outcomes are multiplied exponentially when you look at women who are of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent or at women living in rural and remote access with limited access to health care. Clearly things need to change.

There are so many tireless advocates championing better health care for women, whether they are dedicated GPs, nurses, midwives or other healthcare heroes. There are so many members of this chamber who I know are committed to delivering better health care for women. It is in part due to their advocacy that Labor has been able to deliver so much positive reform in the healthcare space specifically targeted at women. I will also add that it helps that we are the first government made up of a majority of incredibly powerful, competent and dedicated women. We look like modern Australia.

Our reforms in this space are targeted at delivering more choice, lower costs and better health care for women and girls. The Albanese Labor government has listened to Australian women and announced half a billion dollars of new investments for women across their life span. Hundreds of thousands of Australian women are now accessing cheaper medicines and better health care due to our government's commitments. Those measures include things like more support for women going through menopause, with a new Medicare rebate for menopause health assessments, funding to train health professionals, our first-ever clinical guidelines and a national awareness campaign. This measure also includes the first PBS listing for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years, with around 150,000 women saving hundreds of dollars a year on the listings of Prometrium, Estrogel and Estrogel Pro. We've also delivered the first PBS listing for new oral contraceptive pills in more than 30 years, with the listing of YAZ, Yasmin and Slinda. There are more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics treating more conditions with the opening of 11 new clinics, and we are ensuring all 33 clinics are now staffed to provide specialist support for menopause. There are new endometriosis treatment options through the PBS listing of Ryeqo. Australian women undergoing IVF will receive earlier and more affordable access to fertility treatment, adding Pergoveris pens to the PBS and increasing the maximum number of pens to four instead of two per script. Importantly, we are delivering more choice, lower costs and better access to long-term contraceptives, with larger Medicare payments and more bulk-billing for IUDs and birth control implants, saving around 300,000 women a year up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs. We can't talk about these important reforms to women's health without also talking about Labor's other important changes to the healthcare system in Australia. Women go to GPs—shocking, I know!—they get medicines off the PBS and they go to hospital, so every step we can take to improve Medicare will benefit all Australians.

For the benefit of those present, let's just run through the greatest hits of delivering better health care for Australians. We've got $8.5 billion to invest into 18 million more bulk-billed GP visits each year, hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors in the largest GP training program ever. For those playing along at home, this investment will mean nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030.

Other hits include 90 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, serving more than 1.8 million Australians receiving treatment. Fun fact: in Queensland there have been more than 367,000 presentations through an urgent care clinic, with one of the busiest being the Cairns South Urgent Care Clinic in my region, and we're getting another one for the northern suburbs as well.

We've also delivered 60-day prescriptions—saving time and money for Australians with ongoing health conditions—phased in from September 2023. We froze the cost of PBS medicines, with copayments not rising with inflation at all at the start of this year, for the first time in 25 years. And, just this week, we have been able to pass laws to go one better, and cut the general patient copayment from $31.60 to $25 from 1 January next year. These are bigger hits than Guns N' Roses'. My staff advised me to make a funny KPop Demon Hunters reference instead of Guns N' Roses, but I didn't understand it. They tried to show it to me, but I went with Guns N' Roses. I don't care—I'm generation X.

But the thing to remember here is that the real winners from all of our reform are the Australian people. They're getting cheaper medicines, they're getting more bulk-billed visits to see the GP, they're getting to access Medicare urgent care clinics across the country and, in the case of women, they're getting more access to better health care than they ever have. Instead of just talking the talk, we're delivering real outcomes. The Albanese Labor government is strengthening Medicare with more doctors, more urgent care clinics and even cheaper medicines. We have made the largest investment in Medicare since its inception more than 40 years ago. That's real help—more money in the pockets of everyday Australians.

This year's theme for Women's Health Week is 'Say yes to you'. Too often, women put aside their own health—for care, work, the pressures of kids, the pressures of school, looking after parents, whatever it may be. But I want to say this, and I want to make sure it's being heard: you can't look after others if you're not looking after yourself. These investments allow women to look after themselves, to be who they want to be and to shine the brightest that they can. So, please, look after yourself. For centuries, women's health has been neglected, gaslit and ignored, but we have come to make these changes. So, this Women's Health Week, say yes to you.

Ged Kearney (Cooper, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Women's Health Week is not just a reminder for women to prioritise their own health; it's a call to confront the sexism that still runs through our health system. And I must say that the former speaker, the member for Leichhardt, expressed it so beautifully as a great ally amongst the men in the Labor Party, and it's great to see that the men are now comfortable speaking about these things. See what happens when you have a majority women government?

I know the sexism that runs through the health system not just from my experience as the former assistant minister for health but also from my own life and from my decades as a nurse, and I am surrounded by my women colleagues here today whom I know have had their own experiences. Too many times I saw women in tears; they were dismissed and ignored, their pain left untreated until their health worsened. I also experienced it in my own life, and it was then that I truly understood how it felt. In my 50s, I thought that heavy periods—or, as they're medically known, menorrhagia—and exhaustion were just a normal part of menopause. And then I found out that they weren't. But it took me collapsing at work with a haemoglobin level that was 'simply not compatible with life', as the doctor told me, before something serious had to be done. Just how far do women have to go? How bad does their health have to get, before it's taken seriously?

I know my story is not uncommon. Almost every woman I speak to has their own version. The #EndGenderBias survey found that two in three women had experienced discrimination or bias in the healthcare system, with 70 per cent saying that that experience was via a GP clinic and half saying that it happened in our hospitals. Women have told me stories of being told their pain surely wasn't that bad or that they were exaggerating it somewhat. There were stories of being shamed by family and friends for actually speaking up. This isn't just bad luck or bad practice; it's what we call medical misogyny. It's why conditions like endometriosis, PCOS and chronic pelvic pain take years and years, sometimes decades, to diagnose. It's why too many women still, to this day, feel shame when talking about their menopause symptoms. It's why too many unplanned pregnancies happen, simply because women can't afford the contraceptives that work best for them.

But something is changing. For the first time, I believe Australia is turning a corner. The Albanese Labor government has made the single biggest investment in women's health in our nation's history—almost $1 billion worth. This investment comes from the incredible advocacy of Labor women, many of whom are in this room, because when a government has more women in the room, its priorities change—and what a change we've made.

Our investment in women's health is delivering real, practical change, including cheaper contraception, with more pills on the PBS and higher rebates for IUDs and contraceptive implants. This has been decades in the making, particularly with listing these drugs on the PBS. We have better rebates for GPs now to insert IUDs or contraceptive implants. This is going to make a huge difference for women, for whom the cost of having an IUD or long-term contraceptive was absolutely prohibitive. Nurse practitioners will be able to provide the service to women to insert IUDs or contraceptive implants, which means access will be greater. This is going to be a great boost, I believe, for rural and regional women who simply cannot access their GPs in a timely manner. The cost of contraception, the cost of unplanned pregnancies—these are costs that are predominantly borne by women. This has definitely been a gendered issue that the Labor government has been absolutely prepared to address—and we have.

There's expanded menopause care, including new PBS listings, Medicare rebates for longer consults and our first national menopause guidelines. I can't tell you the difference this has made to women's lives. Women have been going to the chemist, taking a photo of their receipt and sending it to me, saying they cannot believe their menopause treatment is now accessible and so much cheaper. One lady said she just wanted to smother it all over herself! I didn't advise that; just take the recommended dose. But she was so happy, absolutely so happy with that. Our national menopause guidelines will mean, hopefully, that more health professionals will understand menopause and will understand how to treat women appropriately.

Something that I am particularly proud of are the 33 new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. These will now be supporting women with perimenopause and menopause. So many women have told me the huge difference this has made to them. They walk in to get health care, they are heard, they are believed, their pain is validated, and they get expert treatment. I want to give a big shout-out to all health professionals working in those endometriosis clinics, who are trying new, innovative and very holistic ways to treat women with that disease.

Medicines will be capped soon at no more than $25, giving women across the country real cost-of-living relief. We have had some data released today that shows more than 715,000 cheaper prescriptions have been accessed, including contraceptives, menopause therapies and endometriosis treatments. Since July, my goodness, the Medicare funded menopause health assessments have seen 20,000 women access those services—20,000 women who now are getting better care for menopause. From 1 November, even more changes will take effect, with women accessing those IUDs and contraceptive implants at a much cheaper rate. The cost of medications will reduce even more because we've passed a bill to freeze the cost of medicines at $25. This builds on our broader agenda of making health care affordable for all Australians right across the country.

These are life-changing reforms, and this is why leadership matters. This is why having strong advocates in this space matters. And there's no stronger advocate than the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Rebecca White. The assistant minister is not just a leader; she is a change-maker. With years of experience and a deep understanding of the barriers women face, Assistant Minister White will combine compassion with determination. She will fight to ensure that women's health is never pushed aside again, and I know she will make the system fairer, and she will ensure that every single woman, no matter where she lives or who she is, will get the care she deserves. As for me, I'll be working closely with Assistant Minister White on the intersections between health and family and domestic and sexual violence, because we know violence and trauma can be incredibly detrimental to a woman's physical and mental health, and often health services are victims-survivors' first point of contact when disclosing violence.

This government has already invested record amounts of funds into family, domestic and sexual violence. It's over $4 billion. But we aren't stopping here. The Minister for Social Services, Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Women, Katy Gallagher, the Assistant Minister Rebecca White and I are determined to end the scourge of family, domestic and sexual violence in this country. We want all women to be healthy. We want women to feel safe. We want women to live their very best lives. As a government, we have introduced so many measures, including great measures through the health system.

We are the party that built Medicare. We are the party that legislated paid family, domestic and sexual violence leave. We are the party that had the first woman prime minister. Now we are the party that is championing women's health, safety and economic equality. This Women's Health Week, we are absolutely determined to make sure that we will celebrate how far we've come. We will absolutely commit to finishing this job, which may never be finished, but we need Labor governments, like our government, the Albanese Labor government, that has a majority of women, that has an equal number of women in cabinet, that is sitting around the table, that is changing the priorities and that is fairly and squarely putting women's issues on the agenda. Whether it is health, family and domestic violence or women's economic equality, we are standing up for women all the way. We are a government that is majority women, and we are a government that has great allies in the men in the party as well. We are determined to lead—and that's just what we will do.

Zali Steggall (Warringah, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For too long, issues that impact women's health have been ignored. With more women in parliament, there is no doubt that we are seeing more focus on women's health issues. After all, women make up 51 per cent of the population, and, despite tremendous strides in health care, women's health continues to be an area that needs more attention. Physical health issues like endometriosis, perimenopause and menopause affect half the population. We will all go through it. Yet, they are surrounded by stigma and silence, and that has been the case for too long. We must remember that mental health issues should not be ignored. We need to look at complete body health, both mental and physical. In fact, this week is Body Image and Eating Disorder Awareness Week. It is a timely reminder of the importance of having a healthy body image. It's also a reminder that mental health challenges, particularly around body image, are especially confronting for young women.

In Warringah, we have over 78,000 women. These women are mothers, sisters, wives, carers, professionals and volunteers. Our electorate is fortunate to have outstanding organisations that show the value of early intervention and compassionate care. I've visited some of these organisations recently, and I want to give them a special mention. For generations, Tresillian has provided support to families adjusting to the challenges of early parenthood. I recently visited their facilities, and it was incredible to see the level of support that they have been offering for so long for young mothers and young families. The Gidget Foundation—again, out of an incredible tragedy has come the most amazing organisation, which offers trusted and specialised mental health care for new and expecting parents. The Butterfly Foundation, which is an incredible organisation as well, provides essential treatment, resources and support for those affected by eating disorders and negative body image.

These organisations demonstrate a vital truth: women's health cannot be separated into physical and mental health boxes. They're deeply connected, and in our policies and health services we need to reflect that reality. It's as true for young women struggling with body image as it is for midlife women navigating menopause. While there is access to these important services in our electorate of Warringah and in urban and city areas, the same is not true for First Nations women, and we must always be incredibly conscious that we still do not have parity in Australia when it comes to access to health services for all Australians. We also know that, for remote and regional committees, it is incredibly difficult to access that same level of care. When we think of that access to health, it's incredibly important to look at making sure we have culturally safe, comprehensive health care for First Nations women.

We know, for example, that around one in nine Australian women live with endometriosis and often have waited years for diagnosis. In fact, it affects around 80 per cent of women who have experienced menopausal symptoms, and one in four experience it severely. Eating disorders are among the most fatal of all mental health conditions, disproportionally affecting women and girls, and yet there proportionally are still very few services available for support. With these realities, women's health has historically been underresearched, underfunded and underrecognised. For decades, women were told their symptoms were just part of life or sometimes dismissed without proper consideration. In fact, menopause will impact all women at some stage in their life. It's mostly between 45 and 65 that the perimenopause period occurs, but, of course menopause and postmenopausal periods will also occur, and it often impacts women at the peak of their careers. It's often misdiagnosed and poorly treated. There is too often inadequate treatment. This all has adverse impact on women's careers and health, and it all contributes to the unequal economic outcomes that we know women in our society still suffer.

Whilst I do commend the government for there having been an increased focus in spending on those aspects, it must continue. Celebrating small gains is not sufficient until we get to the parity that is necessary. We need to elevate and make sure there is awareness of these issues and health conditions and to make sure our GPs are much more cognisant of these more specific issues when it comes to women's health. For wellbeing, for workforce participation, for families and for communities, we need to ensure that all areas of women's health are properly addressed.

What can we do? Of course, the government funding Medicare rebates for longer consultations that address mental health concerns is something to consider. We continue to partner with proven committee services, and I urge the government to support services like Tresillian, like the Gidget Foundation, like the Butterfly Foundation, who build out holistic, family-centred models of care. We need funding for genetic screening for ovarian cancer. It still has the most horrendous outcomes and will devastate families. It has huge consequences for the broader family unit. We need to track outcomes. Women's health must not remain invisible in national reporting. There is still a long way to go, but it is good to finally have women's health on the table, being discussed in this place. I do think it is overwhelmingly because there are more women in this place, whether it is in the government ranks or the crossbench ranks. It is still falling pretty short in the coalition ranks, but that is something for them to address.

We know that, if we fail to act, women will continue to be dismissed, symptoms will be minimised, their health outcomes will be compromised and we will all suffer as a nation. If we act, we can deliver equity, reduce stigma and build health systems that value women's wellbeing at every stage of life.

Finally, we can't talk about women's health without talking about intimate partner violence. We know intimate partner violence is the leading cause of death for women aged between 25 and 44. It's a pretty sobering fact, when you think of all the other aspects of women's health, that it's actually at the hands of intimate partners that those women are most at risk. It causes a huge number of hospital presentations and disruptions, and it's horrific to think of the fatalities that are still occurring.

There's still a lot more work to do. We are in a decade where there's a plan from the government, but it's lacking KPIs and underpinning policies to actually achieve the stated outcome of eliminating intimate partner violence and fatalities from domestic violence this decade. I urge the government to consider the independent recommendations that have been made—for example, the rapid review commissioned just last year in response to the spate of horrific killings. Experts came together to quickly provide a key roadmap to the government of how they could act promptly. Unfortunately, key recommendations have not been acted upon. These include restricting access to alcohol, especially home delivery of alcohol, and restricting gambling advertising. These areas have direct, statistical links to increased rates of domestic and intimate partner violence.

You can't pick and choose which issues are more politically easy or convenient to address. If we're going to talk holistically about women's health, we have to address all of the factors that impact that. So I urge the government to not be selective and to tackle the hard ones, like gambling advertising and access to alcohol, because of their impact on intimate partner violence.

Carina Garland (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really proud to be part of a government that is delivering more choice, lower costs and better care for Australian women. I think this delivery is demonstrative of what happens when you have women at the table making decisions and a government that represents the communities we come from—with over 50 per cent of the population being women across Australia.

This is a really important issue for my community. We've held forums and conducted surveys around women's health in the last term of government. I was stunned at the volume of responses that people shared, and I was so grateful for the generosity of the stories that were told about people's personal experiences. It made me even more determined to advocate, alongside my colleagues in government, for better treatment for women.

I've met with a number of women's health researchers over the years, and I am so encouraged and inspired by the work they do every day with their colleagues to encourage people to better listen to women and to help our communities be healthier and stronger.

The reality is that it has been for too long that women have not been listened to and their health issues not taken seriously. I remember studying 19th century history and feeling so shocked at the brutal way the scientific and medical communities treated women at that stage. Unfortunately, there have been so many examples of women not being listened to and being treated poorly in our own times. I'm glad that, after hundreds of years—a period that would have extended to well before the Victorian era—women are now starting to be listened to and taken seriously by the scientific and medical community and, of course, by governments.

Like so many women in this place and in our communities, I have my own experiences of this. A number of years ago, I presented multiple times to an emergency department in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne. I was given many blood tests. It was really clear that something was wrong. All that could be suggested—after I'd been turned away many times but the medical professionals also realised that something needed to be done—was that my appendix should be removed. My appendix was perfectly healthy. I did not have appendicitis. But they eventually found out what it was, which was great of them. It was an incredibly common condition that affects around two in three women between the ages of 30 and 50.

I hope that, through our investment and through the advocacy of so many in our communities and in the research community, more is done to educate doctors on women's health, in particular, and on the importance of listening to women. It shouldn't be the case that people are subjected to unnecessary surgery, which has its own risks, in this day and age because there is perhaps a gap in knowledge in relation to women's health.

But I'm really pleased to be talking about a much happier outcome for women's health today, which is that hundreds of thousands of women are now able to access cheaper medicines and better health care due to our landmark women's health package. I thank everyone—Assistant Minister Kearney in the previous parliament, Assistant Minister White in this parliament and Minister Mark Butler—for their work in delivering this package.

Since announcing our women's health package earlier this year, more than 365,000 women have accessed more than 715,000 cheaper scripts for new oral contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments listed on the PBS. Before the listings of Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda on the PBS, women were paying $380 per year for their contraception. Now they're paying less than half—$126.40 or just $30.80 a year with a concession card. Before the listings of Estrogel and Prometrium on the PBS, women might have paid up to $670 a year. They are now only paying $31.60 per script or $7.70 if they are a concession card holder. Over 20,000 women have undergone a menopause health assessment, covered by Medicare, since they became available on 1 July.

We can see here that women's health is actually quite expensive, and so we're making it easier and cheaper for women to get access to the health care that they need. We're going to continue to strengthen Medicare for women. From 1 July this year, further MBS changes will take effect, giving women access to affordable IUDs and birth-control implants.

From the forums and the surveys that I conducted in my electorate, there were so many heartbreaking stories of women not getting the help that they needed, not being listened to, and having to go back and forth to doctors for years and years without establishing a diagnosis. For some conditions, the average period of medical consultation before a diagnosis has been a decade. That's a very long time to be struggling and suffering with a health condition. It is really hard. I'm really proud to be part of a government, though, that is working to improve women's health outcomes by listening to women and by addressing systemic bias in the health system. Assistant Minister Kearney outlined that very well in her contribution.

We know that right across the country delayed diagnoses for conditions from endometriosis to heart disease—which does sometimes present differently in women—have taken place. Women have had their pain dismissed, and they really do struggle to get support for issues like menopause and miscarriage. A very common issue that women experience is polycystic ovary syndrome. It does not even involve cysts on ovaries, yet the very poor understanding of this condition in the health system has meant that women have not been diagnosed properly—in fact, the condition has been named incorrectly—and that their health systems and their endocrinology have not been understood well enough. I'm really pleased that there are researchers in my part of the world, in Melbourne, who have been working hard on not just the local or national stage but the international stage to help address this and find not just a more appropriate name for the condition but also a greater understanding and treatment for the condition. This will mean that people don't have to have the delayed diagnoses that we've seen over time.

Of course, all healthcare interventions that our government has made will benefit women, beyond our specific package, such as our commitment to strengthen Medicare and to make medicines cheaper. We're making sure there are more doctors, more urgent care clinics and even cheaper medicines for all Australians. We're making the largest investment in Medicare since its creation over 40 years ago. We're investing $8.5 billion to a deliver an additional 18 million bulk-billed GP visits each year. We're delivering hundreds of nursing scholarships and thousands more doctors in the largest GP training program ever. We're investing in a way that will mean nine out of 10 GP visits will be bulk-billed by 2030. We expect this investment of expanding the bulk-billing incentive to boost the number of fully bulk-billed practices to around 4,800 nationally, which is triple the current number of practices.

We're building more urgent care clinics. I am very proud to have advocated successfully for an urgent care clinic in Mount Waverley, and we're going to get an additional urgent care clinic in the Stonnington council area too. I have heard from so many people in my community how valuable the urgent care clinics have been. They provide bulk-billed care for urgent but non-life-threatening conditions seven days a week for extended hours, with no appointment needed. We've now opened 90 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, which has meant more than 1.8 million Australians have been able to receive treatment in those facilities. They're taking pressure off hospitals, which means hospitals can spend more time on the life-threatening emergencies they are built for. We committed at the last election to 50 new Medicare urgent care clinics, with more clinics in every state and territory. Once all of the clinics are open, four in five Australians will live within a 20-minute drive of a Medicare urgent care clinic. In Victoria we know there have been more than 393 presentations.

This is a really important investment for our communities. We have made medicines cheaper overall. We are making sure that PBS medicines are going to be no more than $25, which is what they were more than 20 years ago. We're committed to health, we're committed to cost-of-living relief and we are particularly committed to making sure that we listen to women.

Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week is Women's Health Week. It is Australia's largest event dedicated to the health and wellbeing of all women, girls and gender-diverse people. It is a reminder that women must be heard and supported in the health system. Women face a range of significant costs simply by virtue of being women. In fact, 60 per cent of all health services in Australia are consumed by women. However, for decades, women's health has been ignored.

Women have asked government to take their health seriously, and the Albanese Labor government has listened. That is why Labor delivered the almost $800 million women's health package, one of the largest investments into women's health by any government. It is changing the lives of women across the country. Hundreds of thousands of Australian women are accessing cheaper medicines thanks to the women's health package. With more medicines listed on the PBS, it has enabled more than 365,000 women to access more than 715,000 cheaper scripts for oral contraceptives and menopausal hormone therapies. Labor has invested more than $49 million to provide around 430,000 more services to help women across the country with complex gynaecological conditions, including endometriosis, polycystic ovarian syndrome and chronic pelvic pain.

The package includes the first listing of new oral contraceptive pills in more than 30 years, with the listing of Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda saving 150,000 women hundreds of dollars every year—more choice, lower costs and better access to long-term contraceptives. On 1 November this year, further changes to the PBS will take effect, giving women access to affordable IUDs and birth control implants, saving around 300,000 women up to $400 in out-of-pocket costs each and every year.

There will be more Medicare support for women experiencing menopause with the new rebate for menopause health assessments, funding to train health professionals, the first ever clinical guidelines and a national awareness campaign. Over 20,000 women have undergone a menopause health assessment covered by Medicare since they became available on 1 July. We have the first PBS listings for new menopausal hormone therapies in over 20 years, with around 150,000 women saving, again, hundreds of dollars each and every year. Women might have paid up to $670 these medications; now they are only paying $31.60 for a script, or $7.70 if they are a concession card holder. As we know, from 1 January next year they will be just $25.

We will also see more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics treating more conditions, opening 11 new clinics and ensuring all 33 clinics are staffed to provide specialist support for menopause and new endometriosis treatment options through the PBS.

We will see contraceptives and treatment for uncomplicated UTIs directly from pharmacies, with two national trials to benefit 250,000 concession card holders who will be able to consult a trained pharmacist at no cost and, if medications are required, pay only the usual medication costs. Australian women undergoing IVF will also receive earlier and more affordable access to fertility treatment. We're adding onto the PBS new medications, and the access to those items available per script will be increased.

We know that, too often, women are seeking treatment from a doctor for conditions ranging from endometriosis to heart disease. We know that, too often, women have their pain dismissed and struggle to get support for issues such as unplanned pregnancies, menopause or miscarriage. Endometriosis, for example, affects one in nine women, and currently takes an average of seven years to diagnose. This is simply unacceptable. The new PBS items will help by giving Australian women more treatment options for pain management, and will deliver better healthcare services for Australian women and girls to support them during pivotal life stages, particularly with their gynaecological health.

Four in 10 Australians don't know what health checks they need, and one in three are overdue. Jean Hailes, for women's health, is a national not-for-profit organisation dedicated to improving women's health across Australia through every stage of life. This week I had the pleasure of attending the Jean Hailes launch of Her Health Check. It is a free digital tool for women in Australia outlining which health checks and screenings women might need, and the tool is based on current medical guidelines and reviewed by clinical experts. I encourage people in my community back home in Bonner to check out Her Health Check online. It's a valuable resource and takes only a few minutes to use.

Labor's investments into health seek to make health care more accessible and equitable for all women, right across their lives. It means women and girls get appropriate assessments sooner, ensuring they aren't waiting for critical diagnoses and treatments. Sex and gender bias in the health system is real. Women shouldn't be going go back and forth between doctors to be taken seriously. Labor is righting that wrong.

This year Women's Health Week's theme is 'Say yes to you.' For Labor, this has been about more than just awareness; it has been action. For me, it is also personal. Almost 12 months ago, I lost a dear childhood friend from Yeppoon in Central Queensland to uterine sarcoma. Her name was Amy Cullinan. She was just 39 years old, and she was one of the funniest and most caring people I've ever met in my life. She was also a loving auntie, sister and daughter. From her diagnosis to her passing, it all happened so quickly. In just a few weeks we will mark the anniversary of her death. Amy was someone who loved politics. She would have been so proud to see me standing here, and I know she would want me to use my voice to speak up for women's health—not just during this week but every week that I have the honour to be here.

Amy's story is a painful reminder of why this work matters. It's about real people—our friends, our sisters, our mothers and our daughters—and making sure their health concerns are never again ignored or dismissed, particularly if they live in a regional part of our country. So today I speak in memory of Amy and in honour of every woman whose voice has been silenced too soon. We owe it to them to keep raising our voices. I am proud to be part of the Albanese government, which is helping put women's health first, and I'll continue to do all I can to make sure every woman is seen, heard and supported.

Zaneta Mascarenhas (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Amy sounds like an incredible friend.

Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Bonner for sharing her deeply personal story that beautifully explains the importance of Women's Health Week.

I speak with a little authority, I hope, on the topic of women's health. I have decades of personal experience—I'm not going to tell you how many decades—with the health system as a woman, through puberty, decades of polycystic ovary syndrome, fertility, high-risk pregnancy and childbirth, postpartum care—that would take a couple of hours to talk about—and, dare I say it, perimenopause and menopause. In a past life I also ran women's health and safety services in the central northern Adelaide health service, a unit of SA Health, providing services to two-thirds of the female Adelaide population and also statewide breast screening. My portfolio included two women's health clinics that specialised in working with women who faced additional barriers to accessing health care, particularly preventive and screening services, through their cultural background, poverty, domestic violence or coercive relationships. I ran a community midwifery service, two domestic violence services and a perpetrator rehabilitation unit as well as multiple BreastScreen sites and buses that travelled to remote areas such as the APY Lands.

The experience of women in the health system is often one of not being believed. Their pain isn't believed or is minimised, and their symptoms aren't believed or are normalised. I recall taking a call from a family whose 14-year-old daughter was having her first period and was in severe abdominal pain. We sent a doctor out, who told her that her pain was normal and that she'd get used to it over time—that this was what being an adult woman was like. She was crying, guarding her stomach and very distressed that this was the future that she was looking at for her adult life. When she was still getting worse a few hours later, her parents arranged for her to see another doctor, who diagnosed her with appendicitis and sent her to hospital for an emergency appendectomy. Her pain, unrelated to her women's issues, had been normalised and minimised, and the rationale of period pain meant she had a substandard medical experience that could have been life threatening. It's little wonder then that women with endometriosis typically take up to seven different doctors and between seven and 10 years to get a diagnosis, let alone an effective treatment plan.

Improving the health and wellbeing of all women is a key priority for the Australian government. The experience of women in the health system is not the same as the experience of men. Women experience delayed diagnosis across a wide range of conditions and diseases and tend to use healthcare services more than men. This includes GPs, specialists and hospital admissions. Women spend more on out-of-pocket healthcare costs than men, and younger women spend more than men their age, partly due to maternity care and the higher prevalence of chronic illness.

In 2023 the #EndGenderBias survey looked at the unique barriers and gender bias women face in Australia's healthcare system. From across the country there were 2,570 responses about women's own experiences. Two-thirds of women reported that they experienced health care related gender bias or discrimination. Gender bias in health care has a far-reaching impact on women's lives. Women report feelings of abandonment, shame, blame and self-doubt. If you're repeatedly told that the pain isn't real but in your head, where do you take that? Women report significant financial burden and lost educational and career opportunities from untreated or ineffectively treated conditions. Delayed diagnosis and treatment lead to disease progression, fewer treatment options and worse health outcomes. Conversely, women recounted positive health experiences that stemmed from strong interpersonal interactions and relationships. When you find a good doctor or a good midwife who you gel with, that's gold.

We also know that medications and treatments are standardised on men. It used to be that medications were trialled on male uni students, typically white, wealthy, 21-year-old men—hardly a standard population, let alone relevant to women, who have different hormone profiles, which interact with medication. We know the classic heart attack symptoms that get taught—crushing chest pain, shortness of breath, pain radiating to the shoulder or jaw—are the symptoms of men, and this a significant impact on the treatment and care you might get if, for instance, you're a woman with typical women's heart attack symptoms, which are often much more subtle and different. A Sydney university study found that women are half as likely to receive an appropriate diagnostic test and treatment for heart attacks. It's little wonder that women have much more poorer survival rates than men. Six months after a heart attack, women are twice as likely to have died than men.

Of course, women with other barriers—language barriers, cultural barriers, poverty barriers, social isolation barriers, geographical isolation barriers—and those experiencing domestic violence or coercive control, or a combination of all the above, experience even worse health outcomes. We know that women of colour are even more likely to have their pain ignored.

The Albanese government's National Women's Health Strategy outlines a national approach to improving health outcomes for all women and girls, particularly those at greatest risk of poor health, and aims to reduce inequities in health. The Australian government is investing $792.9 million through the 2025-26 budget to increase the capacity of the primary care workforce to support women's health needs, increase access to services and make both services and medicines more affordable. This includes $159.9 million to make it easier for women in Australia to access and afford long-acting reversible contraception, LARC, one of the most effective and reliable methods of contraception. LARCs are extremely effective and reliable and are a cost-effective way for women to manage their fertility and contraception, but the uptake in Australia is considerably lower than comparable countries around the world. We have around a 10 to 11 per cent uptake, whereas in Sweden, the UK and parts of Europe it sits just under 30 per cent.

Needless to say, when choosing contraception, the woman's doctor plays a fairly important role. If your doctor doesn't feel confident inserting the LARC, than you probably aren't going to have it offered to you. So this women's health package includes $71.5 million to increase four LARC item fees in the Medicare Benefits Schedule and the creation of new items for nurse practitioners to claim these services. This measure will incentivise healthcare professionals to provide LARC insertions and removals with no out-of-pocket service costs through better remuneration.

We're also providing $64.5 million for increased endometriosis and pelvic pain, perimenopause and menopause management and support, including another 11 new endometriosis clinics on top of the 22 that are already in existence. We have an endometriosis clinic in Glenelg, in my electorate, and the stories I hear from women who've found their way there are inspirational. In many cases, they've suffered for decades. It affects their ability to hold down a job and therefore to have income and retirement savings, to have a social life or an intimate relationship and to exercise or maintain their general health. They spend their lives at home curled in a ball on medication.

The endometriosis clinic is Multi-D. It not only helps people through a coordinated care plan between the GPs and the specialists and the allied health professionals but helps them develop plans, similar to an asthma plan, to work out their triggers, recognise early symptoms and know what to do when that happens and went to seek further help. For many of these women, the most important part is finally being believed and then putting all of the other symptoms together and understanding they're all part of the same condition.

We're investing $26.3 million to implement a temporary new health assessment MBS item for women experiencing menopause or perimenopause. This will be introduced for an initial two-year period. This is another area where women get substandard care. They're expected to just continue on, yet there are often long-term, life-impacting health impacts from not managing your menopause symptoms. So to be able to have a doctor spend that time to have a look at what is actually happening in your life and provide you with the treatment that you need so that you can manage the symptoms and any long-term health effects that come out of that is so important and will be life changing for so many women.

Deputy Speaker Mascarenhas, this is Women's Health Week, and I'd like to say to you and to all the women here, 'Say yes to you.' It's time that we looked after ourselves.

Alice Jordan-Baird (Gorton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I couldn't be prouder to be standing here today, as one of the women who form 56 per cent of our Labor government, addressing Women's Health Week. For too long, women's health issues have not been adequately addressed, but on this side of the chamber we know that women matter, and we're investing in landmark commitments to women's health.

Before the Albanese Labor government came into government, there had not been a new contraceptive pill listed on the PBS in 30 years, there had not been a new endometriosis medicine listed on the PBS for 30 years and there had not been a new menopause hormone treatment listed on the PBS for 20 years. Without women in this place to advocate for our own needs, women's health had fallen by the wayside.

This government is taking a new approach to women's health, putting our health at the top of the agenda and ensuring that discussions about women's health are welcomed. This government is working hard to reverse decades of neglect to women's health. Since 1 May this year, 365,000 patients have benefited from more than 715,000 new medicines that we have been able to list on the PBS. We're delivering cheaper medicines, which will make an impact on their ability to stay in the workplace and save money in their household budgets. We're seeing more women access longer appointments with their doctors, because we know that you can't deal with the issues that surround perimenopause and menopause in a brief appointment. We've invested $573.3 million to deliver more choice, lower costs and better health care for women.

This government is introducing the first new contraceptive pills added to the PBS in 30 years: Yaz, Yasmin, and Slinda. That's because this government understands that for women contraception is a necessity, not a luxury. Access to contraceptive pills is not only incredibly important for women's sexual health and autonomy; it can also represent a lifeline for many women struggling with debilitating period pain. We understand this. We understand how important contraceptive pills are to women's health and women's lives, and we are ensuring that the pill is more affordable and more accessible for women in this country.

More than this, we are also ensuring that there's better access to IUDs and birth control implants for women in this country. We recognise that not every contraceptive method is ideal for every woman, and we want to ensure that women can access the long-acting contraceptive methods they need.

Further than this, this government is also introducing the first new menopause treatments on the PBS in 20 years: Estrogel, Estrogel Pro and Prometrium. We've heard many women in this place today speak about how little women going through menopause are heard and considered in our society and how important it is that there is real discussion and action to address women's needs during menopause. We're leading by example here, inviting discussion about menopause in this place and taking real action to ensure that necessary treatments for women going through menopause are affordable and accessible.

This morning I had the honour of meeting the incredible Robyn Smith. She recently joined tens of thousands of runners for the City2Surf run a few weeks ago. Not only did she complete the 15-kilometre course; she ran bare chested to raise awareness, proudly showing off the scars from her double mastectomy. Robyn decided to have the procedure when she found out that she had inherited the BRCA2 gene mutation which significantly increases the lifetime risk of developing breast and ovarian cancers. After removing her ovaries and fallopian tubes to manage her high inherited cancer risks, Robyn went into immediate menopause.

Robyn is one of the people directly benefiting from the government's decision to list some of the menopausal hormone therapies on the PBS. She has access to both Prometrium and Estrogel, two medicines listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. These important medications help people to manage menopausal symptoms. They also benefit women's long-term bone health and help manage CVD risk. Robyn is now not having to pay $500 or $600 to access these treatments; she's only having to pay $30 every couple of months, which is much more accessible for people like Robyn to help manage their menopause. This is a really proactive step to make women's health more accessible for all Australians.

I've talked to a number of young women in my electorate who live with the pain and suffering of conditions like endometriosis every single day. All of this comes alongside the opening of 22 endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, with 11 to be opening soon. Women with endometriosis and pelvic pain have suffered in silence for too long without safe places to seek support and treatment. Clinics like these improve access for women to diagnostic, treatment and referral services for endometriosis and pelvic pain. They also build the primary care workforce to manage these conditions and improve access to new information and care pathways. For women suffering from endometriosis and pelvic pain, this kind of care can be life changing. This government understands how important access to this kind of care is to women, and that's why we've invested to open new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics for women.

Mental health is another significant side of women's health. We often put it to one side as we focus on the others around us. That's why we're also opening a number of mental health urgent care clinics, where you can walk in and immediately receive the mental care you need. This will make such a difference to the lives of women across our country. We also understand that girls and women facing mental health challenges still see very real discrimination and obstacles in society.

This all comes alongside this week's announcement that the Albanese Labor government is strengthening its world-leading online safety laws to protect Australians from the harms of predatory technology. Nudification and deep fake apps are abhorrent technologies that are designed to turn photos of someone into sexually explicit content without their consent. It's absolutely disgusting. As a young woman, I find this really scary. In Australia, too many women experience sexual violence. It's a huge issue, and it's a women's health issue. That's why the Albanese government will work to restrict access to nudification and undetectable stalking tools, engaging closely with industry on how best to achieve this. These are proactive steps to addressing current gaps in the law when it comes to preventing abuse facilitated by evolving technologies. These technologies have a huge impact on the mental health of women.

Thanks to these initiatives, Australian women and their families will save thousands of dollars on health related costs across their lifetimes. Women will be safer as we legislate around the dangers of evolving technologies, and women will have access to more and better care closer to home. This is what happens when we elect women; women's issues become the forefront of the government's agenda. I couldn't be prouder to be part of a Labor government made up of 56 per cent women, because, when we elect women, we legislate on women's issues.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 12 : 29