Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on the government's Women's Health Package. I acknowledge that, 12 months into this package, it is a positive step that more than 660,000 women have accessed more than two million scripts for contraceptives, hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments on the PBS. But, while those numbers look good on paper here in Canberra, they mask a glaring divide. When it comes to comprehensive care, regional Australia has been entirely left off the map.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the treatment of endometriosis. Last year the government announced 11 new endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics. Do you know how many of these clinics were in South Australia? Zero. There are currently only two clinics in South Australia, one in all of regional South Australia, which is in Kadina. I've stated previously that the Primary Health Network allocation for country SA has a population of about 497,000 people. That's 259,000 women. Yet the single clinic in Kadina is expected to service them all, from Ceduna to Port Lincoln and all the way to Roxby Downs and Coober Pedy. Are people going to drive for seven hours for an appointment? No, I don't think they are, especially when diesel costs $3.20 a litre in Coober Pedy right now. That's more than $350 for a tank of fuel.

To exclude South Australia from these new clinics is yet another example of how regional South Australia has been forgotten. Driving for hours to access essential services is unacceptable for an electorate that covers 92.3 per cent of our state. The sheer logistics are punishing. There is no longer a ferry service in Wallaroo, and there are no regional airports in Kadina. When regional women face severe abdominal pain and struggle with infertility and chronic nausea, we are essentially telling them to endure a road trip to get help, to rely on the Patient Assisted Transport Scheme to send them to Adelaide instead of treating them locally. Monica Forlano, the chair of Endometriosis Australia, rightfully points out:

With endometriosis affecting at least one in seven Australian women and an average diagnosis delay of seven years, expanding access to specialist clinics in regions and outer suburbs is absolutely vital.

Local medical professionals are feeling the strain. Dr Anna Kearney from Kadina Medical Associates notes:

No new clinics being announced in South Australia was a disappointing, but not unexpected result.

Anna highlights:

Our clinic prides itself on multidisciplinary care, however, workforce issues are still often unavoidable with rural retention a national issue.

Our GPs are perfectly capable of dealing with the holistic management of period pain, yet the government provides them with little to no support to do so. We must listen to patients who have endometriosis, like Endometriosis Australia SA ambassador Deanna Flynn Wallis. She shared her reality, stating:

The symptoms, journey, medical gaslighting, and life implications are beyond exhausting for so many.

And:

South Australia truly needs more clinics, and it is my sincere hope that we get them, especially for our regional warriors.

We in the regions just put up with being second-class citizens, but enough is enough.

South Australians were excited to have a health minister from their home state, yet South Australia continues to be at the bottom of Mark Butler's list, with regional South Australia even lower. The system of allocating our clinic-per-primary-health-network is fundamentally flawed when our network covers a vast portion of the continent. This lack of foresight extends across regional women's health care, including maternal support. Again, I'm calling on the government to commit to the Australian Breastfeeding Association's four-year $14.8 million funding proposal. The ABA has six local groups right here in Grey, and in the last financial year alone, that 24/7 helpline fielded more than 55,000 calls. Since 2008 they have supported 1.2 million families, yet their funding cycle has been slashed to just 12 months, making long-term planning impossible. This $14.8 million investment is vital to upgrade their system and maintain their 24/7 services. Regional women deserve certainty. They deserve care where they live. It is time the government stop abandoning regional South Australia.

Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We know that women are held back from fully participating in work, family and community because of health issues. I met a lady in Lutwyche while I was doorknocking not that long ago who rarely went out and socialised because of the issues she was facing associated with menopause. She missed work, her illness was debilitating and her treatment too costly. And she's not the only one I've met along the way.

This Labor government is helping to fix this, and with more than 50 per cent of the government caucus being women, we are driving the change that's needed for women. We believe that women's health is central to women's equity and our community wellbeing, which is why it's at the heart of our government's agenda. Us women make up half the population, yet our issues were often misunderstood and dismissed and we've heard many stories of them being ignored. To all the women in Brisbane and across the country, I want to say that you matter and this Labor government is listening and delivering.

Last year our government announced the landmark Women's Health Package—$790 million in women's health. This didn't happen under the Liberals and Nationals, it didn't happen in the nine years that they were leading this government, this country. This is the single biggest investment in women's health in our history, and it has been life-changing for so many women across the country. This investment improves access to long-term contraceptives and provides better support to women experiencing chronic pelvic pain and menopause. That funding includes 11 additional endometriosis clinics, and expanding all 33 clinics to provide specialist menopause care. Since this historic health package was announced, more than 660,000 women have accessed more than two million cheaper scripts.

Before the listing of Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda, women were paying around $380 a year for contraception; now they're paying $25 a script. I mentioned this to a number of young women I saw at the university O-week: (a) they didn't know about it, and (b) when we told them, most of them being on Youth Allowance, that they'd have to pay only $7.70, they were absolutely thrilled. Before the listing of Oestrogel, women would have to pay up to $670 a year; now they're paying only $25 a script, or $7.70 if they're on concession. Since this package was announced more than 71,000 women have now received Medicare funded menopause health assessments, and 363,000 have saved more than $45 million on menopausal hormonal therapies. In times when the cost of living is tough, that's a lot of money.

Since 1 November last year, women in Brisbane have also had access to affordable IUDs and birth-control implants. Brisbane's first GP endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic is open in Toowong. It provides care for women with endometriosis or persistent pelvic pain, and it will expand to cover menopausal care. The centre has strong connections with local allied health, specialist gynaecology and other services, and that's needed to provide that multidisciplinary health support that women in these situations really do need. It's the first of its kind in Brisbane, and it's life-changing. It's changing the lives of women every single day. Gone are the days when women were told by their doctor to just take a panadol and see if the pain goes away. These changes are helping women not only in Brisbane but also across the country by providing more choice, lower costs and better health care.

Those opposite don't have a strong record when it comes to women's health. That's just the facts. A woman's right to choose has always been at risk under the LNP government. In my home state of Queensland, most LNP members sitting in parliament believe that abortion should be a crime. Even the Queensland Premier has gagged parliament from debating this important topic. These decisions are never easy for women, and this choice really should only be between a woman and her doctor. It is 2026, and I can't believe we're still talking about this issue—but here we are. Make no mistake: the LNP will always try to take away a woman's right to choose.

The former deputy prime minister of this country, former leader of the Nationals and now member of One Nation said in 2006 about the HPV vaccine:

Don't you dare put something out there that gives my 12-year-old daughter a licence to be promiscuous.

Come on! I don't even know how you could say that. But, anyway, it was said. Australia's HPV vaccination program is a global success story due largely to former prime minister Mr Rudd. We have more work to do. (Time expired)

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak on this motion, and I'd like to deal with it in a couple of parts—firstly, by addressing where the women's health package is up to and where we as a nation need to be and, secondly, by reflecting on a number of conversations that I've had with very important local groups in my electorate of Monash.

It's been 12 months since the bipartisan women's health package commenced, and that's a good thing. This package received support from both major parties of government and builds on the significant work undertaken by the former coalition government to improve health outcomes for Australian women. The coalition supported this package as an expansion of the historical commitment made in government to advance women's health outcomes. Women's health has long been a priority for the coalition, and this has been demonstrated in a number of ways, particularly through the launch of the National Women's Health Strategy 2020-2030, which sought to improve long-term outcomes for women and girls. We welcomed the government's decision to build on this work with an additional 11 endometriosis clinics. Prior to the last election, the coalition committed to matching this important women's health package, including measures which would improve menopause care through the new Medicare rebate, expand health professional training and develop national clinical guidelines, as well as increase funding for endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics.

I also want to draw attention to perinatal depression and anxiety, which affects around one in five mothers, impacting nearly 100,000 parents in Australia each year. With early, evidence-informed support, outcomes can improve significantly. Yet access to care is often prohibitive for new parents, particularly around cost. In regional areas like mine, access is inhibited by barriers.

Last year, I met with Arabella Gibson from Gidget House. Gidget House plays a vital role by providing free counselling and support for parental mental health. The Monash electorate will soon be home to the second Gidget House in Victoria. This is very important because parents will be able to access up to 10 free psychological sessions each year. This service is named after Gidget, a vibrant young mother who tragically took her own life while experiencing postnatal depression which she kept to herself. One in seven women live with endometriosis, and every experience is different. Symptoms can vary widely and are often invisible, making diagnosis difficult without advanced imaging or surgery. Research from Federation University, a great regional university, shows that one in five girls aged between 10 and 16 have considered leaving sport due to period related challenges, highlighting the broader impact on participation.

I recently met with QENDO, a not-for-profit supporting those affected across Australia, and I commend the work that they've done in this area. I also want to acknowledge a number of local organisations in my electorate of Monash, particularly Gippsland Women's Health and their CEO, Kate Graham, who has done some outstanding work supporting women and young girls across these areas.

I also would like to take the opportunity to raise an issue I care deeply about, and that is coercive control and the further work that we need to do as a parliament and a nation to effect change. I am particularly inspired by Change for Sam, which has been established in honour of Sam, a Phillip Island local in my electorate of Monash. Sam was a psychologist, mother and deeply valued member of our community, who had her life taken. She was murdered by her former partner, and this organisation has been set up in her legacy. I want to acknowledge her friend Lija Matthews, who founded Change for Sam and is doing incredible work. They are pushing for practical safety through 24/7 monitored duress alarms. I would love to see this funded through a national pilot project. I want to commend Lija and all of the people involved in Change for Sam, because I know there is a family, a friendship circle and a community that is still deeply bereaved by Sam's loss. We need to do far more around coercive control in this country and the impact that it has.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Women's health is about the big things. It's about philosophy and how this government views the importance of women's health. I'm very proud to be a member of the Labor Party and in particular very proud, after working for half a century in health care, to be a member of a government that understands the importance of women's health across the whole spectrum of health care in Australia.

Our $800 million Women's Health Package, announced in the last budget, is driving more choice, lower costs and better care for women and girls across the country. We're already seeing better outcomes. We're already seeing an understanding that women's health is very important in family health. I myself have been an advocate for many years of first-thousand-days policy that looks at children's health from preconception through their first two years of life, and Labor's changes to women's health care will make a huge difference in the first thousand days for children in Australia.

Since introducing the Women's Health Package, more than 700,000 women have accessed over 2.3 million cheaper PBS prescriptions for contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments. This is really important when you couple this with our 60-day prescribing policies, which were opposed tooth and nail by the coalition. This is a dramatic difference to women's health care in Australia. I'm very proud of it and very proud that we have a health minister who has pushed this policy for the last almost 10 years. It is fantastic news.

We have new contraceptive pills listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme—the first in almost 30 years. These are two better contraceptive options, helping over 300,000 women save more than $26 million on 660,000 scripts. We have new menopausal hormone therapies listed where we've had none for 20 years. This supports hundreds of thousands of women and saves them over $50 million across almost two million scripts. Seven-thousand women with endometriosis are accessing over 30,000 cheaper scripts, saving almost $6 million on treatment that previously put major financial pressure on women with endometriosis.

We're getting earlier, more affordable IVF treatments for women, with almost 50,000 people getting lower-cost IVF fertility treatment. Since January 2026, PBS scripts are now just $25 and $7.70 for concession cardholders. These are the lowest medicine prices in over 20 years, giving Australian women more cost-of-living relief and better access to health care that they may not have had otherwise.

We also have made major advances in access to genomics and genetics treatments and tests for women who may have had health problems, particularly some of the inherited cancers. This is a dramatic improvement for women with major illness. We're delivering new pelvic pain clinics again. That makes a huge difference to women and their families. We're having over 30 endometriosis clinics open up, providing better, more timely and cheaper treatment for people who have endometriosis, like my daughter Amelia. We're providing additional funding to expand services to provide perimenopause and menopause care, something that was needed here for many, many years but didn't happen under the coalition government. This year, the government will launch Australia's first national awareness campaign for menopause and perimenopause, finally giving women the information and recognition they have deserved for decades and decades. This is historic. This is historic women's health care delivered for people in ways that they can access both geographically and financially.

We have now also provided treatment for uncomplicated UTIs directly from pharmacies, repeat prescriptions for the contraceptive pill from pharmacies and more affordable access to fertility treatments, as I've mentioned. We are delivering reform for women's health care that had been denied for far too long. We have the women's expert panel for cardiovascular health now being set up by Rebecca White, the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and Assistant Minister for Women. These are dramatic changes done on a philosophical basis that proves that women's health is very important to this government.

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

For far too long, Women's health has been treated as an afterthought. It was treated as something optional, something secondary. Australian women have been asked to pay more, to wait longer, to justify their pain and, worse still, to simply put up with it or go without care altogether. And we know this because women in our communities have told us. They are women who have sat in doctor's offices, explaining deliberating pain, only to be told it's just a bad period; women who have waited years—sometimes a decade—for a diagnosis of endometriosis; women who have questioned their own physical experiences because the system dismissed them.

Access to affordable health care is a cornerstone of our nation's identity and it is an absolute essential to women's health; to their independence; and to their ability to live full, equal and active lives in their families, in their workplaces and in their local communities. That is exactly why, a little over 12 months ago, the Albanese Labor government announced our historic women's health package, making health care more affordable, more accessible and far more responsive to the actual realities of women's lives.

And let's be clear why this change is finally happening. It's because this Labor government actually reflects the communities we serve. For the first time in our nation's history, we have a majority-female government and a majority-female cabinet. Women are not just present in this parliament; we are shaping it, we are leading it and we are helping drive the agenda. When women are at the table, women's health care is no longer sidelined; it's front and centre. That is why, in just 12 months, more than 700,000 women have accessed 2.3 million cheaper prescriptions through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, the PBS. That is 2.3 million moments of genuine relief at the local pharmacy counter. It's 2.3 million moments where a woman didn't have to choose between her health and paying a grocery bill.

Let's look at what that means in real, everyday terms. More than 328,000 women have saved on contraception. This is giving women greater control over their own reproductive health and their futures. Three hundred and eighty-three thousand women have saved on menopausal hormone therapies. This provides crucial support at a time in life that too often has been ignored, brushed under the rug or trivialised. Forty-six thousand women have saved on IVF and fertility treatments, bringing them the dream of starting or growing a family within closer reach for so many. And 7,000 women have saved on endometriosis treatments. These are women who have who were told that their pain was normal or exaggerated or who were simply not taken seriously.

While costs are down, access and quality are going up. Through our investments in Medicare, we are making health care not just cheaper but better and closer to home. New Medicare items mean that essential gynaecological care is more affordable. Procedures like IUD insertions and contraceptive implants are now up to $400 cheaper each year, removing cost as a major barrier to effective long-term care.

We are also tackling the areas that have often been completely overlooked. Since July last year, more than 71,000 women have accessed Medicare funded menopause health assessments. We are finally bringing support, clarity and dignity to a stage of life that has too often been surrounded by silence.

We are investing $49 million to deliver an additional 430,000 services for women living with endometriosis, polycystic ovary syndrome, chronic pelvic pain and other complex conditions because women living with pain deserve answers. They deserve to be believed and they deserve the care that meets their needs. We are also expanding our national network of endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics, adding 11 new clinics to bring it to a total of 33 across Australia, including in regional and rural communities. These clinics aren't just medical facilities; they are places built on a deep understanding of our community's needs. This means more women, no matter their postcode, can access specialised, respectful and comprehensive care.

This is what it looks like when a government takes women seriously. This isn't just about health care; it's about equality. This is our government's record and this is our promise to keep delivering for women not just in words but in real, tangible change that you can see, feel and access every single day in our clinics, in our pharmacies and in our communities.

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

There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.