Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Patience is a virtue. My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. What action has the Albanese Labor government taken to help Australian women going through menopause and perimenopause? Why is it important to talk openly about this health issue, Minister?

Mark Butler (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Paterson for her open talk about so many health issues, including this, not just in the Hunter but right across Australia. She joined a large number of women from this side of the House yesterday to launch the first ever menopause and perimenopause information campaign. I wish the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care could answer this question, under standing orders, because she has done the hard work to lead this campaign, and she led the launch yesterday with a collection of terrific women who, for years, have been campaigning to end the silence and break the taboo around perimenopause and menopause and, frankly, to give Australia's women the information that they need and deserve during this part of their lives.

A Senate inquiry last term found that women, frankly, don't get the support and the information that they need from the health system in this area. Remarkably, it revealed that medical degrees include only a few hours of training on menopause across five or six years of education. That's why we've ramped up training for existing doctors and health professionals. It's why we're updating the clinical guidelines to ensure that Australia's women get the best possible care and support. A new Medicare menopause health assessment item has already been used by more than 105,000 Australian women since it commenced last July.

The inquiry also highlighted the lack of new menopause hormone treatments for more than 20 years on the PBS, in spite of there being several innovative products on the market throughout that period. So, last year, the government finally added three widely used treatments to the PBS for the first time in two decades. These are treatments used by about 150,000 women every single year, and this is saving them up to $580 every year as well.

Yesterday, as I said, we responded to yet another recommendation from that terrific Senate inquiry to launch this national information campaign in order to break that silence and to help women entering perimenopause in particular recognise the symptoms and know where they can go for help and further information. Shelly Horton and Amanda Smyth were two of the terrific women who joined us yesterday and bravely told their stories to the media—stories of entering perimenopause and frankly not really knowing what was happening in their body and in their mind or where to get help. I want to thank them and all the other campaigners who were behind this campaign, because it will ensure that women—like Shelly, Amanda and so many like them—will finally get the information and the support that they deserve as soon as they need it.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.