David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

February is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, which is held each year to educate, advocate and elevate awareness of ovarian cancer. I recently met with a Canberran who shared the story of her daughter-in-law Heidi, a much loved young woman raised in Bungendore with a deep connection to our city. Heidi died in July last year, just three months after her stage IV ovarian cancer diagnosis in April. She was just 35 years old.

What struck me most about Heidi's story was how long it took for her cancer to be diagnosed, followed by how rapidly the disease progressed. Almost 2,000 Australian women and girls will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. In most cases the cancer will be diagnosed at an advanced stage. The five-year survival rate for many gynaecological cancers is still below 50 per cent. This has been largely unchanged since 1975. It's worse if you're a First Nations woman, a woman who lives regionally or in remote areas of the country, or a woman just living in the wrong postcode.

We need to do better, and there is a way forward. We need to allocate the resources and invest in research, plug gaps in the coordination of care, upskill doctors at the front line and, importantly, just believe women when they say that something is wrong.

Heidi's mother-in-law, Belinda, who joined us this morning for the 12th annual Ovarian Cancer Australia parliamentary breakfast, asked me to speak her words to the chamber: 'I plead with those here today who have compassion and who are committed to Australian women and their families. Please put every resource possible behind halting this runaway train that is ovarian cancer. This appalling history of underinvestment and neglect of our daughters, sisters, mothers and partners must end here—in Heidi's name.'