STATEMENTS BY SENATORS

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (13:40): Cancer takes a huge toll on so many Australians and their families. Even with effective treatments, its effects can be long lasting. This is particularly the case when it comes to head and neck cancers.

Life-saving but often traumatic surgeries can leave survivors with significant permanent injury in the form of losing parts of their face, most often their noses. I met with Canberrans in that situation earlier this week when I attended an event hosted by Head and Neck Cancer Australia here in Parliament House. What many people may not realise is that, while the Commonwealth funds prostheses in other circumstances, such as for someone who loses a breast to cancer, there is no equivalent, consistent support for someone who loses part of their face.

In fact, the only publicly funded prosthesis service in the ACT is for eyes; there is nothing for noses or other facial parts. Private health insurance for those who can afford it doesn't help. The call is simple: a nationally consistent, publicly funded pathway to external facial prosthetics.

According to Head and Neck Cancer Australia, around 200 to 300 Australians need this kind of rehabilitation each year. Too many of them can't afford to pay for the prosthetics that they need. For people who read the Canberra Times today, you would have seen the story of one of these Australians, a local Canberran, Chris Sequeira.

Chris's message is simple: we need some sort of solution. It's hard to comprehend just how challenging it would be to beat cancer, to go through the treatment and the surgery and then to have a permanent reminder, not just for yourself but for everyone you meet in public, and for there to be no access to prosthetics which could allow people to live in a way that didn't draw as much attention to them in public so they could just go about their day.

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