PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS

Ms FRANCE (Dickson) (10:59): I move: That this House: (1) acknowledges the Government is delivering real change for women's and girls' health; (2) notes that for too long, women's health was not taken seriously however, the Government is changing that and has: (a) added new contraceptives to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for the first time in decades, alongside new endometriosis and menopause medicines, cutting costs for the more than one million women who have accessed them so far; (b) opened 33 Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinics across the country and expanded them to provide menopause and perimenopause care; (c) added menopause health assessments to Medicare, with more than 137,000 women already accessing one; (d) been supporting women to undergo in vitro fertilisation earlier and access more affordable fertility treatment; and (e) made the intrauterine device, the contraceptive implant, and other long-term contraceptives cheaper; and (3) commends the Government for listening to women and girls in Australia and delivering the change they have been asking for.

I don't think anyone in this place would be surprised to know that I am in my menopause era. I am appropriately frank and literally disinterested in your drama. At the ripe old age of 53, I've now experienced 40 years of periods, period pain, period products, contraception, pregnancy, childbirth, the impacts of childbirth and now menopause.

I've also experienced the real costs of all of those things, not just the physical costs of symptoms and pain being dismissed or ignored by health professionals but the financial cost. The cost of being a woman over a lifetime in Australia is anywhere between $35,000 and over $100,000. Period products alone cost up to $19,000.

For decades, the extra cost that women pay for being female has never been recognised—until now; until the Albanese Labor government's $800 million landmark women's health package. If you're a gen X-er like me, you might remember going to the GP in the nineties with terrible and chronic period pain and getting told, 'Perhaps try a hot water bottle,' or, 'You'll get used to it.' I had never heard of endometriosis.

Nobody I know in my 20s was ever diagnosed with it. How many of us went to the GP with terrible symptoms as a result of the pill—weight gain, mood swings, depression—and got told, 'Well, it's the pill or pregnancy; that's literally the choice'? Better, new, more sensitive contraception was for those with money, out of reach for most young women.

Well, that was until the Albanese Labor government was elected. New pills had not been added to the PBS in 30 years. Yaz, Yasmin and Slinda have now been added to the PBS, saving women about $260 a year or $25 for a three-month supply.

Women are also now able to better access IUDs and implants, which last up to seven years, because we've slashed out-of-pocket costs to have them inserted, saving about $400 up-front. Endometriosis medication is now on the PBS, now $25 a script. Menopause medication is also now on the PBS—alleluia!—saving women thousands.

I am saving about $1,000 a year on my Oestrogel pack. So is Susan, who lives at Mount Glorious in my electorate of Dickson. Susan wrote to me telling me how grateful she was to be paying less for her menopause medications.

Before Labor listed hormone replacement therapy on the PBS, Susan was paying about $120 every month for an Oestrogel pack. Now, she pays $25 every two months for the exact same prescription. What once cost her more than $1,200 a year now costs $150, putting over $1,000 back into her pocket annually.

More than one million women have accessed $25 PBS scripts for essential medications like the pill and endo and menopause treatments. This is real cost-of-living relief. We've introduced dedicated bulk-billed menopause health assessments.

More than 137,000 women have already accessed these assessments. We've also made fertility treatment more accessible and affordable, expanding Medicare subsidies for IVF treatment and PBS scripts for Pergoveris, saving families thousands. The Albanese Labor government has finally made women's health a national priority, which is making a huge difference to women and girls in my electorate of Dickson.

For far too long, women's health was ignored and cost too much. The flow-on effects were less income, less super, more sick days and more struggle. Labor has changed that.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Buchholz ): Is the motion seconded? Ms Ryan: I second the motion.