PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Dr TRISH COOK (Bullwinkel) (11:19): There's a lot to say on this issue; isn't there? Last week marked Women's Health Week right across Australia, and this year's theme carried a vital practical message called 'Do it anyway'. Every single day across my community and right across the country, women balance other responsibilities—work, looking after aged parents, raising children, running households and supporting local community organisations and schools.
But too often, in the middle of caring for everybody else, they neglect themselves, and their health gets pushed to the bottom. 'Do it anyway' is an urgent reminder to women that their health matters; that taking practical, achievable steps to seek care is essential; and that they deserve to be heard. As a nurse and midwife myself, I know that for far too long Australian women have faced systemic delays in diagnosis, steep out-of-pocket costs and an unacceptable lack of treatment options.
The system was built by men in a time when the men were all the doctors. That has thankfully changed now, and we have female representation in running health systems as well as participating at all levels. Women were also not included as research participants, so a lot of the medication particularly is based on men's bodies and physiology rather than women's.
That's why I'm proud to be associated with our government's $800 million women's health package. We're delivering more choice, lower costs and better care for women. In the last 18 months, one million women have filled over four million cheaper prescriptions under the PBS for oral contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments.
That has delivered more than $150 million in direct savings right back to women directly. For the first time in over 30 years, new contraceptive pills were listed on the PBS, and, for the first time in 20 years, new menopausal hormone therapies were added. It's not that these drugs weren't there; they were always there and available but only for private purchase, not through the PBS.
Our government has added them to the PBS system, which means that women are saving money directly and are maxing out at $25 a script because we've capped PBS scripts as well. Cost must not be a barrier to reproductive choice. We're also dismantling—this is going to be interesting for you gents there—the silence and the stigma around menopause, perimenopause and women's health.
I met recently with Kath Mazzella, OAM. I'd just like to ask a rhetorical question: do you know the difference between a penis and a testicle? I'm pretty sure 100 per cent of people here would know the difference.
Do you know the difference between a vagina and a vulva? Then you start getting some grey area. Unfortunately, Deputy Speaker Buchholz is distracted, so we will never know if he knows the outcome of that.
You can look it up later, Deputy Speaker! The reason I say this is because Kath has been fighting for 20 years to get attention to vulval cancers, and she's desperately upset at the fact that people don't give enough attention to vulval cancer issues. I said I would mention vulva and get it on the Hansard.
Viva la vulva. Thanks for all the work you've done, Kath, in the last 30 years. There are all of our 33 national endometriosis pelvic pain clinics and our national awareness campaigns that have already directed over 180,000 women to evidence based resources, cardiovascular health and a ministerial expert panel on women's health.
We're also paying attention to First Nations, multicultural and LGBTQIA health. Women's voices deserve to be heard. Women often spend their lives caring for everyone else—I know that in nursing; it's a highly feminised workforce—but we also need to make time for our own health.
We're determined to ensure that every woman in this country has access to the affordable, timely and dignified care that she deserves, and I commend this motion to the House.