STATEMENTS ON SIGNIFICANT MATTERS
Ms CLUTTERHAM (Sturt) (12:34): I'm very pleased to rise to speak about Women's Health Week 2026, which has the theme of 'Do it anyway'. I am going to start with men's health. I recently facilitated a men's health forum in my electorate of Sturt.
We had over 100 RSVPs. We listened to panellists from Fat Farmers, the Burnside men's shed, Breakthrough Mental Health Research Foundation, Good Better Best Men and The Men's Table. We had a really lively, honest and productive discussion, with questions being asked by those clearly in the over-80 age group but also by young students from Pembroke School, Saint Ignatius' College and St Peter's College.
The message to the men of Sturt was that there are physical and mental health support services out there, they're only a phone call or an email away, and there are dedicated and empathetic men in our community who routinely do what they can to support other men, young and old. One of the panellists was Professor Gary Wittert, who's the Mortlock Professor of Medicine at the University of Adelaide and a senior consultant endocrinologist at the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Professor Wittert's remarks were of great interest to me, as they differed from a lot of the narratives that were here, and at the same time he highlighted the critical importance of investment in women's health. Professor Wittert's insights, for me, validated the record spending this government is making on women's health. His observation was that, despite the narrative that men don't go to the doctor, don't take care of their physical health and almost completely ignore their mental health, that's wrong.
He said that actually, in his experience, men do go to the doctor as much as women and they do make and keep appointments to help them with their mental health. Professor Wittert also observed, however, that these observations were right and that men and women do go to the doctor in roughly similar numbers when you take out the number of times women go to the doctor for their reproductive health—or, as it has historically and quite insultingly been referred to, when they go to the doctor for women's issues.
So, when you ignore the reproductive health needs of women, you get similar attendance numbers—and we have ignored the reproductive health needs of women for a long time, until this government stood up and said, 'Actually, women do have unique reproductive health needs, because they are designed to have babies and nurture those babies.' Having little babies is complicated.
Sometimes it doesn't happen as planned. It's hard. It takes time, and you need support from a dedicated and accessible IVF program, or maybe you need support from an endo and pelvic pain clinic.
Then sometimes you actually don't want to get pregnant and have a baby, so you need access to affordable contraceptives. Then, when the phase of life when you ask, 'Should I get pregnant or not get pregnant?' draws to a close, you enter perimenopause and then menopause, and you might need a health assessment or other supports then. Men have health challenges, but they don't have these same complex challenges.
They just don't. Women and girls do. That is why this investment is so fundamental to the health of our nation.
Having healthy women and girls means having happy families and happy communities. Having healthy women and girls means economic participation for longer. It means more growth and higher productivity.
Having healthy women and girls means having healthy and happy babies, which is good for the future of this country. This record investment has also meant a loss of stigma surrounding women's reproductive health, and we are now talking about it. Thanks to the work of my great friend South Australian senator Marielle Smith, we now talk about perimenopause and menopause.
These naturally occurring events in a woman's life are no longer hidden and no longer seen as sickness or an issue. They are just seen, and, because they are seen, they are supported. Thanks to Senator Smith, we will soon be talking about the postpartum challenges experienced by women.
This is courtesy of another inquiry she is leading. Postpartum challenges are complex, scary, unfair and frequent, and they need to be seen, to be understood and then to be supported. This government is listening.
It's not a matter of investing in women's health to the exclusion of men's health or saying that women's health is more important than men's health; it is about acknowledging the biological and scientific reality. Women have children and become mothers, and their health needs, as a consequence, are unique. They are complex, and they require investment because this investment means a healthy community, which is good for men and women.
We talk about men's health and women's health, but, when we do, what we are really talking about is human health, because we know that we don't have economic prosperity, improved productivity, qualified workers or entrepreneurs without a healthy population. A healthy population underpins a healthy economy, and this government has invested and will always invest in our world-leading healthcare system to promote human health. 'Do it anyway' is about women's health, and it's also about human health.
When Mum makes time for that vaccination, she's protecting herself so she stays healthy for her family. When Nanna has that scan, she's saying: 'I'm worth it. I want to be around for the twilight years of my life, and I want those years to be quality so I can have a meaningful relationship with my grandchildren.' When your aunt has that test, she's taking control of her concerns.
She's asking to be heard, and she's seeking the care and reassurance she deserves. When your female parliamentarian colleagues or your female colleagues or your female leaders take a sick day because they're actually sick, they get better quicker and return to being productive members of the workforce, which is good for everyone. This government is going to continue to do it anyway.
Twelve months after the landmark $792.9 million women's health package, the Albanese Labor government is continuing to deliver on its promise of more choice, lower costs and better care for Australian women and girls. Since this announcement, more than one million women have accessed cheaper scripts for new contraceptives. Menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments were also listed on the PBS.
I couldn't believe that last year represented the first PBS listing in more than 30 years for new contraceptive pills and two more forms of long-acting reversible contraceptives and the first PBS listing in more than 20 years of new menopausal hormone therapies. Just think about what you were doing 20 or 30 years ago. Twenty years ago, I had just finished university and was starting my career as a lawyer, and 30 years ago I was in year 9.
That's how long it has been. We say there has been a generation since the turn of the century, but that also means it had been a generation since these critical medications and treatments had been updated and made accessible for women. Now women with endometriosis are accessing treatment at PBS prices, saving millions of dollars.
Women undergoing IVF are receiving earlier and more affordable access to a form of fertility treatment, and, since January 2026, women have been getting further savings from the reduction of out-of-pocket costs for PBS prescription medicines. They are now 25 bucks, with a concessional co-payment remaining at $7.70 and frozen until the end of the decade. So let's do it anyway.
When people say, 'What about the men?' let's continue to invest in women's health. Let's do it anyway. When people say, 'It's just women's issues,' let's do it anyway.
And when people say, 'Well, that's actually just how it is; women have babies, and they just need to deal with it,' let's do it anyway. This government will continue to invest in women's health because investment in women's health is an investment in a healthy community. This government will continue to do it anyway, and to the women and girls out there, you should too.