MOTIONS

Dr FREELANDER (Macarthur) (10:55): I thank the member for Bonner for moving this very important motion for discussion. It's something I'm very passionate about, and I'm passionate about it because heart disease is my family disease. I myself have cardiovascular disease.

Both my parents had heart attacks. My siblings have cardiovascular disease. I have uncles, cousins and relatives who've all had cardiovascular disease.

It is really, really important that people get screened for cardiovascular disease. As the member for Mallee has already mentioned, only a very small percentage of people with risk factors are availing themselves of the heart health check, and that's really bad because we know that, with treatment and intervention, heart disease can be prevented and people like me can be prevented from suffering long-term cardiovascular damage.

I want to give a big shout-out to Professor Craig Juergens from Liverpool Hospital, the cardiologist who's cared for me for the last 20 years and kept me in good health. My family has familial hypercholesterolemia. It's the one of the biggest risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

It affects men and women, and, with treatment and prevention, we can be kept healthy, we can be kept working and we can be kept in the community, rather than becoming cardiac cripples from repeated heart attacks. So this is a really important motion. According to the Heart Foundation, cardiovascular disease accounts for one in four deaths in Australia.

Many of them are women. Millions of Australians live with cardiovascular conditions and thousands of families are affected by the devastating consequences of heart attacks, strokes and other heart related illnesses such as chronic heart failure, which is a dreadful condition and leads to really poor quality of life. As I've mentioned, there are many Australians at risk—those who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol or diabetes and those who smoke, which is another very important risk factor.

People must stop smoking. They are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease, as are our Indigenous Australians. It's really important that they get screened and get treated.

We also need to recognise that heart health is not simply a matter of individual choice. Our health is shaped by our circumstances, and our access to health care, decent working conditions and early intervention is very important. The member for Mallee has mentioned that, in some rural and regional areas, it is very difficult to access appropriate cardiac intervention with high-quality 21st century care.

I congratulate the Minister for Health, Disability and Ageing, Mark Butler, who has tasked the Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability, which I chair, to conduct an inquiry into access to specialist 21st century care around Australia. We also need to recognise that people need to be screened, and they need to be given access to screening. We know that many people are at risk.

They should be screened, but they don't get it, and women are a big part of that because, as already mentioned, their symptoms may not necessarily be the classic heart attack symptoms. They may not get chest pain. They may not get a sudden drop in blood pressure or heart arrhythmia.

They may just feel tired. They may just be a little short of breath. They need to be screened, and it's very important that we make sure that women who have any of those symptoms are given access to screening, no matter where they live.

That is really important. We've all seen tragedies in our local hospitals where women who have presented with unusual symptoms have not been screened for cardiovascular disease and have died without receiving appropriate treatment. That should stop.

We need to be aware of this. I congratulate the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care, Rebecca White, who is setting up a women's health taskforce that will help provide appropriate community knowledge about the importance of cardiovascular screening and access to treatment. It is very important that everyone who has symptoms, even if they don't have good access to a GP or whatever, can get heart health screening—at their pharmacist, at their local hospital, at their local health clinic.

It's really important. I congratulate the member for Bonner for bringing this motion to the House, and I think you can see there is very much multipartisan support for this. It is very, very important not just for our overall health but for women's health in particular.

I congratulate you for bringing this motion. It's something we all should be aware of.