MOTIONS

Mr BOYCE (Flynn) (11:00): This motion encourages all Australians this World Heart Day to know the warning signs, understand their risk and prioritise their heart health. I rise to speak in favour of this motion moved by the member for Bonner which notes that World Heart Day will be held on 29 September 2026 to raise awareness of cardiovascular disease prevention, early detection and treatment.

Whilst I've been asked to talk about how this matter affects women, I recognise that cardiovascular disease remains a leading cause of illness and death among Australian women. More than half a million Australian women are living with heart, stroke and vascular conditions. Women can experience different symptoms and risk factors, and historically women's heart health has been underrecognised, underdiagnosed and underresearched.

Welcoming actions like making cardiovascular health the priority of the Ministerial Expert Panel on Women's Health and supporting access to Medicare funded heart health checks are important steps forward. However, when we examine the health statistics, the data presents a much broader picture—one that shows heart disease remains a national emergency affecting both sexes, with men facing severe clinical impacts across every major indicator.

According to official 2024 causes-of-death data, cardiovascular disease claimed 42,300 lives across Australia in 2024, representing 23 per cent of all deaths nationwide. While around 20,200 women died from CVD, men faced a 1.5 times higher age-standardised death rate. When we look specifically at coronary heart disease, the 2024 AIHW causes-of-death dataset reveals that CHD claimed 16,275 Australian lives, with 10,153 of those deaths occurring among men, compared to 6,122 among women.

In fact, in 2024, the Australian Burden of Disease Study reports that cardiovascular disease accounts for 14 per cent of total male health burden, compared to 10 per cent of women, with coronary heart disease standing as the No. 1 single cause of health burden for Australian men. In terms of medical interventions, 2023-24 national hospital morbidity data shows that, out of 634,000 total CVD hospital admissions, men required 96,000 coronary angiography procedures, or 67 per cent, compared to 47,300 for women, which is 33 per cent.

Men underwent 34,600 precautionary coronary interventions procedures, or 75 per cent, compared to 11,700 for women, or 25 per cent. Coronary artery bypass grafts—men accounted for 10,500 open heart surgeries, or 83 per cent, compared to 2,100 for women, which is 17 per cent. This broader picture worsens when you travel to regional and remote Australia.

In remote and very remote communities, CHD hospitalisation rates climbed to 753.4 per 100,000 for men and 484.6 per 100,000 for women, a 37.2 per cent increase over major capital cities. In contrast, overall remote CVD death rates are 1.4 times higher than in metropolitan areas. In regional Queensland, the Queensland chief health officer report confirms that our regional health service areas bear the highest crude coronary heart disease mortality rates in the state, led by Wide Bay and Darling Downs and central western Queensland.

In my electorate of Flynn, in 2021, the ABS census's QuickStats show that 6,597 residents lived with diagnosed long-term heart conditions. But, in Flynn, the healthcare challenge is compounded by the clinical infrastructure realities. Public hospitals in major regional centres, like Gladstone and Emerald, lack the 24/7 public catheterisation laboratories for stenting for emergency PCI.

When a resident suffers an acute heart attack in Gladstone or Emerald, local clinicians must administer thrombolysis and organise urgent aeromedical retrieval via the RFDS or LifeFlight to Rockhampton or Brisbane. Distance and time in the bush are always working against us.