STATEMENTS BY SENATORS
Senator WHITEAKER (Western Australia) (12:59): Ten years ago I participated for the first time in Frocktober, and this year I am bringing it to parliament. Frocktober is a fundraiser for the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation, and there are lots of ways you can participate. This month, I'm wearing a dress every single day in the month of October.
We're about almost halfway through the campaign. We're at day 14 today, and every day I'm sharing a fact about ovarian cancer to raise awareness about the symptoms and about why we desperately need an early detection test and to shine a light on this really awful, deadly cancer. I want to thank the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation and the leadership of their CEO, Robin Penty, who have been big advocates and running a tremendous Frocktober campaign this month.
They are always an excellent advocate for women and women's health and research into not just ovarian cancer but other gynaecological cancers too. Ovarian cancer is the most deadly of gynaecological cancers in Australia. The five-year survival rate—that is the women who are diagnosed who live beyond five years—is well below 50 per cent.
Less than 50 per cent of women who are diagnosed with ovarian cancer now will be alive in five years. That is a terrible number. Every year, around 1,800 Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
That means more than a thousand of them will not be alive in five years. It's truly devastating. The reason that ovarian cancer is so deadly is that the symptoms are vague.
We know, through the work that many in this place, including my good friend Senator Marielle Smith, have done on women's health, that too often women's health and women's pain are dismissed and ignored. I think ovarian cancer is just another example of where that falls down. Most women are diagnosed in the very late stages of the disease.
It's already progressed and spread beyond the ovaries and fallopian tubes to other parts of the body. That means it's much harder to treat. But, when it is caught early, the outlook for women is far better.
One of the misconceptions that many people have about ovarian cancer is that cervical screening tests for ovarian cancer, but it doesn't. It's a great early detection test for cervical cancer—we've seen really significant improvements in that space—but it doesn't test for ovarian cancer. I really want to shine a light today on what the symptoms of ovarian cancer are so that women can be on the lookout for them.
I think the most important message is that, if something is not right—if you have pelvic pain, persistent bloating, changes in bowel movements, unexpected or unexplained weight loss, feeling full quickly after eating, needing to go to the bathroom more often—go and talk to your GP because, as women, we're inclined to push it aside. We're inclined to think that pelvic pain is normal.
It might just be period pain or maybe it's endo or maybe it's something else. We think, 'Oh, we'll deal with that later.' But the lesson here, when it comes to ovarian cancer, is that it could be something more serious. Hopefully not—chances are it's not.
But if something is not right and if you are experiencing symptoms that I've outlined, then go and talk to your doctor. You know your body better than anybody else, and advocating for yourself is really important. We have seen some small improvement in survival rates for ovarian cancer over the past few decades, and there have been advances in treatment and care, but the progress has been really slow.
Survival rates, detection tests and treatment options for women with ovarian cancer really haven't changed much at all in my lifetime. For breast cancer, the five-year survival rate is now well over 90 per cent. That shows us what is possible when research investment is made into women's health care.
It shows how far we've still got to go on ovarian cancer. That is what the Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation is all about—finding an early detection test so that more women can be diagnosed early so that we lose fewer women, hopefully no women, to this terrible disease. I'm really proud to be participating in Frocktober again this month, and I encourage you all to donate.