Subjects: Breast Cancer
E&OE .......
Thank you very much Janet, Michael Wooldridge, Professor Redman, Dr Trish Shephard, my other Parliamentary Colleagues, ladies and gentleman. It is my pleasure to be involved in the launch of this public information programme for country women. Designed to take to the women of country Australia the commitment and the concerns of a number of bodies concerned about not only women's health in general but specifically the challenge of breast cancer within Australian society. It'll bring the message of the importance of early detection of breast cancer straight to the target audience, and that is country women, in a very personal and a very relevant way and it will include a number of ambassadors of the programme including Janet McDonald and Judith McGrath. They and their colleagues will be promoting the key messages of the programme.
I'm sure I don't need to tell an audience such as this that breast cancer is the leading cause of cancer related death amongst Australian women. In one in twelve Australian women will develop breast cancer in their lifetime. There has been a clear steady downward trend in the number of deaths since 1995. And for this reason I welcome this extensive information programme aimed at making sure women, especially those in the country, understand the importance of early detection of breast cancer and increasing the number of country women who present promptly with breast symptoms.
The programme includes workplace information programs and general practitioner ones, the pro-active promotion of the message and is sensitive to the needs of women in rural areas of Australia. I want to say that this programme is made possible through the generous support of the AMP Foundation, which entered into a sponsorship agreement of more than $1 million with the National Breast Cancer Centre in 1999. And it involves radio, television and print media as well as state and regional public meetings. The partnership between the AMP Foundation and the National Breast Cancer Centre is exactly the type of community spirit and coalition between the private sector and Government supported organisations, which the Government seeks to promote under the general rubric of the social coalition. Corporate social responsibility of the type being demonstrated by the AMP is precisely the kind of responses we seek to build in our society. In the 1999 Budget the Commonwealth committed an additional $2 million per year over four years to the continued operation of the National Breast Cancer Centre. And also in that budget $4.I million was provided over four years to assist in developing improved approaches to supporting women with breast cancer and their families, particularly in rural areas.
The Government provides ongoing support for the Breast Screen Australia programme including funding of $2 million to re-launch the Breast Screen Australia mass-media campaign last year. The media campaign aims to increase the number of women in the target age group of 50 to 69 years attending the Breast Screen Australia programme.
Before I conclude and declare the programme launched, can I particularly acknowledge the commitment of my colleague the Health Minister, Michael Wooldridge. Not only to the cause of improving health, both public and privately health facilities in Australia, but also his particular commitment to specific areas of concern in relation to the health of women. And I would also like to acknowledge the roll played by my former Ministerial colleague Jocelyn Newman, who's present here today. And also my other parliamentary colleagues Helen Conan and Trish Worth and a number of others, who've taken a particular concern and interest in the promotion and support of policies specifically targeted to the particular concerns relating to the health of Australian women. There is no Government responsibility more important than the physical and physiological health and well being of the men and women of Australia. We hear a lot of discussion about the health of what is collectively called the economy, and that's important, but even more important is the individual sense of well being and health of the men and women of our society. And whilst most of our programs are directed towards health challenges which are common to both men and women, there are some particular health challenges which relate to women only as some relate to men only. And tackling the challenge of breast cancer is clearly in that category. And it has been a priority of this Government and it's been a priority of the Minister and I congratulate him and his colleagues for the work they've done.
In declaring officially launched the Country Australia Public Information Campaign, I thank Professor Redman and Janet McDonald for their untiring work in the cause of increasing awareness of the challenge of breast cancer. And pleasingly as a result of that work seeing a significant improvement, but also with that improvement comes a necessity to carry the message even more widely and this is about carrying it to women of country Australia and I launch the programme and I wish it well.
Thankyou.
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