PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much and I am thrilled to be here on this day and indeed my birthday. Lucy and I are delighted to be here Helen. We are, as all of us here, such great admirers of the leadership you provide. So many years of dedication to improving the health of Australians tackling the enormous challenge of cancer.
You have brought with it, for all those years an extraordinary professional discipline and intellect but such a big heart. Speaking of a heart, Lucy and I, Jillian and Tanya, and all of us here, we just admire you so much, so thank you.
We all know, everyone knows, that governments, and I mentioned Jillian Skinner the Health Minister of New South Wales here and of course, Tanya the former Health Minister in the Labor Government, governments spends billions of dollars combatting cancer, treating it, researching, promoting, trying to find ways to cure cancer and governments always will.
The dollar that a government spends, commits - will buy as much research as the dollar that you give, there is no doubt about that. Let me say to you, the passion that you bring by your support, by your generosity, whether it is buying a pink ribbon, making a corporate contribution as the Macquarie Bank does through its Foundation - that individual passion brings with it your personal love. And that makes such a difference, right around Australia in so many areas.
The Bright Alliance, Lucy and I have been strongly supporting it in recent times, or research at The Children’s Hospital, research into cancer around the country.
All of these initiatives are strengthened massively by philanthropy, by personal love and support.
So don’t ever be daunted by the billions that come from government - that is your money too by the way - but what you can do personally makes an enormous difference.
The leadership that Cancer Australia has shown through this paper which Helen has just described, is critically important. I think it is very instructive - I actually took a snap Helen, I am not sure if it will come out very well but of you speaking with the chart showing all of the organisations working together. This really is the future of integrated healthcare, integrated health policy development and management, we have to get everybody working together at this level and indeed at the healthcare home level, that our Health Minister Sussan Ley is promoting, where will get more integrated care particularly for people with chronic diseases. The fewer silos and more collaboration, the more likely we are to get the right outcomes.
You have gone through some of these percentages, they tell a story which is both heart rending but also filled with hope. More women are being diagnosed with breast cancer but survival rates are improving. The inspiration that Lisa gave was awe-inspiring. Lisa and you reminded all of us that being aware of your own body and backing your own concerns is so important.
I remember our old friend Neville Wran, who Lucy and I were in business with for many years, Neville always use to be very fussy about his health and I teased him about that once and he turned to me and said, ‘Son let me tell you, hypochondriacs live longer.’ That was his way of saying, if you are not feeling right, something is amiss, don’t be blasé about it.
As I said, the survival rate has increased from 72 per cent in the 1980’s to 90 per cent today. But more than 3,000 people - mostly women as we know - will die from Breast Cancer this year.
We are going to continue, our commitment must be to improve that survival rate, continue to find the best treatments, the best clinical practices - some are set out in this document here today to ensure that we win the fight against breast cancer.
I want you to know that my Government shares your passion and commitment to the battle against breast cancer. We will continue to fund research, screening and breast care nurses. I was discussing that with Glen McGrath just a few days ago. Right across the board whether it is dealing with the primary research or ensuring that we have breast care nurses with the training to deal with metastatic disease of the kind and the circumstances that Helen described.
We all have a common goal, winning the fight against breast cancer, none of us can do it alone. Your generosity, your support is of critical importance. The dollars, though not as big as the government’s but it comes with a personal love and commitment and an advocacy and a passion that governments can never equal.
I want to congratulate Helen and everyone at Cancer Australia and all of the Presidents and their organisations that brought this together in a remarkable sign of collaborative work. But above all, I want to encourage all of you and every Australian to take this opportunity on Pink Ribbon Day to support the battle against cancer. It is one we can win. We will win it with dollars but above all, we will win it with your love.
Thank you very much.
ENDS