First of all, if I could begin by thanking the Governor-General. The Governor-General, Her Excellency Quentin Bryce, is no fair weather friend to this cause - going back now 13 years, a regular and continuing participant, supporter and high level advocate of this important centre and the work that it does.
Your Excellency, we thank you for your commitment past, present and future.
We're often asked why we are engaged in particular causes in public life. And there are many causes. Almost all of them exceptionally worthwhile.
When I look around Australia today and I see the extraordinary range of families who are affected by this extraordinary disease - breast cancer - this is a very personal cause for so many families who are so personally affected.
And I look at those numbers, 12,000 freshly diagnosed each year, that is an extraordinary number. An extraordinary number of people's lives who are changed in an instant, and whose life journey changes for the future.
There's one reason I'm here, because those numbers speak for themselves, they are huge. And we need to do something about it. We need to do more about it.
The second reason is entirely personal. I'm here because of mum. Mum was diagnosed with breast cancer back in 1963. I was five years old. She had a radical mastectomy. Rural Queensland. Not much to go by in those days. She had a recurrence in 1973.
And my message to you all who are sufferers from this disease is that mum died in 2004 of different causes, 41 years later.
What I do remember, I remember clearly, as a little boy and then growing up, what she lived with all that time in terms of the challenge, the uncertainty, the difficulty, the at that time variable medical treatment that was available. And that she was a survivor, a true survivor.
So, for all of you who are here today as women who have survived and who continue the fight and are part of families who are part of that fight, I congratulate you for this thing alone - your human courage and example.
A lot's happened since 1963. As Tanya mentioned before, we now have a survival rate at five years of 88 per cent. This is an extraordinary number, the product of early detection, a lot of work that has gone on aided and supported by the work of this extraordinary centre and foundation.
Also the extraordinary work which has happened with our researchers, our scientists, our medical pioneers. This has been an extraordinary effort by the nation to turn this around and I salute each and every one of you who are professionals in the field.
In our most recent Budget we have allocated $40 million explicitly for dealing with the challenge of Breast Cancer. In September we have provided $2.5 million to the National Breast Cancer Foundation to partner with them in a new $5 million study of 100,000 and more Australian women about this important disease.
And today I would confirm a further allocation of $800,000 to NBOCC for their work as an additional grant for their work in 08/09*. Your work is worthy of this support.
I am also proud to launch today NBOCC's cheeky check up campaign to promote breast cancer awareness in young women. I am not sure why I have been given that task but have and I am discharging it as effectively as I can.
Research undertaken by the NBOCC has revealed that many young women are not informed about what to look for, are less likely to seek medical advice if they find a symptom and are unclear about the important risk factors for breast cancer.
Armed with this evidence the centre has developed a campaign to help young women be proactive about their health. It's an approach the Australian Government fully supports.
We believe that keeping people well and preventing disease is an important part of managing and caring for those who are sick. Giving younger women the information they need to know more about breast cancer and dispelling some myths equips them to act early, and acting and detecting breast cancer early is the best way to assist in treatment and improve chances of survival. The Government which I lead is proud to be a partner with NBOCC in this great cause.
Working together we can make a real difference to the quality of lives of many women diagnosed with breast cancer around Australia, their families and their carers who every day confront the realities, the very practical realities of this disease. I want to congratulate the National Breast and Ovarian Cancer centre for all its great work.
And as I close, each of you who work in this field as medical practitioners, as nurses, as scientists and those at the coalface who are providing care, I would encourage each of you in your work.
You know as a country, as a nation we need to do much, much better in the war against cancer, cancer in all its forms. It's time as a nation we renewed our national effort in what must be a national war against cancer and I look forward to being an active, very active partner with you in that great cause.
Thank-you very much
*09-10