Well thank you very much Ita, to Garry and Doreen, ladies and gentlemen. I want to say how much we all admire Garry and Doreen for taking two and a half years out of their lives to visit 600 towns and centres around Australia in the cause of raising funds for arthritis. As Ita said, it affects three million Australians, and there are a number of common misapprehensions about arthritis. One of them is that it's something that only affects older Australians. The reality is that more than half of all sufferers from arthritis are aged between 25 and 65.
There are many Australians who suffer from arthritis and their condition and their affliction goes undiagnosed. They suffer in silence and all too frequently, they are forced as a result of their affliction into early retirement. And it's all the more praiseworthy therefore that Garry and Doreen on their trike should commit themselves in such a wholehearted and absolutely magnificent way. It's a reminder again of the great volunteer tradition of the Australian community. They join a very distinguished group of Australians who have taken large segments of their own personal time at great personal inconvenience in a highly visible way to travel around Australia raising resources for a cause which is very important.
I'm pleased to recall that over the last three years, the Government through the NHMRC has invested about $50 million into research into arthritis and we had an initiative in the 2002 Budget of $11.5 million under the Better Arthritis Care initiative to improve the care and management of arthritis, and of course through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme something in the order of $270 million a year is spent through the PBS on arthritis medicines. But can I finally, and before I formally launch this, thank Arthritis Australia and particularly its President, Ita Buttrose, for the leadership and encouragement that that organisation gives, and the hope that they extend and they offer to the millions of Australians who are affected by arthritis.
And I do take this opportunity again to send Garry and Doreen off with my very good wishes. We wish them a happy and safe journey, and we look forward to welcoming them back here in two and a half years time, or whatever the time may be, and they're going to travel 55,000 kilometres around this country, and as I said at the beginning of my remarks, they're going to visit some 600 centres. So I think they deserve our admiration, they deserve our thanks, and they are wonderful exemplars of that selfless volunteer Australian spirit that has been so important in building and holding our country together. Well done, thank you, good luck, look forward to seeing you in two and a half years time.
[ends]