Page 4764 - Week 11 - Wednesday, 20 October 2010
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This is why I foreshadow an amendment that I have circulated and will be moving that notes the ACT government’s continued failure to meet breast screen participation rates for women aged 50 to 69 and the failure to meet the target for women to receive a breast screen within 28 days of making an appointment. I believe that the Greens will not be supporting that amendment. I am not sure what the response will be from the government—
Ms Gallagher: Did you talk to us?
MR HANSON: I circulated the amendment. I would encourage both the Greens and the government to support that amendment. It simply outlines where the government is not achieving some targets. The motion as it stands outlines some of the successes, and I congratulate the government on those, but it is important that in any motion, in any debate in this place, we acknowledge not only where things are going right but where there are gaps in the service and where we are not achieving the targets.
If we were to pass a motion in this place that did not acknowledge the fact that there are gaps in the provision of service at the moment and that we are not meeting some important targets for women in particular age groups who are not getting the screening, or getting the screening within a certain period of time, that would be disappointing. I ask the Greens to reconsider their position and I encourage the government to support the amendment.
Cancer support agencies in the ACT can do only so much. They can raise awareness and provide information on the need for breast screening tests, but without the backup of the government their work is redundant. We cannot let the valuable work of the ACT cancer support agencies go without results. The thousands of volunteer hours that go into awareness programs in the ACT cannot be wasted because the government cannot back them up with targeted screening and adequate screening facilities being made available.
From the government’s perspective, I believe that there is always more that can be done. Even though the government is failing to meet its current targets in some areas, I ask for us to consider whether these self-determined targets for breast cancer screening are in some cases too conservative. With the growing awareness of the burden that breast cancer places on young women, and also men diagnosed with breast cancer, it may be time to evaluate whether we are setting our targets too low in some cases. Breast cancer is the most common cancer amongst Australian women, accounting for almost a third of all cancer diagnoses. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, breast cancer is the most common cancer experienced. And for men, the number of men diagnosed with breast cancer each year between 1996 and 2006 almost doubled.
As the majority of breast cancer in young women is the result of genetic predisposition, we can enhance the areas of high-risk surveillance, genetic counsellor services and genetic testing. We can aid research into effective screening techniques for those less than 40 years of age and research into the devastating impacts that the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer have on fertility and the increased risk of
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