Page 5465 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 November 2010
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feeble—I refer to Lachlan Kennedy of WIN fame, who had to put eyebrow liner on to win a bet—I have to tell you that those efforts might have been feeble, but the message was not.
Whilst the focus is on mos, beards and goatees have also been developed and subsequently sacrificed in the name of promoting men’s health. Last year, as I mentioned earlier, I sacrificed both my famous mo—somebody once said to me that my moustache was more famous than I was, but I thought that was not a big ask anyway—and a grown-for-the-occasion goatee for this great cause. I make the point that not too many of my fellow male members of this place have bothered to subject themselves to the barber’s razor in the interests of men’s health. I would encourage them to have a go. See if you can beat Uncle Johnno’s mo. I do not think they are up to it.
The money raised by Movember in Australia is shared between those two excellent and worthwhile organisations targeting prostate cancer and male depression—as Mrs Dunne quite rightly said—the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and beyondblue, the national depression initiative. I do not say too many things nice about the Liberal Party, but I have to pay credit to Jeff Kennett for his effort. I really think that what he has done in respect of this has been nothing short of miraculous. I have paid credit to him on many occasions outside this chamber, and I will continue to do so.
Last year, more than $9 million went to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, and this year Movember again looks set to raise millions of dollars for research into this important men’s health issue. As men all too often ignore their health, initiatives such as Movember that tackle the problem in a unique and engaging way are important for raising awareness of issues such as prostate cancer and men’s mental health. Research into men’s health shows that men visit their GP less frequently than women. Duh—I think that is pretty obvious. Men will wait longer before seeking treatment for health problems and men’s life expectancy is significantly shorter than women’s. One wonders why.
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, prostate cancer is the most common cancer diagnosed in Australia and the second greatest cause of cancer deaths in men. We need to actually take a bit of a breath and understand that. The most common cancer diagnosed in Australia—most people would say it is breast cancer, but it is not—is prostate cancer, and it is the second greatest cause of cancer deaths in men.
Each year in Australia, close to 3,300 men die of prostate cancer, which is equal to the number of women who die of breast cancer annually. Around 20,000 new cases of prostate cancer are diagnosed in Australia every year and one in nine men in Australia will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. Between 2002 and 2006, there were 146 deaths in the ACT due to prostate cancer. As a result of a lack of awareness around men’s health issues, many blokes do not have an adequate knowledge or understanding of the risks they face and what they should do to avoid these risks. Movember encourages annual testing for prostate cancer in all men over 50 and those over 40 with a family history of prostate cancer.
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