Page 5466 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 16 November 2010
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Movember also promotes awareness of depression in men, so that more men with depression know that it is a disease for which they can and should seek help. Further, Movember promotes general awareness of men’s health issues and the importance of regular check-ups. Men need to know that they should not wait until they are sick to see a doctor. Annual check-ups with a GP are the go and the most effective way of catching any potential problems early.
Throughout history there have been many men who have rejected the razor and have shunned the shaving cream. There are a fair few of them: Genghis Khan—just have a mind picture here, Genghis Khan’s mo was a good one; Salvador Dali—that was a ripper; Friedrich Nietzsche; Billy Hughes, the little rat; Uncle Joe Stalin; Henry Lawson. And as for those complete moustaches and beards, of course, we had George Bernard Shaw; Karl Marx; Henry Parkes and Paul Watson. Paul who, you may ask? He is the slightly rotund, hirsute captain of the Sea Shepherd, a man who should focus on his health. He should sacrifice the facial hair in the name of Movember and go and see his doctor and try and knock off some weight. For the interest of members, I seek leave to table a photo of Captain Watson. There are enough copies for instant distribution, Madam Deputy Speaker.
Leave granted.
MR HARGREAVES: I table the following paper:
Captain of Sea Shepherd—Copy of photograph from ABC website.
I thank members. I really wanted to make the point about this Movember thing. It is about using humour and it is about using laughter to address a serious issue. Mrs Dunne actually made the point and I think it is a very valid one. We do take the micky and in doing so we are able to talk about a really serious issue. I think that is great. We also need to address the point that blokes do not go to doctors, blokes do not cry—all that sort of stuff. Well, being a bloke will not save your life either.
Mrs Dunne also made the point about depression, the black dog. It is a point particularly well taken. I actually wanted to put on the record that walking with the black dog, let me tell you, is not a fun thing to happen to anybody. I have done it. And when you have got the black dog, it is the only friend you have got. You do not need enemies when you have got a black dog. You also do not have any friends because you are internal; you are inside your own head.
You do not realise that you have got families that love you, friends that respect you, colleagues that seek your counsel, because you have got a black dog that is all-consuming. I did not seek help because I was a bloke. I was bigger than my black dog. Well, it beat me in the end, until I sought help, because I had to. But my life had been through the shredder. So you have to seek that help and, once you do, it is fine. I would like to see blokes doing it before it gets to that point. If we can take the micky out of each other and start talking about it, that would be just fantastic.
As I said, Movember is about fun. It is about laughter, silliness and saving lives. I reckon we should join with Peter Barclay and those that are at the forefront and put
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