DAVE COCHRANE, HOST: Good morning. Yes, nice to have you with us for a Saturday morning. We're feeling good today, and I've got a special guest for me too, so I'm so excited to have a chat. He's Australia's first Special Envoy for Men's Health. He's the Federal Member for the Hunter, a former Olympic shooter. His name's Dan Repacholi, and he joins me now. Good morning to you, Dan. How are you?
DAN REPACHOLI, SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MEN’S HEALTH: Good Dave. Good morning to yourself. Good morning to your listeners.
COCHRANE: Thank you for giving us some time. I wanted to expand on this a little bit. Labor has a $32 million commitment to men's health and including $8.3 million for the Men's Shed National Development Program. Men's Sheds right around the country. They've been in action for quite a while, and they are making a difference. Tell us the priority there from Labor, what it means.
REPACHOLI: They certainly are making a difference, Men's Sheds. There's over 1300 right here in Australia, Men's Sheds all around the country that are doing amazing work. It's a place for blokes to go and talk about bloke stuff. Go hang out with power tools, go hang out in the office, go hang out and do whatever you want to do, learn new skills. I was lucky enough to have the Deputy Prime Minister, Acting Prime Minister, Richard Marles.
COCHRANE: ... How about that for someone to hang out with. Defence Minister and Acting Prime Minister, Richard Marles, you hung out with him at the Men's Shed the other day.
REPACHOLI: Yeah, we did. We were at Toronto Men's Shed, and it was great to take him around and just show him what Toronto Men's Shed is all about, and what it means to be something in that community there. So, it was really good for him to see that. And he got to talk to some people that had no skills whatsoever before going to the Men's Shed, and now can fix mowers, now can fix whipper snippers, chainsaws. It's fantastic.
COCHRANE: Look, for me, there's a wealth of knowledge in the Men's Shed and a wealth of experience that I believe could be drawn on. You've got some guys there that their life - have life skills - they've got trades that they've learned. They're now retired, maybe in their retiring years, but they can get together. That's a knowledge and skills that I believe could be passed on to the younger ones.
REPACHOLI: Certainly can be. And Men's Shed aren't just for older people or retired people. Men's Sheds are for everybody. So, if you're a young guy and you want to get out there and learn some new skills and talk to some new people, get to a Men's Shed as well. If you've got time, get down to a Men's Shed and say hi to them.
COCHRANE: What's some future plans that you know of coming up with this investment into Men's Sheds?
REPACHOLI: So, there'll be a grant available for Men's Sheds to apply for to get new upgrades for their facilities, upgrades for their shed. So that is one part of it. Also, I was talking with Dave, and he was saying that there's going to be some more staff put on as well to be able to look after over 1300 sheds. That's a lot of sheds in this country, and there's more still to come as well. So, it's an exciting time for the Men's Shed association of Australia and to see where it all goes.
COCHRANE: Now Dan, when we talk about men's health, it's not just physical, but it's also mental, and that's an important part that we need to concentrate on.
REPACHOLI: It certainly is. Dave, the mental health side of things is a huge, huge part of men's health and all health in general. So that's why we've committed $1 billion to mental health, and this includes $225 million for 31 new and upgraded Medicare Mental Health Centres all around the country, which is absolutely phenomenal.
COCHRANE: Let's talk about something for a moment. It's been known for years, for decades, that women always look out for their health. They go to the doctors, they check on things, they're across things. But blokes, you know what I mean, we're a bit reticent to go there. You know, we hold back until, oh hang on my arm just fell off, I better go and check on that. Why is that Dan and what can we do to encourage blokes to get out and get to see a doctor and check on your health?
REPACHOLI: That's exactly right, Dave. Women are amazing at going and talking about their issues, at going and seeing their doctor and actually telling their doctor what is wrong with them. Women are really good at that. Blokes, we're atrocious, and this is where we need to get better, because we owe it to those amazing women in our lives, to our kids, to our grandkids, we owe it to - and to our friends as well - we owe it to them to be able to go and see a doctor and actually tell a doctor that we've got some problems. Whether it's a physical problem, whether it's a mental problem, we just need to go and start those conversations. And that is the very start for me with this, Dave, is getting blokes to actually have conversations. If we can start that process, then we're a bit of a step there.
COCHRANE: Yeah, I like to start the conversation with it. Now, I'm one of the new age blokes. I'll say to Mark, who's across from me, Mark, how's your prostate going? You know, I like to open a conversation with that. But it's not what we normally do, Dan, you don't go down that road with a conversation normally, Blokes, do we?
REPACHOLI: No, it definitely isn't the way that we usually go with our conversations. We talk about the footy, we talk about work, we talk about those sorts of things, but we do need to talk about prostate cancer, we do need to talk about other things. Like, most blokes, there's so many blokes out there that still think you need to get a finger in the arse rather than just going and getting a simple PSA test. Like, there is so much that we don't know yet.
COCHRANE: Here's the thing, Dan, here's the thing, you hit it in one there, right. We think that it's the old finger up the bum, but it's not that anymore. It's incredible the results they can get from a blood test, and you just need to get that blood test done more frequently.
REPACHOLI: That's exactly right. And that's what I've been doing. All the Men's Sheds I go to, all the footy clubs I go to, and sporting events and things like that, anything I go to where I'm talking to a bunch of blokes, I ask, how many of you have gone and had a check-up with your doctor in the last 12 months and got a blood test? And honestly, there's not many hands that go up, and this is where we need to do, this is the biggest thing we need to do and get right, is actually going to our doctor, getting a blood test and seeing where we are. We do preventative maintenance on our cars, but we refuse to do it on ourselves.
COCHRANE: Yeah. Now, how often do you suggest a prostate test should be done?
REPACHOLI: Look, I suggest, if you haven't had one done and you're over 40, go get a PSA test done through your doctor, get a blood test done, and then see what the doctor says from there. Then the doctor will assess and judge whether you need to get one every 12 months, or whether you need to get one every two years. And let them make those decisions.
COCHRANE: Dan, and even if we come down to something else, what about blokes carrying a few too many kegs? You know, the weight is around the belly there. What do we do about that? You yourself, I believe, I've got to say, congratulations. You've had a loss of weight in recent times?
REPACHOLI: Yeah, cheers, Dave, I have lost a bit of weight in recent times, and I had to do something. I hit 152 kilos, which is way too big. I'm a big guy, I'm six foot eight, right, but 152 kilos is way too much. So, I'm down to that 120 mark now. So, I've lost a fair bit of weight. But I went and seen my doctor. I was embarrassed to talk to my doctor about this situation that I've got myself into, because I just realised, I was walking past a window in Cessnock and said, geez, you're looking big. They're not my exact words, but I've turned it down to radio, but and then I had to do something about it. I wanted a quick fix, and I couldn't find a quick fix. I tried to speak to the doctors in Canberra that are in the party, and they said I need to go see my GP. So, I finally went and did that, and I had that conversation with him, and he said, well, you should have come and seen me earlier and had this conversation.
COCHRANE: So, you've dropped around 30 kilos, or over 30 kilos, Dan.
REPACHOLI: Yeah, I'm down just over 30 kilos.
COCHRANE: Well done. Well mate, that's an achievement. Well done. Can I ask how you've gone about that? What you've done, what changes have you made?
REPACHOLI: So, the changes I've made is I went and spoke to my doctor and got on to an injectable medication. So, there's plenty of them out there, but I highly recommend you talk to your doctor to see which one's best for you, to see which one you need. But for me, it was to stop the food noise in my head. I used to think, I used to drive past KFC, and unfortunately the car would just miraculously get in the driveway...
COCHRANE: Through the drive through.
REPACHOLI: You can't get out, and you're not going to drive through and not order anything. So, yeah, I just had to stop a bit of that food noise in my head. And this worked for me, it's worked a treat for me. I've lost over 30 kilos now. I've got five more I want to move, and to be around that 115 mark. And if I can get to that, I'll be very, very happy, but working hard at it, and going to gym as well, and eating the right foods, focusing on protein, focusing on good, good, healthy, healthy food as well.
COCHRANE: But the key to that the first step, have a talk to your doctor.
REPACHOLI: Yep. Have a chat to your doctor. Just break that barrier down. And as blokes and all the blokes that are listening to this station right now, please just go and talk to your doctor. Don't be afraid to talk to them. They're there to help us. We need to have these conversations with our GP. That's why they're trained to do that. That is their job. They're there to help us. We just need to be the ones that go in and initiate that help.
COCHRANE: That's why you're the Special Envoy for Men's Health. You're giving us the right direction there. I couldn't have a talk to you without broadening out on a couple of things, if I can please. You had our Defence Minister and Acting PM, Richard Marles with you the other day. Any chance that you spoke or you broadened out on the tensions in the Middle East, and what your thoughts are and what was said?
REPACHOLI: Look, there's a lot going on over there and a lot to unpack. And no matter how we look at this, it's a terrible, terrible situation. So, I'll let the Defence Minister speak about all of those issues, and the Foreign Minister, but no matter how you look at it, Dave, it is a terrible, terrible situation, and I hope that there's a resolution found where there can be a cease fire at some stage in the near future.
COCHRANE: Now, a quick one for you. I could not let you go without asking you this from my callers, because my callers want to know, they have a priority on our Prime Minister catching up with the President of the USA and talking about a couple of very important things that are on the cards for us. One of that is, of course, tariffs, and the other is the deal with the submarines. Is it a priority for the Prime Minister to try and talk to him, get some time with him?
REPACHOLI: Certainly is a priority for him to go and have a chat with him. And he's definitely been trying. Unfortunately, circumstances changed whilst he was at the G7 and that couldn't happen. But let's not forget, there was a lot of other meetings that were cancelled there, from Trump having to go back home. So, we'll continue to work hard to make sure that we can get a meeting with him in the near future and as soon as possible, because there is a lot of things that I know that Albo wants to talk to him about. So, and we'll make that happen.
COCHRANE: Alright. Hey, listen, it's been a real pleasure to talk to you today. I hope we can talk to you again in the near future, Dan.
REPACHOLI: Cheers, Dave and cheers, listeners. Have a good day and make sure you get out and see your GP and get a blood test.
COCHRANE: Love it. He is Australia's first Special Envoy for Men's Health. He's the Federal MP for the Hunter. His name's Dan Repacholi, and he's been our guest this morning on the Super Radio Network.