DAN REPACHOLI, SPECIAL ENVOY FOR MEN’S HEALTH: G’day all. It’s an absolute pleasure to be here with the Health Minister Mark Butler, also Glenn McGrath, all the McGrath nurses, the people from the McGrath Foundation, and one of my good mates, Barry Du Bois as well. He knows just what it’s like for cancer. He knows what cancer care nurses do. And thank you for being here, all of you. This is such an important announcement today, and I can’t be happier. As a Special Envoy for Men’s Health, this is what this is all about. We want to have announcements like this that make a genuine difference to blokes in this country.
And that is what today is all about because when you hear those three words, you’ve got cancer, it is life changing and life shattering. And not only for you, but your family, your friends, your communities and everyone around you, and also your workplace. When you go and have those conversations and how you get back into the workplace, that’s why cancer care nurses are so important, because they’re there to have the conversations with you and your family to make sure that you’re on the right path that you need to be able to get the help along the way that you honestly truly need as well.
And prostate cancer has unfortunately affected over 28,000 Aussies last year in this country. We need to make sure that we’re getting the best care that they can get, and that’s what today is all about, making sure that Aussie blokes and their families are getting the care that they need, the care that they deserve.
That’s why I’m extremely proud to be standing here with Mark for the Albanese Labor Government to be delivering this today of $46.5 million going to the McGrath Cancer Care Nurses. This is a massive step forward for us, massive step forward for blokes in this country as well, to make sure that they are getting the care that they need. And the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia has done some great work in the past in this. And I take my hat off to them for doing what they've done with thousands of blokes all around the country and their families as well, and this is the next step. This is the next step of that to make sure that blokes are getting the best care that they need. Thank you all for being here today. Thank you to Mark, and I'll hand over to Mark right now. Thank you.
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Thanks everyone for joining us here today at the Royal North Shore, thank you to the RNS for hosting this really significant announcement. Three years ago, Glenn joined me at the SCG to announce our response to the Australian Cancer Plan. This was a plan for the next 10 years, or then the next 10 years to deal with the challenges and the opportunities that Cancer Australia saw on the horizon around treatment, models of care and the like for cancer.
This year we think around 170,000 Australians will receive that shocking diagnosis of a cancer from their doctor, and still tragically more than 50,000 Australians will lose their battle with the disease. We've made enormous inroads as a country in battling cancer, some of it through public health and healthier lifestyles, like the huge reduction in smoking rates, for example, but much of it also because of new treatments, new cutting edge treatments and models of care that provide Australians battling cancer and their families with new hope and a new chance of a long healthy life.
The Australian Cancer Plan, if it had one message, it was for government to do better around equity, for the country to do better around equity. And really that was about ensuring that the rising tide of amazing new medicines and amazing new models of care would lift all boats, would lift all cancer types and all patients. Yesterday I made a ground breaking announcement about a listing on the PBS of Keytruda. Keytruda is the biggest selling cancer drug on the planet. It has transformed the treatment of a number of different cancer types for literally millions of patients right around the world. And yesterday we announced that from tomorrow it will be listed for all cancer types and available to all patients no matter their cancer type based on the clinical judgement of their doctor.
Now, Christine Cockburn joined me at the Royal Adelaide Hospital yesterday, she runs Rare Cancers Australia. And patients with rare cancers have typically been the patients who miss out on these new amazing medicines. She talked about the forensic lottery in infusion chairs next to each other where two patients might be receiving exactly the same medicine, Keytruda. One would be paying a co-pay on the PBS of just $25. and the other patient who happened to have a rare cancer would be remortgaging their house, would have a GoFundMe page to raise the thousands, the tens of thousands of dollars necessary to fund that treatment.
Tomorrow for Keytruda that lottery ends. In March, that lottery ended for the other blockbuster immunotherapy, the other PD-1 inhibitor, Opdivo and Yervoy. This is ground-breaking stuff around our access to medicines. But we also want to see the tide lift all boats around new models of care. And that's why a recommendation of the Cancer Plan was to have a single, all cancer nurse and navigation model for all Australians who need nursing support during their battle with cancer.
What we found again was that some patients had terrific treatment, particularly the gold standard that has been provided for years now by the McGrath Foundation, while some patients, because of their cancer type, had relatively little access to that nursing support. I talked at the time about a really powerful story a woman told me in my own community in the western suburbs of Adelaide. She'd had breast cancer and survived it and felt enormously supported and well informed through her McGrath nurse. And then, having survived that, had a different type of cancer diagnosis and had entirely a different experience.
We announced back in 2023, we would accept that recommendation from the Cancer Plan, and implement a single all cancer nursing model. Over the last couple of years, we've progressively expanded the McGrath program to cover melanoma, lung cancer, a range of other cancer types as well. We've provided additional funding to the McGrath Foundation. Cricket fans will remember, I'm sure Glenn will talk about this, that the last couple of Pink Test have now been all cancer nurse tests, and I think that sends the most amazing message from this foundation and from the McGrath family's legacy, to embrace all patients, to take on that challenge from the cancer plan, for the tide to lift all boats.
Today we're announcing really the latest chapter in that story, the extension of the McGrath Foundation model, the best practice, a world leading model to prostate cancer patients as well, giving Australian men battling prostate cancer access to this gold standard nursing program alongside patients with all other cancer types. As Dan said, the Prostate Cancer Foundation has provided some terrific support over the last number of years through their nursing program, but it is the right thing to bring that program into the all cancer program. The Prostate Cancer Foundation along with 11 other tumour specific or cancer specific organisations will continue to provide the telehealth support program, which is the other tier of support that I announced alongside Glenn back in 2023.
I want to thank Glenn and the foundation and all of the amazing nurses, including the all cancer nurses that are working with the McGrath Foundation, for taking on the challenge of this vision, taking on the work necessary to implement that challenge that the cancer plan outlined, to have all patients, no matter where they live, no matter what their cancer type, being able to access the best medicines and the best models of care available in a country like Australia.
I'll hand over to Glenn now.
GLENN MCGRATH, PRESIDENT, CO-FOUNDER, MCGRATH FOUNDATION: Thank you, Minister. Thank you for those words. And it's great to be up here. Standing behind me, we've got some of our McGrath Cancer Care Nurses, for this announcement to be here with them, even more proud. But I’m incredibly grateful to the Australian government for their continued commitment to improving cancer care in Australia. And I think this announcement is incredibly important because it shows just how important that care is, and sort of moving forward and ensuring every Australian or all Australians has access to specialist nursing care when they need it the most.
We understand that we can’t do this alone. The stats are one in two people in Australia in their lifetime will be diagnosed with cancer, and those stats are pretty scary. And to me, that means we need to collaborate more now than we ever have. I think every Australian needs to ensure- or we need to ensure every Australian has access to that incredible care.
I also think that nursing care alongside with our partners in the cancer sector is now more important than ever. We’re walking towards the Australian Cancer Nursing Navigation Program to ensure the outcomes of cancer patients are even better now than what they have in the past. I really believe that you shouldn’t be discriminated against because of where you live and what type of cancer you receive. I think it’s even more important, as I said, that Australians have access to specialist nursing care where they live. I look at our nurses, and as I said, it's even more important to collaborate and work alongside everyone in the cancer sector as we work towards the plan of ensuring no one goes through cancer without that support. I think one in two people, as I said, go through cancer in their lifetime, and the most commonly diagnosed cancer is prostate cancer. So to work alongside our nurses to ensure men going through prostate cancer have that support where they live is incredibly important.
I know firsthand the difference of having a Cancer Care Nurse and what it means to the individual, what it means to the family. I know Jane always said to go through that and have someone there every step of the way, as much or as little as you need them, to know what's coming up next. to help make informed decisions, even a shoulder to cry on, was one of the most amazing gifts you can give someone at that time in their life. You know, I know the Minister mentioned the word cancer and the fear associated with cancer, to have one of- a Cancer Care Nurse there makes the world of difference. And I guess I'm fairly lucky, I get to speak to people pretty much on a daily basis. They come up, they share their story with me of their journey through cancer, and then they say they've had one of our McGrath nurses. And they say the positive difference it made in their life is incredible, and they say they don't know how they would have got through it without that support. And to me, that tells me exactly what our nurses mean and why we do what we do. It's not about us. It's about the people going through cancer, their families, our nurses, and providing the best possible support that we can do.
This announcement today, I think, speaks volumes. It allows us, I think, to work towards more equitable care and more nationally consistent cancer care, I think is the right word. And I think that's very important, consistent care, quality care across the board is absolutely amazing. And this announcement today, very proud to be standing here. We currently have 423 nurses. That will increase, and our amazing nurses behind me here, you'll see that grow and grow. And I think we understand we can't do that by ourselves. This announcement today is absolutely incredible, and we'll get more nurses out there and continue to get more nurses out there. But the Australian public over the years have been absolutely incredible. But to get to where we need to get to, I think we're pretty lucky in this country. We're doing a bit of a needs assessment at the moment to see how many nurses we need to cover the whole country. That's going to be well over a thousand nurses, so you can still see that we have a long way to go. That support and that continued support from the Australian public has been absolutely incredible.
And as Minister Butler said, the Pink Test, we just got through our 19th Pink Test in January. The last two years when we announced that we're now providing nurses to provide that support to all cancers, I think the public really got behind and spoke, and the support the last two years have been even better than before. A huge thank you to the Australian public, a huge thank you to Minister Butler. to Minister Repacholi, and especially our nurses for the work they do day in, day out.
So it's my privilege now to pass over to Kerry Patford, our Chief Nurse at the McGrath Foundation, to say a few words as well.
KERRY PATFORD, CHIEF NURSE, MCGRATH FOUNDATION: In my role as the Chief Nurse at the McGrath Foundation, it is my great privilege to work alongside the 423 nurses that we have placed across the country, caring for people with all different types of cancer at all stages of care. Nothing prepares you for hearing the words that you have cancer. There is no other life event that creates a safe place or a piece of peace during that time. Your life is filled with chaos, uncertainties, fear, not just for yourself or your future, but for those that love you the most. There is an enormous amount of chaos, and this is where the McGrath Cancer Nurses do their best work to take the chaos and crisis out of a cancer diagnosis.
They are able to sit with a person and really understand them, what they need, what their family needs, regardless of whatever stage of care that they are in, what they need to live as well as they possibly can in and around the treatments, after treatments, and caring for those with advanced disease. We co-facilitate multidisciplinary care, making sure that the cancer care team is across what the patient is. We are the patient’s best advocate.
We created a McGrath model of care that we released earlier this year. This model of care was based on interactions of over 815 episodes of talking to people and learning what it was like to have a cancer experience, what it was like to care for someone with cancer, what it was like to be a clinician within the cancer care network, and what it was like to care for people within the specialist cancer support services. What we found was that people wanted to be heard. They wanted to have confidence in their cancer care team. They wanted to be informed of what was coming next. They wanted to be included, and they wanted those that they love the most to be included as well. This evidence-informed practice of the McGrath models of care meets those needs.
Interestingly, when speaking to men, they often said how they needed to maintain that exterior of strength and didn't want to sort of become a burden on their family or those they love the most. We know that this impacts on a person's wellness and how they feel not only at the time, but in the long term. McGrath Cancer Care Nurses provide that safe space where men can freely express their concerns, create conversations about their physical and mental health, and what they need to live as well as possible at whatever stage they are in, whatever type of cancer they have and where they live. Thanks so much. I'm going to hand over to Barry.
BARRY DU BOIS: It was 2011, I was diagnosed with cancer for the very first time. I heard a few words, I'm sure I did, but most of it was a bit of a blur. In actual fact, I realised the only thing I realised at that time was that the future I had planned for myself and the thoughts and the dreams, the aspirations I had, well, they were completely changed. It was just a blur and it was in a language that seemed to shout things at me. I didn't only have to learn this new language, but I had to make some of the biggest decisions of my life based on those, that new language and this new space that I was in.
It was a very overwhelming time for me. There's no doubt about it. And like most blokes, unfortunately, I didn't adapt to that situation very well. I loved the facade that I had. Strong, robust man that could take on anything, but all of a sudden I'm petrified. I'm really scared and just didn't know where to go. You know, what I do remember though, this is really important, was the really constant human moments that came to me through that journey.
I was, it was my second cancer. I'm going to share this with you. The second cancer in 2017, now multiple myeloma right through my body. I was preparing for a big day of treatment ahead. But I'd spent the night staring at the ceiling, wondering what or wondering how my children could live without a father if this didn't work out. The nurse that came to me in the morning to set me off on that journey, that day, she said: “you've had a tough night. Why don't I remake your bed? We'll sit and have a cup of tea and we'll talk through what's going to happen today.” She put her hand on my arm and I was weak. I'd been going through a chemo for ages. No hair, I was down on my weight.
She helped me out of the bed. She made the bed and a cuppa. And then took a time just to share with me what was going to happen next, and she explained it in a way that I could understand it, and I felt that I could tell her I was struggling, and I did. It's a tough time. But having that sort of expertise in what I was about to go through wrapped so beautifully in a package of compassionate humanity. That's what gives us the extra energy required to make it through that tough journey.
And there's no doubt about it. When you're diagnosed with cancer, it's a solace journey. You're on your own. You're in your own fight, but you have a lot of support with you. And for me, what today's announcement does it shows us that, yeah, sure, we're warriors and we're facing this battle on our own. But with the care and compassion of the McGrath Foundation of all cancers nurses, and the backing of the Government, which is just so incredible, we are warriors that feel that we've got a full army behind us now. And having that army behind us means we're more likely to thrive sooner and get back into society where we believe.
I'm going to say this, Dan touched on it, and everybody said it in a certain way that at some stage of your life, you're going to hear the words or say the words, I've got cancer. When you hear or have to say those words, you're going to be very thankful for today's announcement and the work that comes through that. Thank you very much to the Ministry and thank you very much to the McGrath Foundation.
JOURNALIST: Yes. In January, $213 million was dedicated to this program. Is this announcement today, the $46.5, part of that $213 million announcement in January?
BUTLER: No, this is on top. The five-year funding to the foundation will be in the order of $260 million, adding those two sums from 2027. You'll see a progressive increase in the number of Commonwealth funded nurses over the course of that program, which will get we think up to about 440 by the end of that five-year period.
JOURNALIST: And why prostate cancer? Because obviously, men also get other types of cancers. Why prostate cancer announcement today?
BUTLER: As I said in my opening we've progressively been moving different nurse programs into the all cancer nurse program overseen by McGrath. The prostate cancer program which obviously is quite big given the number of Australian men who are diagnosed with prostate cancer is the latest of those. As I've said, we've moved lung and melanoma, two very big cancer types, into the McGrath Foundation as well. As I think Kerry said, there was a lot of work done by the foundation over the last developed this all cancer model of care. It was highly collaborative. I attended round tables that the McGrath Foundation was holding all of the other cancer organisations to develop this. We all have a very high level of confidence that the model of care being applied is just as applicable to prostate as it is to melanoma, breast, or some of the rarer types of cancer that are covered by this terrific foundation.
And I make the point, as Cancer Australia advises me, that having an all cancer nursing support services, now seen as international best practice. You'll see this in other countries, the United Kingdom for example, they've moved to an all cancer nursing program of this type. You obviously get efficiencies of scale in particular hospitals, but you also, ensure this was really the core reason why I first engaged Glenn and the Foundation to do this, to ensure that no one's left out, that there are no gaps in the system, whether it's new medicines or new models of care like this, we don't want to see just some cancer patients getting the best possible support. We want to see all cancer patients.
JOURNALIST: Just to shift onto motor neurone disease, it's now from tomorrow a notifiable condition in New South Wales. Should this be a national notifiable system instead of just New South Wales going it alone? Because it is a problematic disease.
BUTLER: Yeah, and we've been working really hard over the last little while to ensure that our Commonwealth systems are as responsive as possible to this condition. They're not big numbers of patients, but it's obviously a very rapid onset that patients experience. In our NDIS system and most recently, I announced along with Minister Rae in our aged care system there are expedited pathways for patients with MND to be assessed very quickly and provided with the support either through the NDIS or through aged care very quickly as well.
Obviously, we're leaning very heavily into research, given the legacy of the Neale Daniher work. I was delighted to be able to announce a $40 million investment with Neale on the last of the- really during the last week of his time as Australian of the Year. And that's a really important legacy of Neale’s to make sure Australia continues its place as really one of the world's leaders in our understanding or developing our understanding insidious condition.
Now, as to the way in which the New South Wales health system is dealing with this, I'm meeting with all health ministers next week. It's obviously preferable from a Commonwealth point of view that there is consistency across jurisdictions. Certainly, if it's dealing with the notifiability of particular diseases, that's a national system ideally. It may well be that Minister Park wants to bring something to our discussion when we meet, not next week, actually, later this week here in Sydney. That's an opportunity for the New South Wales health system to raise that.
JOURNALIST: He would very much, the Minister did say he would very much like the national [indistinct].
BUTLER: We've got an opportunity only this week, we've got a couple of days to get all of the jurisdictions, health ministers, so we'll have that opportunity.
JOURNALIST: Great, thank you.
BUTLER: That's all. Thank you.
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