LABOR WELCOMES SUPPORT FOR CUREFEST

Labor welcomes Commonwealth support for the Kids Cancer Project CureFest which will bring thousands of Australians together in Sydney later this month to tackle childhood cancer.
 
There can be few more shattering events in a family’s life than to hear that a precious child has been diagnosed with cancer.
 
Sadly, Australia has one of the world’s highest incidences of childhood cancer with 600 children diagnosed every year, and 85 children dying from the disease.
 
CureFest will allow the Australian Childhood Cancer Community to come together for a day, share their stories and receive the support, and encouragement they need to win the battle against cancer.
 
For people with cancer in Australia right now the odds have never been better.
 
Our five year survival rates are the best in the world. Two thirds of people diagnosed with cancer in Australia are still alive five years after diagnosis.
 
These achievements have not come about by chance, they’ve come about by hard dedicated work by our cancer researchers, our medical specialists, and all the people who support them, either through the care they give cancer patients, or the work they do to raise the funds to ensure this work can continue.
 
I’m very proud to have been part of a government that recognised the importance of this work, committing nearly $4.1 billion to improve the prevention, detection and treatment of cancer.