TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION
SHADOW MINISTER FOR WOMEN
MEMBER FOR SYDNEY
CATHERINE KING MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND MEDICARE
MEMBER FOR BALLARAT
LABOR’S INVESTMENT IN OVARIAN CANCER RESEARCH
A Shorten Labor Government will build on its commitment to ovarian cancer research by matching the fundraising target for the Silver Lining Ride.
The Ovarian Cancer Research Foundation aims to raise $150,000 through the second Silver Lining Ride, which will see 12 riders tackle the 7-day 700km journey from Canberra to Melbourne.
The event was inspired by two friends – Mandy Herbert and Helen Hatzis – who lost their battles with ovarian cancer within weeks of each other in 2016.
They were themselves formidable fundraisers for this cause, raising $400,000 for ovarian cancer research. The Silver Lining Ride is a way to honour their legacy.
Labor will commit $150,000 for the Foundation, matching their fundraising target and helping them in their bid to develop an early detection screening for this terrible disease.
Every year approximately 1,500 Australian women are diagnosed with ovarian cancer – most of them with an advanced stage of the disease because of the lack of effective early screening.
As a result, the five year survival rate for Australian women with ovarian cancer is just 43 per cent. That compares to a 90 per cent five year survival rate for breast cancer.
One Australian woman dies from this disease every eight hours.
The Foundation’s research is also aimed at improving treatment methods, so that even those diagnosed in the later stages of the disease will have a better quality of life.
Labor’s latest commitment follows a $12 million ovarian cancer research investment announced in February.
This investment will see the creation of a National Ovarian Cancer Registry; support the development of the Australian Ovarian Cancer Study’s world leading tissue bank to deepen research efforts into prevention and treatment; and fund new clinical trials.
In Government, Labor invested more than $3.5 billion to combat cancer. A Shorten Labor Government will build on this record through commitments like this one.
MONDAY, 22 OCTOBER 2018