Source: Prime Minister of Australia
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Good morning, everyone. It is such a pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health to my electorate today for an incredibly important announcement. First of all, we’re here for the official opening of the Institute for Musculoskeletal Health. That is a wonderful thing in itself, but the Prime Minister’s got an additional announcement that he’ll make in a moment. I just want to remind people that we’ve got just up the road here, the amazing, world-leading Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Cancer Centre. That was a Labor Government investment. Down the road here, we’ve got the Charles Perkins Centre. Like this new institute, it’s a collaboration between Sydney University and the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Again, that was a Labor investment. It’s only ever Labor that invests big time in health and medical research that leaves a legacy for future generations. Thanks.
< ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER:
I grew up just down the road here about a hundred metres away, and my mother suffered from rheumatoid arthritis. She suffered for a long period of time. She would have turned 90 on Monday, but she passed away at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital at just age 65. She was spent. She had such a difficult life and didn’t get the treatment that’s available today and didn’t get the treatment that she deserved in part because I think being a single mum, she didn’t have the same capacity to just have people fighting. And she was very generous in trying out new treatments as well. She was healthier, though, after getting appropriate treatment in her later years than she was perhaps when she was just in her forties. But it inhibited her capacity to even use a knife and fork or write or to be able to use her hands or her feet. She was in pain each and every day. She was one of those people though who never, ever, ever complained about her lot in life. She was very generous towards people. And so many of the people who, when I was growing up who were suffering from similar conditions were just like that. They just got on with life. But life is really tough for people with these conditions, and we need to do better. And I pay tribute today to the researchers, the doctors, the nurses, all those health professionals who look after others to improve their lives. I’ve seen how people can suffer very much firsthand, but I also know that with the right care and support, people can have a better quality of life.
And that’s why my Government is stepping up with a new hundred-million-dollar investment over 10 years in a new Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Conditions Research Mission. This will make an incredible difference to people. There has been substantial people come to see me and to see the Health Minister over the last couple of years arguing that this is something because it impacts more than seven million Australians is really worthy of this support and I’m very pleased that this will, I’m sure, create real change for Australians suffering from arthritis. We want Australian researchers working on better treatments, earlier diagnosis, and better outcomes for patients. And this is a practical investment that will make a real difference to people’s lives.
It’s consistent with what my Government prioritises, which is healthcare, putting Medicare at the centre of the health system, whether it be the new $25 billion that was the largest additional investment in our budget that we just handed down for public hospital funding throughout states and territories, whether it’s the 137 Urgent Care Clinics that we have opened. The now the 3,800 GP clinics that are fully bulk billed, the $25 medicines on the PBS, all of this fits together to prioritise better health outcomes for Australians. There’s no more important role that Government can play and I’m very proud of the work that my Government has done and in particular to single out Mark Butler, the work that he has done as Health Minister working with the sector. And this is another example, working with the University of Sydney, working with Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. We’re going to hear from Sharyce, who’s an arthritis consumer advocate, then from Louise Hardy, the CEO of Arthritis Australia, and then from Professor Peter Youssef, a senior staff specialist in rheumatology at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital and then from the Minister and then we’re happy to take some questions. But Sharyce, I want to particularly give you a shout out. It’s really important that consumers are prepared to speak about their life experience. It’s brave to do so. But I’m very pleased that you’ve joined us here today.
< SHARYCE HELYAR, ADVOCATE:
So, it has been a journey definitely and I’m so grateful for this funding because this will improve the lives of me and anyone who’s diagnosed in the future. And my journey has been really challenging and I obviously don’t have time to go into everything, but if the people who are diagnosed in the future are able to have a journey that is more streamlined and is just overall not as challenging, then that’s all I can hope for because I wouldn’t wish my journey on anyone. So again, I want to thank Prime Minister, the Health Minister and Arthritis Australia, because this gives me hope for my future, what it will look like, and for the future of other Australians living with arthritis and musculoskeletal conditions. So, thank you.
< LOUISE HARDY, ARTHRITIS AUSTRALIA CEO:
< PROFESSOR PETER YOUSSEF:
I think this funding has come at a crucial time in arthritis and musculoskeletal research in Australia. We have world-leading researchers looking for cures for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus. We also have world-leading researchers in back pain, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, exercise, and also falls prevention and the best ways to use medicines, but really we need research into cures and we’ve set up a biobank that requires ongoing funding and hopefully some of this money will be used for that. But I think most importantly for me is that we have a highly intelligent and very motivated group of early and mid-career researchers who I think will now have some certainty in their work and will be able to continue working in research. I think this is really the value of this funding and I think at the end of all of this, we’ll have new cost-effective models of care that really will help everyone. I think that this funding is visionary and I would really like to, again, to thank the Prime Minister and the Minister for this significant funding. Thank you.
< MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH:
But in spite of those enormous achievements, what we have found is sometimes a lack of balance in the research effort and this is a classic case of that. Per person, the NHMRC funding of research for arthritis probably ranks at about $6 per person affected by the conditions compared to cardiovascular disease, cancer, dementia and such like, which can be anywhere between $70 or $110 per person. And that’s really the beauty of the MRFF, because it allows government to create missions to determine priorities and then to allow the usual peer reviewed competitive process to take place to decide upon research projects. And that’s what we’re doing today.
Arthritis, as the Prime Minister and everyone else has said, is one of the most widespread chronic conditions alongside mental health in our community and we need to do more to understand the causes of it and the best way to treat it. And hopefully, as Peter said, one day cure some of these conditions. And that’s what this Mission will do. We haven’t plucked it out of thin air. I want to stress how much work Arthritis Australia has done to put this work together over a couple of years. It is compelling work that they’ve put together with the support of Research Australia. We know we’ve kicked the tyres on it very compellingly and we’re very confident that it will be a mission that makes real change for the lives of millions of Australians and given the way in which Australia leads in this area across the world for people right across Australia as well.
The hundred million dollars that the Prime Minister has announced is part of an increase in health and medical research funding of more than half a billion dollars that we announced in the last Budget. Already we’ve been able to announce additional funding for projects, world leading projects in epilepsy, in diabetes, in precision oncology and cancer, and to fund a new childhood and young adult cancer plan as well. So already we are adding real value to an already fantastic health and medical research effort in Australia, and I’m delighted the Prime Minister has been able to announce this today.
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The announcement here today is an example of my Government and the work that we’re doing in health, for example, of the half a billion dollars extra for medical research that was in our Budget together with the $25 billion additional hospital funding, the making Urgent Care Clinics permanent, going forward making a difference, the tripling of the bulk billing incentive for GPs, the Cheaper Medicines making a difference for people’s living standards as well.
Pauline Hanson and One Nation have voted against all of the improvements that have been made on living standards, have described things like free TAFE as being “waste”, have opposed measures such as Same Job, Same Pay. The Labor party was the only party that put in a submission to the Fair Work Commission about a rise in the minimum wage, which occurred just a couple of weeks ago. So, we’ll continue to be concentrating on good policy and we won’t be distracted from making a difference each and every day that we’re in Government.
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After Port Arthur, the country came together on this issue. It’s a pity that in the Senate, for example, the three right wing parties all voted against this, but the National Party, of course, and One Nation, two thirds of the right wing parties voted against everything post Bondi having demanded that Parliament be resumed, having demanded the action be taken, they then voted against it and knocked off the leader of the Liberal Party and the leader of the National Party in the weeks following. That says it all about the dysfunction. The next election is two years away, but it’s very clear that what it will be about is Labor as the only mainstream party that is concerned with everyday Australians and making a difference that’s prepared to govern across the suite of policy issues to make a difference for people’s lives, whether it’s strengthening Medicare, better access to education, access to housing for young Australians not making it something of the past, making sure an economy that grows, making sure that people get skills and training as well for the jobs of the future, the clean energy transition, making sure that we bring in new industries, a Future Made in Australia supporting Australian manufacturing. That’s what my Government will be presenting. On the other side, there’ll be three right wing parties all competing against each other for a race to the bottom. Thanks.