Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Skin cancer

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:06): (1618) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Health. I am alarmed to see that there has not been any funding for some preventative health measures, and really the Allan Labor government has been missing in action when it comes to preventative health. It is a very important part of our health system, keeping Victorians out of the hospital and also taking the burden off the health system. What I am really concerned about is the lack of support for paid public education to remind Victorians about sun smart initiatives. As we know, skin cancer, especially in Australia, has a very high prevalence, affecting a huge amount of not only Victorians but Australians. It remains a significant burden on our health system.

Initial analysis from the Economics of Cancer Collaboration revealed that in 2021–22 skin cancer accounted for 51,171 hospital bed days and 19,532 hospitalisations. In regional Victoria there is a significant issue: regional Victorians are around 54 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with melanoma than those living in metropolitan areas. In 2023 alone there were more than 164,000 treatments for non-melanoma skin cancers and approximately 3000 newly diagnosed melanomas. SunSmart programs are incredibly important, and public education campaigns have in the past proven to be extremely effective in educating Victorians about the need to be sun smart. But under the Allan Labor government, because of the economic situation and the dire situation of our budget, there has been no funding – it has ceased. There was nothing that occurred in the summer that has just gone by. There is no capacity for that education to go out to remind Victorians of the importance of sun protection. The last time there was a campaign was in 2022–23, which was the Don’t Let Cancer In campaign, which focused on Victorian adults aged 30 to 49, including some of those high-risk populations.

The action I am asking is for the minister to ensure that funding is restored to this very important campaign around sun protection and the prevention of cancer, and I am looking forward to seeing that in the upcoming budget.