Cancer Survival

Ms LYLEA McMAHON: My question without notice is to the Minister Assisting the Minister for Health (Cancer). Can the Minister update the House on the latest cancer survival information in New South Wales, particularly how New South Wales compares with the rest of Australia and other countries in cancer care?

Ms VERITY FIRTH: I am pleased to inform the House that there are very few places in the world where a person's chances of beating cancer are as high as they are in New South Wales.

Mrs Jillian Skinner: You need more radiotherapy services.

Ms VERITY FIRTH: Radiotherapy services are part of the reason we are getting those results. This is a key finding from a major study by the Cancer Institute of New South Wales entitled "Survival from Cancer in NSW: 1980 to 2003". This comprehensive report compares cancer survival in New South Wales with rates in the rest of Australia, New Zealand, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and other countries. Research shows that today 63 per cent of people diagnosed with cancer in New South Wales will be alive five years after they are diagnosed, with many cured of the disease. In 1980 fewer than half of those diagnosed with cancer survived that long.

For the most common cancers, such as prostate cancer, breast cancer and melanoma, survival in New South Wales is now better than 88 per cent. The New South Wales five-year survival rate of 63 per cent for all cancers is better than the rate in Victoria, which is 61 per cent. It is better than the rate for Australia as a whole, which is 60 per cent, and it is substantially better than the rate in the United Kingdom, where just 50 per cent of cancer patients survive five years beyond diagnosis.

New South Wales is now comparable with world leaders in cancer care. We are now up there with the United States of America, with 55.7 per cent, and Sweden, with 64.7 per cent. In cancer survival, the New South Wales health system can proudly take its place among the very best in the world. The fundamental goal of a health system is to treat and cure patients. The detailed comparison of cancer survival is evidence of the incredible improvements the New South Wales health system has delivered since 1980.

THE SPEAKER: Order! The Deputy Leader of the Opposition will cease interjecting and be ready to seek the call for the next question.

Ms VERITY FIRTH: The chances of surviving cancer are 14 per cent better today than they were in 1980. Since 1980 survival from prostate cancer, which is our most common cancer, has improved 29 percentage points. Today the chances of surviving prostate cancer are 88.5 per cent. Breast cancer rates have improved by 15 percentage points. The chances of surviving breast cancer today are 88.4 per cent. The chances of surviving bowel cancer are 65 per cent today, compared to just 50 per cent in 1980.

The remarkable results documented in the survival report put paid to the recent claims by the New South Wales Opposition about the state of the New South Wales public health system. The strong improvements are a direct outcome of our significant investment in cancer care in New South Wales that now totals over $1 billion annually. Today cancer patients in New South Wales benefit from greater access to new drugs and therapies and are diagnosed and treated by teams of highly qualified professionals using the latest technology and techniques.

Radiotherapy by linear accelerator machines is recommended for approximately 50 per cent of cancer patients. Following a substantial investment in new medical infrastructure by the Labor Government, New South Wales now has more linear accelerators per head of population than most comparable jurisdictions worldwide. New South Wales has more linear accelerators per head of population than Victoria, Queensland, Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. We beat all of those jurisdictions in terms of access to cancer services. I am advised that over the past 10 years patients' access to radiotherapy in New South Wales has increased by 34 per cent.

While New South Wales is among the best in the world in the control and cure of cancer, there is almost always more work to be done in both improving survival rates for very common cancers I have mentioned and for cancers which have poor survival rates. We know there are still cancers that we need to work on that have poor survival rates, such as lung, brain, liver and pancreatic cancers that have survival rates at lower than 20 per cent. A diagnosis of lung cancer, with just a 14 per cent survival rate, is the State's fifth-most common cancer diagnosis. I am advised that an estimated 80 per cent of lung cancers are caused by smoking. That is why, as part of the Government's cancer plan and as part of the Cancer Institute's activity in this area, we are absolutely committed to reducing smoking prevalence. Our State Plan's targets dictate that we have to get smoking down, and we have to get it down by 1 per cent per annum if we really want to attack cancer and reduce rates of lung cancer.

This year the Government allocated $17.5 million to tobacco control programs. The Government continues to invest in hard-hitting quit smoking campaigns, which in 2006 contributed to a record 2.4 per cent annual decline in smoking rates. Previously we had never seen declines in smoking rates comparable with those recorded in 2006. That brought smoking rates down to 17.7 per cent, among the lowest in the world. Our smoking rates in New South Wales are 2 per cent lower than those of Victoria. Our rates are the lowest in the world, a direct result of the considerable public investment in our health system and in cancer care.

THE SPEAKER: Order! I call the Leader of The Nationals to order.

Ms VERITY FIRTH: We are also investing in sun protection awareness to slow down the increase in melanoma diagnoses. Later this year a program will be rolled out to increase awareness of the dangers of unsafe exposure to ultraviolet radiation. A new public education campaign aims to challenge pro-tanning attitudes and encourage better sun protection, particularly among young people but especially among our young women. As well as investing significantly in prevention and responding to the care needs of those who have already been diagnosed with cancer, the New South Wales Government most importantly will continue to invest in research which brings us closer to an effective cure. In recent years we have invested $48 million in cancer research, with a further $97 million allocated over the next four years. We are taking steps to increase to 10 per cent the rate of new cancer patients participating in cancer clinical trials.

I am sure people have read in the paper that investment in cancer research is paying enormous dividends for the future. Just this month we learned of a major discovery by New South Wales cancer researcher, Professor Phil Hogg. He has developed a special dye which can quickly determine whether cancer treatments are actually destroying cancer cells. The benefit for patients of this discovery should be the provision of shorter and more effective cancer treatments. The New South Wales Government directly supports Professor Hogg and his team with $3.7 million in funding to take research findings from the laboratory to the clinic for the benefit of patient. In the New South Wales State Plan the Labor Government is committed to improving survival rates and quality of life for people with chronic illnesses. The report shows that we are delivering on that commitment.

I acknowledge the special needs of cancer patients. The Government believes in a strong public health system and is working to further improve cancer survival outcomes. In conclusion, I pay tribute to the exceptional medical professionals, nurses and cancer researchers who make up the New South Wales cancer care system and who dedicate tireless effort to helping others to survive cancer. They work day in, day out in our public and private hospitals helping cancer patients to survive a diagnosis that strikes at the very heart of those who get it. Yet here are our people at the frontline, helping them with the Government's support. I commend the report "Survival from Cancer in New South Wales: 1980 to 2003" to the Parliament and to the people of New South Wales.