Women’s Health Services

For Too Long, Women Experiencing Chronic Pelvic Pain Have Been Overlooked

I'm moving this motion today because, for too long, women experiencing chronic pelvic pain and endometriosis have been dismissed, overlooked or told that what they are experiencing is somewhat normal. In my community one local woman, Alana, knows exactly what that feels like.

For years, Alana experienced debilitating pelvic pain—pain that affected her quality of life, pain that disrupted her daily routine, pain that should have been taken seriously. Instead of answers, support and a pathway to diagnosis, Alana was told something many women hear far too often: just take a Panadol. Imagine hearing that while living with chronic pain. Imagine being told to push through it, to wait, to accept it. Alana's story is deeply personal, but it is not unique. Imagine being told, when you just missed a week of work because of that pain, that this would happen regularly and often, that your capacity to earn for your family would be diminished and that your pain would be ignored. I want to thank Alana for sharing her story with me and the Prime Minister when he visited the Werribee Endometriosis and Pelvic Pain Clinic in February.

Endometriosis affects at least one in seven Australian women. It can cause chronic pain and fertility challenges and have profound impacts on education, employment, relationships and everyday life. Women wait, on average, around seven years for a diagnosis. That's seven years of uncertainty, seven years of pain, seven years of feeling unheard. Chronic pelvic pain has devastating impacts not only on individuals and families but on our economy too, costing Australia an estimated $6 billion every year. For too long, women were denied the support they deserve, and that is why Labor's investment in women's health matters and why Labor delivering for women's health absolutely matters in communities across the country.

Labor's women's health package, worth nearly $800 million, is delivering more choice, lower costs and better health care for women and girls across Australia. Importantly, we're building something that did not previously exist: an Australia-wide support system for women experiencing endometriosis and chronic pelvic pain. We've delivered an additional 11 clinics, taking the national network to 33 across Australia, improving access in both metropolitan and regional communities. Every primary health network region now has access to these services. Importantly for women in Melbourne's west, one of those clinics is in Werribee. That matters. It matters because, for women like Alana, access matters, being listened to matters, having healthcare professionals who understand pelvic pain matters, and having multidisciplinary care and a pathway to diagnosis matters.

These clinics were established to improve access to timely care for people experiencing endometriosis and persistent pelvic pain, because women deserve better than being told to simply put up with pain, and we are already seeing the results. The initial network of clinics had already supported more than 10,000 women and girls and delivered more than 28,000 services for endometriosis and persistent pelvic pain conditions, but this work goes beyond clinics. We're supporting updated evidence-based clinical guidelines. We're developing an endometriosis management plan to better support patients and healthcare providers. We continue to fund EndoZone, a digital platform providing information, resources, symptom tracking and access to the latest research, and we are making health care more affordable. Since introducing the Labor women's healthcare package, more than 800,000 women have accessed over three million cheaper PBS prescriptions covering contraceptives, menopausal hormone therapies and endometriosis treatments. More than 8,000 women with endometriosis have already benefited from cheaper treatment options that previously placed major financial pressure on women and families. This matters in my electorate.

We're also making Medicare work better for women, with improved specialist access, longer consultations for complex issues and greater support for gynaecological care. This is a government that cares about women's health, that is delivering for women's health.