00:00:00
S1: Lots of sport going on in Brisbane tonight, but there is a war on the south side which involves sport going to get into that between now and for quite a controversial story. This is, I think, a very important story, particularly for the half of us who happen to be blokes in our in our world. A new national effort to eliminate prostate cancer deaths has been launched at Parliament House in Canberra today. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia has announced the establishment of a committee for the Elimination of Prostate Cancer. Frankly, you might say oh, another committee? No, this is actually serious because it actually highlights just how important it is to get the act together, because there is a way of dealing with this. And we blokes, we really should be asking our mates, have they had that chick? Do they get that PSA? Do they get the, the, the, the actual benchmarks? Do they know what's going on in their nether regions? So important. The committee will develop a coordinated roadmap to end avoidable deaths from the cancer. Now it's being chaired by somebody who has some deeply personal reasons about this. He's the former deputy prime minister of Australia, Wayne Swan, the Honourable Wayne Swan, former member for Lilley. And he joins me now. Wayne, you and I used to love sparring each other. I've known you for 40 years, but I absolutely respect your involvement with this. I think I think what you're trying to do here is absolutely on the money. So tell us all about what the committee is going to do.
00:01:21
S2: Well, it's also cross party. Jim Lloyd, who was the former member for Robertson, was at our launch today. And you may well recall that Jim Lloyd and I raised all these matters in the Parliament way back in 2003. I remember after I'd been diagnosed. And, you know, sadly since then, we have not made as much progress in awareness about prostate cancer and the avoidance of deaths, deaths that we have made across many other forms of cancer, like breast cancer or bowel cancer or whatever. So we desperately need to get a very strong awareness campaign going so that men who are at risk realize that they are at risk because this is one of those silent killers. Many people don't understand that if you have a first degree relative who has had prostate cancer, then you have a 1 in 2 chance of having prostate prostate cancer at some stage stage of your life. There's something like about a million men in Australia who would have a first degree relative with prostate cancer, many of whom don't know that they are at risk of prostate cancer and that they should be getting tested, particularly over the age of 50.
00:02:30
S1: And so, Wayne Swan, people sort of make jokes about the idea of, you know, the physical test. That's just not the case. I get tested all the time only because I think it's really important. And I get a blood test every time I get a blood test, I get a PSA test. So I know exactly where I'm mapped, I know where things.
00:02:49
S2: Are at, and that's where we want to get to. Gary. Yeah, that's.
00:02:52
S1: What.
00:02:52
S2: Everybody should be doing, particularly above a certain age. But if they are in that group where they are at risk. They should be very conscious of this, you see. When I was diagnosed, despite the fact that my father had died, you know, quite a painful death from prostate cancer, I had absolutely no knowledge that I was directly at risk. I was only sort of given a PSA test as an afterthought by a switched on GP. I didn't go there complaining of any particular symptoms to do with cancer. And and when when I was diagnosed, it turned out I had a very, very strong cancer. And if I hadn't moved very quickly, then I wouldn't be here today.
00:03:32
S1: Yeah, I do remember that well. And I, Jim Lloyd has his own story as well. I know Jim, I catch up with him from time to time, and I think it's so important the work that you're wanting to do here. How hard is it, though, to say to blokes, blokes like to say, oh, we're bulletproof. She'll be right. I'll have another beer. Don't worry about it. No, you've got to actually do was actually I won't name who it was, was a bloke with a strong Labour Party connection I worked with on a committee and he said to me, he said, mate, have you had your. Have you had your prostate checked? And so he actually got me onto this about 20 years ago. I'm not I'm not feeling like I'm at risk, but I want to make sure. I want to monitor. I want to get ahead of it. Wayne Swan.
00:04:09
S2: Yes. Well, take breast cancer. They there's there's, there are awareness programs involving hundreds of millions of dollars for breast cancer and good on our sisters for getting in place. What is, you know, some world class public policy when it comes to awareness and when it comes to testing and so on. But we just don't have that infrastructure for prostate cancer. There is a particular group in parts of the medical profession who argue a line that you don't need regular testing, and that it's a waste, and they're wrong, but they're having a damaging impact in terms of holding back the type of programs that exist for other cancers.
00:04:48
S1: So you can get it put onto the bottom end of any blood test. So if the doctor said, I just want to, you know, see what's going on here, throw the PSA in there. it is done.
00:04:57
S2: But you may have to pay for it. You may have to pay for it. And that's not necessarily always the case when these matters are a priority. So we want all of that on the table to be discussed openly and then to be funded over time, so we can get some parity between between the cancers and the funding of testing and, and awareness.
00:05:17
S1: I mean, John's sent a note saying, you know, did didn't Wayne Swan get, uh, the Medicare rebate for a PSA stopped? I mean, did you stop it? It doesn't matter if you did. Well, I.
00:05:29
S2: Didn't, but I but but it was pulled back and I don't I don't I don't know which government did that and who cares.
00:05:36
S1: They got to.
00:05:36
S2: Put it.
00:05:37
S1: Back.
00:05:37
S2: They got to put it back. It doesn't really matter. But what I did do, and you can tell John that for the first time in history, I funded two prostate cancer research centers, which are now world leading. Yeah.
00:05:48
S1: Well, I just wanted to put it to you, Wayne. Not for any other reason.
00:05:51
S2: No, no.
00:05:52
S1: Sure. John's made the challenge. So, look, in the end, I don't think there is a political moment here at all. This is all about making sure we're saving lives, saving blokes, saving families, saving Australia money by getting in front of this, not waiting for it to catch up to us.
00:06:09
S2: That's right. And that's what this committee is all about. And it's got some really good buy in. And also Dan Repacholi, who is a senior position in the government, is coming on board. We had the opposition there with Llew O'Brien today. We're serious about making a difference.
00:06:26
S1: Yeah. Lou. Lou O'Brien spoke to the the other week because the opposition have also appointed a special envoy for men and boys following the similar thing by the government. But there's nothing wrong with that. This I think a lot of blokes and I just talk like that because a lot of blokes are a bit sick of the. Always talking about women this and women that and well, there's a.
00:06:46
S2: Huge imbalance in the response, Gary. I mean, we should just call it for what it is. It's fantastic that our sisters have done so well. Yeah, yeah. But it's terrible that our brothers have not.
00:06:56
S1: Yeah, if you got the moving part, no matter how you identify, go and get it checked. That's really the bottom line on all of this. I would have thought. Exactly. Make sure it's working right now. Former treasurer obviously maintaining keep key roles and a lot of things. What do you make of the budget. A lot of people are pretty angry. Wayne.
00:07:13
S2: Well, I made a pretty, pretty clear that the only numbers I'm talking about today are the numbers associated with prostate cancer. I'm not buying into the budget. I've been here all week. I've been saying the same to everyone and I'm saying the same to you.
00:07:24
S1: I've got I've got to ask the question. I mean, you know, in the end, I just want Australia to succeed. I want us to go for growth. I don't know how you pay down.
00:07:32
S2: Because we have to go for growth. But I'm not buying into the the argument.
00:07:36
S1: No. Fair enough. Alright. Well on the prostate stuff, how confident are you? Do you get buy in from various state governments? Do you get buy in from everybody, the medical fraternity, all of that.
00:07:45
S2: Well, parts of the medical fraternity, we've got to get a much more buy in from that's that has been a hurdle. Some of the advice going to government, I don't think has it's been good enough and I'm on to it and so have plenty of others. And we've got to make sure that we can have our voices heard properly, particularly where they they should be heard.
00:08:03
S1: So okay, on the practical stuff, again, if you're going to your GP for anything, and again, blokes are not good at this. They're not good at going to GPS. But you've got to say I want to get a blood carry.
00:08:14
S2: Not all GPS are up to scratch on prostate cancer either. And that's all. And that is part of the equation. It's variable across the board. And in terms of the rebates and the age in which you can get them and so on, is also confusing and and needs a good look at as well.
00:08:30
S1: I just think it's this sort of folklore stuff of, you know, there's a physical exam, there's a finger in your well and all this stuff.
00:08:38
S2: Yeah. No, there's.
00:08:39
S1: Lots of jokes.
00:08:39
S2: About lots of great jokes about.
00:08:41
S1: Yeah. Buy me flowers first.
00:08:42
S2: Yeah. I know you'll die with it. Not from it. All those sorts of bits of bull. Yeah. The truth is that, you know, we have 29,000 people identified each year. We have 4000 deaths a year, which is up 10% over the last decade. There are plenty of people who who are going to die from prostate cancer, who know nothing about it and know nothing about the risk levels.
00:09:04
S1: Well, you're on message there, Wayne Swan. Anytime. Let's talk about it. Thanks for what you, Jim Lloyd, and others are doing. It's it's a worthwhile and important cause. Half. Only half the population could be directly affected. That's that's the point. We've got to remember a.
00:09:17
S2: Well, but that one and two figure is staggering. If you've got a first degree relative, you've got a 1 or 2 chance of getting a deadly cancer. That's pretty staggering. And it's staggering that people don't know it.
00:09:27
S1: Yeah. Wayne Swan, he's part of this new committee. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia announced this committee for the elimination. It's a worthwhile cause. Thank you so much for your time. Good to talk to you, Wayne. See, we didn't spar at all. Wayne Swan, former member for Lilley, former deputy leader of the Labor Party, federal president. We used to sit next to each other on planes coming back from Canberra on occasions. On occasions what? Double three, eight, 82. It's 3:45.
S1: Lots of sport going on in Brisbane tonight, but there is a war on the south side which involves sport going to get into that between now and for quite a controversial story. This is, I think, a very important story, particularly for the half of us who happen to be blokes in our in our world. A new national effort to eliminate prostate cancer deaths has been launched at Parliament House in Canberra today. Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia has announced the establishment of a committee for the Elimination of Prostate Cancer. Frankly, you might say oh, another committee? No, this is actually serious because it actually highlights just how important it is to get the act together, because there is a way of dealing with this. And we blokes, we really should be asking our mates, have they had that chick? Do they get that PSA? Do they get the, the, the, the actual benchmarks? Do they know what's going on in their nether regions? So important. The committee will develop a coordinated roadmap to end avoidable deaths from the cancer. Now it's being chaired by somebody who has some deeply personal reasons about this. He's the former deputy prime minister of Australia, Wayne Swan, the Honourable Wayne Swan, former member for Lilley. And he joins me now. Wayne, you and I used to love sparring each other. I've known you for 40 years, but I absolutely respect your involvement with this. I think I think what you're trying to do here is absolutely on the money. So tell us all about what the committee is going to do.
00:01:21
S2: Well, it's also cross party. Jim Lloyd, who was the former member for Robertson, was at our launch today. And you may well recall that Jim Lloyd and I raised all these matters in the Parliament way back in 2003. I remember after I'd been diagnosed. And, you know, sadly since then, we have not made as much progress in awareness about prostate cancer and the avoidance of deaths, deaths that we have made across many other forms of cancer, like breast cancer or bowel cancer or whatever. So we desperately need to get a very strong awareness campaign going so that men who are at risk realize that they are at risk because this is one of those silent killers. Many people don't understand that if you have a first degree relative who has had prostate cancer, then you have a 1 in 2 chance of having prostate prostate cancer at some stage stage of your life. There's something like about a million men in Australia who would have a first degree relative with prostate cancer, many of whom don't know that they are at risk of prostate cancer and that they should be getting tested, particularly over the age of 50.
00:02:30
S1: And so, Wayne Swan, people sort of make jokes about the idea of, you know, the physical test. That's just not the case. I get tested all the time only because I think it's really important. And I get a blood test every time I get a blood test, I get a PSA test. So I know exactly where I'm mapped, I know where things.
00:02:49
S2: Are at, and that's where we want to get to. Gary. Yeah, that's.
00:02:52
S1: What.
00:02:52
S2: Everybody should be doing, particularly above a certain age. But if they are in that group where they are at risk. They should be very conscious of this, you see. When I was diagnosed, despite the fact that my father had died, you know, quite a painful death from prostate cancer, I had absolutely no knowledge that I was directly at risk. I was only sort of given a PSA test as an afterthought by a switched on GP. I didn't go there complaining of any particular symptoms to do with cancer. And and when when I was diagnosed, it turned out I had a very, very strong cancer. And if I hadn't moved very quickly, then I wouldn't be here today.
00:03:32
S1: Yeah, I do remember that well. And I, Jim Lloyd has his own story as well. I know Jim, I catch up with him from time to time, and I think it's so important the work that you're wanting to do here. How hard is it, though, to say to blokes, blokes like to say, oh, we're bulletproof. She'll be right. I'll have another beer. Don't worry about it. No, you've got to actually do was actually I won't name who it was, was a bloke with a strong Labour Party connection I worked with on a committee and he said to me, he said, mate, have you had your. Have you had your prostate checked? And so he actually got me onto this about 20 years ago. I'm not I'm not feeling like I'm at risk, but I want to make sure. I want to monitor. I want to get ahead of it. Wayne Swan.
00:04:09
S2: Yes. Well, take breast cancer. They there's there's, there are awareness programs involving hundreds of millions of dollars for breast cancer and good on our sisters for getting in place. What is, you know, some world class public policy when it comes to awareness and when it comes to testing and so on. But we just don't have that infrastructure for prostate cancer. There is a particular group in parts of the medical profession who argue a line that you don't need regular testing, and that it's a waste, and they're wrong, but they're having a damaging impact in terms of holding back the type of programs that exist for other cancers.
00:04:48
S1: So you can get it put onto the bottom end of any blood test. So if the doctor said, I just want to, you know, see what's going on here, throw the PSA in there. it is done.
00:04:57
S2: But you may have to pay for it. You may have to pay for it. And that's not necessarily always the case when these matters are a priority. So we want all of that on the table to be discussed openly and then to be funded over time, so we can get some parity between between the cancers and the funding of testing and, and awareness.
00:05:17
S1: I mean, John's sent a note saying, you know, did didn't Wayne Swan get, uh, the Medicare rebate for a PSA stopped? I mean, did you stop it? It doesn't matter if you did. Well, I.
00:05:29
S2: Didn't, but I but but it was pulled back and I don't I don't I don't know which government did that and who cares.
00:05:36
S1: They got to.
00:05:36
S2: Put it.
00:05:37
S1: Back.
00:05:37
S2: They got to put it back. It doesn't really matter. But what I did do, and you can tell John that for the first time in history, I funded two prostate cancer research centers, which are now world leading. Yeah.
00:05:48
S1: Well, I just wanted to put it to you, Wayne. Not for any other reason.
00:05:51
S2: No, no.
00:05:52
S1: Sure. John's made the challenge. So, look, in the end, I don't think there is a political moment here at all. This is all about making sure we're saving lives, saving blokes, saving families, saving Australia money by getting in front of this, not waiting for it to catch up to us.
00:06:09
S2: That's right. And that's what this committee is all about. And it's got some really good buy in. And also Dan Repacholi, who is a senior position in the government, is coming on board. We had the opposition there with Llew O'Brien today. We're serious about making a difference.
00:06:26
S1: Yeah. Lou. Lou O'Brien spoke to the the other week because the opposition have also appointed a special envoy for men and boys following the similar thing by the government. But there's nothing wrong with that. This I think a lot of blokes and I just talk like that because a lot of blokes are a bit sick of the. Always talking about women this and women that and well, there's a.
00:06:46
S2: Huge imbalance in the response, Gary. I mean, we should just call it for what it is. It's fantastic that our sisters have done so well. Yeah, yeah. But it's terrible that our brothers have not.
00:06:56
S1: Yeah, if you got the moving part, no matter how you identify, go and get it checked. That's really the bottom line on all of this. I would have thought. Exactly. Make sure it's working right now. Former treasurer obviously maintaining keep key roles and a lot of things. What do you make of the budget. A lot of people are pretty angry. Wayne.
00:07:13
S2: Well, I made a pretty, pretty clear that the only numbers I'm talking about today are the numbers associated with prostate cancer. I'm not buying into the budget. I've been here all week. I've been saying the same to everyone and I'm saying the same to you.
00:07:24
S1: I've got I've got to ask the question. I mean, you know, in the end, I just want Australia to succeed. I want us to go for growth. I don't know how you pay down.
00:07:32
S2: Because we have to go for growth. But I'm not buying into the the argument.
00:07:36
S1: No. Fair enough. Alright. Well on the prostate stuff, how confident are you? Do you get buy in from various state governments? Do you get buy in from everybody, the medical fraternity, all of that.
00:07:45
S2: Well, parts of the medical fraternity, we've got to get a much more buy in from that's that has been a hurdle. Some of the advice going to government, I don't think has it's been good enough and I'm on to it and so have plenty of others. And we've got to make sure that we can have our voices heard properly, particularly where they they should be heard.
00:08:03
S1: So okay, on the practical stuff, again, if you're going to your GP for anything, and again, blokes are not good at this. They're not good at going to GPS. But you've got to say I want to get a blood carry.
00:08:14
S2: Not all GPS are up to scratch on prostate cancer either. And that's all. And that is part of the equation. It's variable across the board. And in terms of the rebates and the age in which you can get them and so on, is also confusing and and needs a good look at as well.
00:08:30
S1: I just think it's this sort of folklore stuff of, you know, there's a physical exam, there's a finger in your well and all this stuff.
00:08:38
S2: Yeah. No, there's.
00:08:39
S1: Lots of jokes.
00:08:39
S2: About lots of great jokes about.
00:08:41
S1: Yeah. Buy me flowers first.
00:08:42
S2: Yeah. I know you'll die with it. Not from it. All those sorts of bits of bull. Yeah. The truth is that, you know, we have 29,000 people identified each year. We have 4000 deaths a year, which is up 10% over the last decade. There are plenty of people who who are going to die from prostate cancer, who know nothing about it and know nothing about the risk levels.
00:09:04
S1: Well, you're on message there, Wayne Swan. Anytime. Let's talk about it. Thanks for what you, Jim Lloyd, and others are doing. It's it's a worthwhile and important cause. Half. Only half the population could be directly affected. That's that's the point. We've got to remember a.
00:09:17
S2: Well, but that one and two figure is staggering. If you've got a first degree relative, you've got a 1 or 2 chance of getting a deadly cancer. That's pretty staggering. And it's staggering that people don't know it.
00:09:27
S1: Yeah. Wayne Swan, he's part of this new committee. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia announced this committee for the elimination. It's a worthwhile cause. Thank you so much for your time. Good to talk to you, Wayne. See, we didn't spar at all. Wayne Swan, former member for Lilley, former deputy leader of the Labor Party, federal president. We used to sit next to each other on planes coming back from Canberra on occasions. On occasions what? Double three, eight, 82. It's 3:45.
