For any stakeholder group, there are very few times as nerve-racking as waiting for a call from a member of Government, or a Department of Health bureaucrat, on Budget night.
In one short phone call, you can find out if your months, or sometimes years, of advocacy will be rewarded, or if changing fiscal circumstances mean your proposal has been unsuccessful.
Very few in recent years know this experience as well as Lung Foundation Australia and their CEO Mark Brooke.
In 2023, the Australian Government announced that $264 million would be invested in a new National Lung Cancer Screening Program that the government predicts will prevent 4,080 deaths from lung cancer.
For Lung Foundation Australia, and Mr Brooke, it was the culmination of years of advocacy and policy work.
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“When Lung Foundation Australia were told the screening program was going to become reality, there was an overwhelming sense of relief,” Mr Brooke said. “Bringing home what we’d advocated for on behalf of so many brave community members for so long.” “There was also sadness there for those who didn’t live to see what they’d been instrumental in obtaining, which is a lifesaving program that will also make huge strides in destigmatising this cancer, and elevating community conversation about how to fight its prevalence.”
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Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in Australia, and First Nations communities carry a much higher burden of both smoking and cancer, such that cancer is now the leading cause of disease-related death for First Nations people.
But this announcement wasn’t simply put forward in a day, a month, or even a year. The plan dated all the way back to 2019.
As a result of engagement by consumer advocates and Lung Foundation Australia, the then Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, tasked Cancer Australia with assessing the feasibility of conducting a lung cancer screening service in Australia.
This report recommended lung cancer screening in Australia, and found it would be cost-effective and save over 12,000 lives over the first 10 years of the program.
Lung Foundation Australia launched their own Lung Cancer Blueprint, which recommended the Australian Government fund and implement a targeted national lung cancer screening program.
Following this blueprint launch, Lung Foundation Australia joined with the Department of Health and Cancer Australia to establish the feasibility of implementing a National Lung Cancer Screening Program as part of the 2021-22 Federal Budget.
Throughout the process, Mark and the entire Foundation team knew that patience would be needed when pushing for such a large program.
“The process of helping to put in place something as monumental as a National Targeted Lung Cancer Screening Program was always going to be a multi-year effort,” Mr Brooke said.
“The Foundation, alongside our health and community partners and government worked together to get the foundations, evidence of need, economic benefits and the hundreds and thousands of layers of vital information in place, which were all vital parts of getting the program off the ground.”
“Lung Foundation Australia continued to apply evidence to the policy debate, and this, combined with the lived experience of our vast lung cancer and lung disease community, was the key to ensuring our coalition of voices continued to be heard and weight was given to what we were advocating for.”
“It was particularly gratifying to see the government decision to increase tobacco excises to essentially fund the program, which recognised a longstanding Lung Foundation Australia policy ask.”
But for Mr Brooke and the whole team, the program not only serves as a reminder of the support they see from the community, but a tribute to those they have lost.
“Lung cancer is still the leading form of cancer killer, and we know for the approximately 14,500 Australians diagnosed each year, the majority of cases will be caught too late,” Mr Brooke said.
“Without a targeted lung cancer screening program the majority will continue to die prematurely with a five-year survival rate of just 20 per cent. That’s why we fought so hard and so long because with the national targeted lung cancer screening program in place.”
“70 per cent of cases can be caught at an earlier stage, and 12,000 lives will be saved over the next ten years. The targeted lung cancer screening program gives much more than hope, it’s a second chance at life.”
