Lung Foundation Australia congratulates the Liberal and National Government on its re-election and thanks the Australian Labor Party, The Australian Greens and all candidates for their health policy commitments throughout the election campaign.
As a non-aligned, not-for-profit charity, Lung Foundation Australia remains committed to advocating for the betterment of people living with, or impacted by, lung disease.
Throughout the campaign we engaged in conversations with policy makers to ensure lung health was a key issue.
We commend the incoming Government on its development of the Department of Health’s National Strategic Action Plan for Lung Conditions (Action Plan) in the last term and look forward to working with our partners and the incoming Ministers to ensure all 21 priority areas from the Action Plan are implemented. As it stands, $4 million has been allocated towards the implementation of three priority areas– we remain steadfast in our commitment to ensure all priority areas are funded.
The election highlighted the continued inequity in treatment and care of people living with lung cancer and rare lung disease.
This inequity also extends to funding for research – despite almost one in three Australians being impacted by lung disease, and lung cancer remaining the country’s biggest cancer killer. Now more than ever we must invest in more research to find better treatment options and support for patients, who deserve nothing less.
Lung Foundation Australia and Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand call on the Government to adopt a bi partisan approach to make lung health a priority and fund the ALP’s National Tobacco Strategy and Lung Cancer Nurse Program.
These policies are a fundamental step forward in addressing the continued inequity in the lung health space and offer hope to people living with lung cancer. We must see them remain a priority for the incoming Government and we look forward to continuing our conversations with key decision makers in the months ahead.