A Shorten Labor Government will invest $125 million in a fund to fight cancer – giving our world-class researchers additional resources in their search for a cure.

One in two Australians will be diagnosed with cancer– that’s 150,000 who will be given the news that they will have to fight cancer, every year.

That’s why Labor will provide more investment in critical funding for our researchers – an additional $125 million towards the fight for a cure, over and above existing resources such as the MRFF and NHMRC.

As a part of this commitment, Labor will invest $20 million towards pancreatic cancer research.

Pancreatic cancer will be Australia’s second biggest cancer killer in five years – killing almost as many people each year as breast cancer.

Sadly, the five year survival rate for pancreatic cancer is less than ten per cent.

There are no clear symptoms and no early detection tests, and pancreatic cancer is resistant to conventional treatment including chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

Labor’s funding injection will mean the Avner Pancreatic Cancer Foundation can implement a comprehensive Pancreatic Cancer Medical Research Strategy to develop ways of detecting pancreatic cancer earlier and understand why the cancer is resistant to conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

This funding will also allow researchers to look at new treatments for pancreatic cancer to improve the survival rate and unravel the tragic mysteries of this cancer.

This investment is a part of Labor’s Medicare Cancer Plan – our plan to support Australians battling cancer and cut their out-of-pocket costs. Every Australian deserves quality health care when and where they need it – your bank balance or your postcode should not be barriers to whether you get access to the best health care. Unfortunately under the Liberals’ savage cuts to Medicare, out-of-pocket costs have increased across the board for GP consultations, specialist consultations and critical cancer procedures.

Scott Morrison has cut $3 billion from the pockets of patients with his Medicare freeze and $715 million from public hospitals – locking in further cuts until 2025. Labor will reverse the Liberals’ cuts to health, address rising out-of-pocket costs, fund the best cancer care and provide more support for our world-class researchers to step up the fight against cancer.