Walk My Pain (by Pain Australia)

I had the privilege of joining my friend and former colleague Giulia Jones on the lawns of Parliament House to bring awareness of 1.8 million women who live with chronic pain in Australia. The event was hosted my Pain Australia, for which Giulia currently serves as the CEO.

Pain Australia proposes just 3 health policies that will make all the difference to women and the lives of other Australians when it comes to healthcare. I invite you to visit www.walkmypain.com.au, where you can join the campaign, donate to the cause and, if you have one, share your pain story.

Click on the arrow button to read my speech.

Thank you, Madam Speaker.

I invite you to close your eyes and imagine what it feels like to be in pain. Now imagine what life would be like if this pain is constantly reoccurring. Imagine living with this pain that is always with you – day and night, during your good times and your bad times.

This is what I was asked to imagine early this morning when I visited the front lawns of Parliament House and joined dozens of people in bringing awareness of women who live with chronic pain in Australia. The event was hosted by Pain Australia, and I would like to especially acknowledge my friend and former colleague Giulia Jones, who is now CEO of Pain Australia, for all the effort she and her team put in to make this morning’s event possible.

Pain Australia is the national peak body for pain. That is, working to improve the quality of life of people living with pain, as well as supporting their families and carers and more broadly working to minimise the social and economic burden of pain in Australia.

Did you know that the most common person in Australia living with chronic pain is a woman in the peak of her working years? And that a staggering 1.8 million women live with chronic pain? Yet only 1 out of 100 people living with chronic pain receive multi-disciplinary care.

This morning, we heard from a couple of brave women who stood up and shared their pain story with us – not so that we could feel sorry for them, but so that we can be a part of working to see that no woman (or any other person for that matter) would have to go through what they did, and still do.

Pain Australia asks of the Federal Government just 3 things:

1) Ten allied health visits subsidised per year and ten psychology appointments per year via doubling of funding for GP Management Plans;

2) For GP Practices to have access to pain care nurses as a flexible online option to getting treatment plans actioned; and

3) New training for GPs and Pharmacy Staff in chronic pain multidisciplinary management.

A cost-benefit analysis has been undertaken for these 3 policies, coming to a total of a $70 million investment, but saving $3.7 million to the health system in net intervention costs, $65 million in reducing absenteeism and $203 million in improved wellbeing. The benefit to cost ratio has been calculated as 4.9 to 1 for this investment.

What a difference to our healthcare system this would make, particularly to women in Australia! The women who spoke this morning shared their valuable insights on what their lives would be like if they had access to the supports that they are now advocating so passionately for. It would have made all the difference. I would like to invite everyone to go online and visit walkmypain.com.au, where you can join the campaign, donate to the cause and, if you have one, share your pain story.

It is time that women and the chronic pain they often silently live in becomes visible, acknowledged and is no longer ignored by the health system that is supposed to support them.

Thank you.