National Party leader David Littleproud calls on Anthony Albanese for urgent action on endometriosis crisis

David Littleproud has called on Anthony Albanese to make urgent changes to Medicare amid mounting calls on the federal government to address the endometriosis crisis.

National Party leader David Littleproud has called on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to make immediate changes to Medicare to support the one million women suffering from endometriosis.

Off the back of news.com.au’s About Bloody Time campaign, which launched Friday and received its target of 20,000 signatures in less than 30 hours, Mr Littleproud said the federal government shouldn’t “wait for an election” to take action during an interview on Weekend Today.

“I actually think we should have done this before the last election and I think the evidence is clear, over a million women in this country suffer from endometriosis and it’s important that we do something about it,” Mr Littleproud told Nine co-host Jayne Azzopardi.

“There’s no cure to it. And particularly for regional and remote women, just getting into a doctor is sometimes a big, a big task.

“So let’s make those consults 45 minutes, and let’s give the support to the gynaecologist to be able to be there and to be able to do that.”

David Littleproud has called on Anthony Albanese to support news.com.au's About Bloody Time campaign, calling for urgent changes to Medicare.

Pressed on whether the National Party would commit to a policy, Mr Littleproud said, “Yes, I think we should.”

“I just don’t think there should be politics,” he added. “I just think this is a big issue that hopefully the Prime Minister can come back and just say, let’s just do it. Let’s just commit to it. I think it’s so important.”

Medicare is failing women and it’s About Bloody Time things changed. Around one million suffer from endometriosis. There is no cure. Help is hard to come by and in rural or regional areas, it’s virtually impossible. We are campaigning for longer, Medicare-funded consultations for endometriosis diagnosis and treatment. Read more about the campaign and sign the petition here

There are calls for the PM to make changes to Medicare to support women battling endometriosis. Picture: AAP Image/Morgan Hancock

It comes after a news.com.au survey of more than 1700 Aussies who suffer from endo found 54.4 per cent of sufferers were dismissed by their health practitioner.

Despite the prevalence of the disease, which is almost on par with the amount of people who have type 1 and 2 diabetes, specialists are ill-equipped to manage pain and Medicare rebates are so low there is no incentive to take time to provide thorough care. An initial gynaecologist appointment currently receives less than half the rebate of other specialist appointments dealing with issues as complex as endometriosis.

News.com.au is calling for longer, Medicare-funded consultations for endometriosis diagnosis and treatment, so women can get the care they need.

Mr Littleproud was speaking on Weekend Today after Labor won a crucial victory in the Dunkley by-election in Melbourne.

But conversation turned to mounting calls on the federal government to address the long-neglected silent plague of endometriosis, for which there is an extreme lack of funding, awareness and research.

Fellow panellist and TV presenter Michelle Stephenson, who featured on the segment alongside Mr Littleproud, said she was thrilled to hear the National Party would “fight” for this pivotal change.

“Endometriosis is a huge issue and a lot of times women are left to fight our own battles. We do it with menopause, we do it with endometriosis. Any kind of like reproductive stuff, we have to foot the bill for it and we have to put up with the pain,” Stephenson said.

“And I think enough is enough. I think it’s great that David Littleproud has said the Nationals are going to fight for this and I think that Albo needs to get on board as well.”

Prime Minister Albanese is yet to comment.

About Bloody Time is an editorial campaign by news.com.au that been developed in collaboration with scientists recommended by the Australian Science Media Centre, and with the support of a grant from the Walkley Foundation’s META Public Interest Journalism fund.