McGrath Foundation

That's all it is, $9 million a year.

They have transferred it and the McGrath Foundation is being well funded.

But the McGrath Foundation has specialised in breast cancer nurses.

They do offer a range of services and they're going to look after men with prostate cancer as well.

But the actual prostate cancer experts within the Australian Prostate Cancer Association, they claim this decision is going to cost lives.

So notice the health minister was also talking about this.

$46 million to expand the McGrath Foundation nursing service into prostate cancer care.

They're estimating it will be equivalent to about 60 full-time nursing positions for specialist prostate cancer care nurses over five years, which is fantastic news as well.

Yeah, any investment in the cancer system we generally would highly value and welcome.

So we're pulling money out of funding, and it's something like $9.5 million funding prostate cancer care nurses.

And yes, the government is funding other cancer care nurses through the McGrath Foundation, which is good, but they're not specialists when it comes to prostate cancer care.

They're pulling money from allied health services for veterans, capping it at $5,000.

And more broadly than that, In their changes in the budget, they're reducing the rebate that you benefit from if you've got private health insurance over the age of 65.

Navy Community Engagement Program Coordinator CPO Tony Thomas said charity was the real winner.

More than $50,000 was raised by competitors and Rotary during the regatta was donated to the McGrath Foundation.

McGrath Foundation is enormous in Australia, isn't it? Now your uncle knows a member of the McGrath family.

Is this the same family? I believe it is, isn't it?

I'm unsure.

So what they've announced really is not a complete demolition of the funding for the programme.

It appears they've announced that the funding that traditionally flowed to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, who were the ones who set up these nursing positions in the first place from zero, and instead they're diverting it away to a different organisation, to the McGrath Foundation, which of course does very worthy work for breast cancer and so on.

So I understand that's what's happened.

The amount of funding that they've been using to support these prostate cancer nurses in recent years will no longer go to the Prostate Cancer Foundation, but to the McGrath Foundation.

And the detail of that, I understand, is not very well laid out.

So we don't really fully understand understand for example will it still be specialist prostate cancer nurses and you certainly need nurses with a lot of knowledge of this condition and the journey that men experience or will these be more like general cancer nurses or you know dare I say breast cancer nurses even that's not clear and that's certainly where there's some concern.

expanded.

We certainly still need more of those nurses and we do not need a dilution of the skill set that these nurses have in supporting these patients.

There's an overall funding package of $80 million.

Now, I made the comparison with the McGrath Foundation.

They raise money through the pink test at Sydney Cricket Ground every January to raise money for the foundation to fund cancer care nurses.

Well, the Australian government has also put money into that as well, so that's good.

Still not a firm explanation.

They say they're providing money for specialist support services, telehealth support services for prostate cancer patients, families and carers.

They say that the McGrath Foundation Cancer Care Nurses will then work with the Prostate Cancer Foundation Specialist Service.

But those McGrath Foundation Cancer Care Nurses, they're not prostate specialists.

Okay, it's going to be re-diverted to other resources, but they're not specialist resources.

Every year during the Sydney cricket test, the New Year's cricket test, we have a wonderful fundraising initiative for the McGrath Foundation.

The McGrath Foundation, of course, they're a private charity.

They're not funded by the government.

They do amazing work to raise money to fund breast cancer nurses.

The charity work, it's just endless, mate.

The charity events we've done, the fundraisers, The McGrath Foundation, my best mate is Glen McGrath and Glenny and I have been hanging out for 30 years doing all sorts of crazy and silly stuff together through charity.

When I was at my worst, Glen was one of the few that called.

Erin's dad, Jimmy Molan, that's Jimmy's book right there.