The patients showed videos of their stories to parliament to ask them to close gaps in funding, improve early diagnosis mental health access and prognosis. The event saw them make their case in unprecedented fashion in order to make parliament more aware of the struggles of lung cancer, so they commit to policies that truly make a difference.

Mark Brooke, Chief Executive Officer for Lung Foundation Australia petitioned parliament to consider the disproportionate impact of the disease, and called for a, ‘strong, continued and concerted effort’ in order to make a real difference. He outlined a target of an additional 25 lung cancer specialist nurses right away and called for a 2020/1 budget that would fully meet the charities aims. This target is so important, given the country’s five-year survival rate of the illness of 17% has barely moved in years.

Christopher Jenkins, the foundation’s chairman, called on Parliament to introduce a national screening programme, as well as more expert guidance for Lung Cancer patients. This protest represents strong action for a disease in which depression and anxiety rates are 29.6% higher than average than any of the major cancers.