PATRINA JONES, HOST: Well, in a sign of the times a bold new ad campaign focusing on perimenopause and menopause has hit Aussie radio, TV, and cinema screens. It's the first time a national awareness campaign has tackled the issue that's been kept under wraps for far too long. Finally, it's helping to break the stigma and help women access support. Don't adjust your screen, Girls. You're not imagining it. I'm Pats, and this is my podcast - Rage Against the Menopause.
[Excerpt]
PLAYS MENOPAUSE ADVERT: Perimenopause. First, you can't sleep. Next, you're feeling anxious. If you're wondering if this is perimenopause, there's information and support at health.gov.au/perimenopause.
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JONES: That's a first for Australia - a national perimenopause and menopause campaign. It's really helping women better understand their symptoms, finally. It's got information, and also is helping making them feel far more confident to seek out help which is why we're bringing in Federal Assistant Minister for Women, Rebecca White. Welcome to Rage Against the Menopause.
REBECCA WHITE, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING: I'm really happy to be joining you. Thanks for having me.
JONES: So this amazing new multi-million-dollar campaign, it's come off the back of the Senate inquiry into menopause, hasn't it, Rebecca?
WHITE: It was a really key reason for it, that's right. The evidence that we heard through that inquiry was pretty compelling, and alongside that there was work that was led by Assistant Minister, Ged Kearney, who had the National Women's Health Advisory Council, and they too agreed with the evidence we heard through that Senate inquiry.
So, there was a recommendation to establish this public awareness campaign, and last year it was properly funded for the very first time. I understand this is the first time, not only in Australia, that we've had a campaign like this, but potentially anywhere in the world that there's been a government-funded perimenopause-menopause awareness campaign.
JONES: And this is the thing. So it's been rolled out right across TV, radio, even in cinema screens. So it's not just targeting women, but because of its widespread sort of rollout it's informing all of the community, isn't it? So we all have a role to play in better educating ourselves.
WHITE: And deliberately so. Because menopause and perimenopause is going to affect half the population. And partners, need to know about that. Workplaces need to know about that. Our community needs to better understand that. Kids need to understand that so they can understand what their mum's going through. So this is about making sure people are talking about it, destigmatising it, and also providing helpful links to resources that are evidence-based. Because some of the information we heard through the Senate inquiry, and just generally from speaking and listening to women, is that women have felt confused about where to get information to help them as they're going through perimenopause and menopause. So this campaign has been delivered and designed in response to that.
JONES: I think that's a key point, is that isolation. As a woman going through it, you know, you enter perimenopause, some as early as in their thirties, and it is very isolating. Because you think, well, you don't- you're not really across, maybe yet, what it is that's actually happening to you - all these things that are creeping. And it's like, hang on, this is not quite right. What's wrong with me? I don't want to speak up, especially not in the workplace. And I think the campaign really speaks to women in the way that it's been written. Let's have another listen, just at a wider, a longer version, which I think really hits the nail on the head.
[Excerpt]
PLAYS MENOPAUSE ADVERT: Perimenopause. Some say it's their Wonder Woman era. Like, I wonder what did I come in here for? Where you trying to sleep but you're rethinking every awkward moment you've ever had. Then your body's on fire - no warning, just spontaneous combustion. Wondering if this is perimenopause? It usually starts in your 40s, but it can be earlier. For information and support, visit health.gov.au/perimenopause. Authorised by the Australian Government, Canberra.
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JONES: I think that's really important that, okay, so we've identified it, but what do I do next? Because there's a lot of women who are going to GPs. And that's what the Senate inquiry also unearthed was, you know, GPs were only getting 60 minutes of education. So it's one thing to identify, but it does point them in the right direction as well of where to seek help.
WHITE: And that's really important because we know there's a prevalence of misinformation and disinformation that is very accessible, particularly through social media, and we wanted to combat that. I've got some stats here that I'll share with you, because it shows the reach and the impact of the campaign from when we launched it on the 21st of May.
The social media impressions for this campaign already today are over 10 million. And the important thing is those click throughs to the website have exceeded 110,000. So, we know that not only are women, and hopefully men and others, seeing this information but they're actually then following the advice, clicking through to the link, having a look at the website, and looking at the symptoms, looking at who they can ask for help from. Looking at the Q&A and sort of figuring out, is this for me, from a really evidence-based, trusted, reliable resource. And hopefully giving them some confidence that there is help and support out there. You don't have to go through this alone. This is not something that you have to deal with by yourself.
People have put it to me that when you are in perimenopause and menopause, it's like being in some kind of secret society. You don't know about it until you're in it, and then you don't know what to do. So, we really wanted to provide clear information for people so they can get those answers. And I think the evidence is telling us, from the view but also the clicks through to the website, that this is reaching the right people.
JONES: And it's empowering women. Because, you know, information is power, right? Knowledge is power. I do want to touch on the GP aspect. Because the inquiry did highlight that menopause and perimenopause care was kind of a little substandard. So, what are we doing to equip our GPs? So that's great that we're doing this campaign - that they're going to the website and finding out where to go. But, the buck kind of stops with GPs. What are we doing to better equip them to help these women and their families?
WHITE: That’s a really important point. So, there are probably three key things we've done. We have worked now on developing an upgrade to the guidelines on perimenopause and menopause, so that is the document that GPs can refer to when they are working out how to support patients who are asking for help across a range of different chronic conditions or illnesses. But of course, this is specifically for perimenopause and menopause. So that's the first thing we're doing.
The other thing we've done is we've provided some funding to Jean Hailes for Women's Health and the Australian Menopause Society, who've been doing some training for GPs, that's been rolling out since September last year, providing direct funding and support.
We've also funded the Endometriosis and Persistent Pelvic Pain Clinics, where we've now step up 33 across the country, and these are specifically focused on women's health. And so, the GPs in these practices are already very well versed in how to support women's health. And from the first of July 2026, they've also expanded to support perimenopause and menopause care.
So, I'm confident that with the work we're doing with these specialist clinics, but also the updates to the guidelines, the training, we are providing more knowledge and skills to our general practice workforce, alongside our broader primary care workforce too, so that we can support women who are presenting, at any health practice, to get the right care and support.
Ultimately, I want for women anywhere in Australia to be able to walk in and see their health professional and be taken seriously. Not have their symptoms dismissed. Not be just sent away with some pain relief or some antidepressant because they're feeling anxious. But actually investigated to see whether they are in perimenopause and menopause, and then connected with the right medication and support. And for that to be available, no matter where you live. Because while our endo and pelvic pain clinics are outstanding, there are only 33 of them across the country, and I know that is still limiting for women who live outside of areas located close to those.
So it's really important for us as a government that we deal with this on an equitable basis, right across the country. And that's where the website's really important, because that's a resource that's accessible to anybody. But also the training of the broader workforce is really vital too.
JONES: The PBS, there's more and more that's being subsidised for women's health when it comes to menopause as well, isn't there?
WHITE: That's right, there is. We’ve released several medicines on the PBS, and this has meant that women have been able to access hormone therapy through the PBS, in some cases for the first time, without worrying about whether they can afford it. Because medicines are capped at $25 for this year, $7.70 if you're in a concession card. And prior to this, certainly these medicines were available, but your out-of-pocket costs could have been hundreds and hundreds of dollars.
And for anybody who has had a prescription for hormone therapy, you know, sometimes you have to change it - you have to trial a few different options and see what best works for you. That is possible for some women to do now because the listing on the PBS has made it affordable. Whereas if you were out of pocket a couple of hundred bucks every single time, it makes it really hard to, with your GP, make variations to your prescription because it's just too expensive. So we have certainly made it more affordable for thousands more women to access medicines through the PBS too.
JONES: And what about- have we still got the shortage of patches, Rebecca? Is that still a thing? Because it was for quite a while.
WHITE: We expect there'll still be a bit of a shortage for the remainder of this calendar year, so the ’26 calendar year. But the TGA has been working really extensively with the suppliers and also on contracts into the new year to make sure that we do have access that won't be constrained, like we have seen. Through COVID, we saw it was particularly exacerbated, and we've been dealing with some of the tail end issues of that. And we still expect to see some of those impacts for the rest of this calendar year. But we're expecting that in the new year we'll see those problems resolved.
JONES: And where to from here for the Government? Like, what are the next things on your hit list as far as better- making perimenopause and menopause more out there and information more accessible for women? What is the next step in the campaign?
WHITE: So this advertising campaign runs for the rest of this calendar year. The resources, including the website, continue to be made available after that. But as we've already discussed, the impressions and the click-throughs have also already been really impressive. So across the course of the rest of this year, we'll be doing more work on that. The work that's happening in our endo and pelvic pain clinics expanding to perimenopause and menopause has just started. So, hoping to be able to continue to advertise that, encourage that as a place for women to seek help. We also do have a new Medicare item that commenced last year for menopause, and we've seen a couple of hundred thousand women use that service, and GPs using that to conduct basically a health check for women who are presenting and think that they are experiencing symptoms of perimenopause and menopause, and getting a thorough assessment from their GP under this new Medicare item.
So, those are relatively new initiatives that we are watching now to see how they work in practise and understand if there's more that we need to add to that. In addition to that, there's work I'm doing through an expert panel on women's health, which has a focus on cardiovascular disease. But we also know that at points in your lifecycle as a woman, when your hormones change, perimenopause and menopause being one of those points, your risk is elevated for certain other conditions, including cardiovascular disease. So now we're looking much broader than simply what other symptoms and what's the treatment for perimenopause and menopause, but what does this variation in your hormones, this change in your hormones across your life course, mean for other risk factors for your broader health? So, cardiovascular disease is the next area we're looking at, and also its intersection with menopause.
JONES: I guess ultimately, the campaign, which is just the first step, will improve health outcomes for all women right across Australia, and that's only a good thing.
WHITE: That's the aim of it. As you know from the Senate inquiry and from the conversations you've had with women, we haven't talked about this very much in the past. It's really been the last three to five years that we're talking more openly about perimenopause and menopause. So we are in the infancy of having a really honest and open conversation with everybody about perimenopause and menopause. And I hope to see it reflected in a change of culture, I suppose, across the country, in households and in workplaces, with respect to how women are supported. I am still very frustrated and dismayed at the number of women we see leaving the workforce, and it is due in large part to the symptoms they're experiencing with perimenopause and menopause. And we know from talking to those women after they've completed perimenopause and they're finally in menopause, they would love to have still been in the workforce. They just wish they knew how to handle their symptoms so that they could remain engaged.
So we are losing talented, bright women from the workforce every year, who I hope we can better support through access to better treatment and medicines, but also changing culture and practise across workplaces. That will support women to have greater economic security, retire with greater economic financial security, and also support workplaces to retain the best talent. So, there's still a lot more work to do. I think it's not specifically in the health space, but is in the broader economic and cultural space.
JONES: Do you think in the area of reproductive health and extra leave being given for all sorts of things, whether it's undergoing IVF treatment, or whether you're waking up and feeling really rotten after not sleeping because of menopause, do you think that employers feel, I guess, armed with to know how to navigate that and approach that within the workplace? Or is there still more work to do in that area?
WHITE: I suspect there is more work to do in that area, and there is some advice through our website that can guide employers in thinking about what they might need to do in terms of adopting different practises or culture. There is a personal leave provision that people can take without having to disclose the reason they're taking it. There's still a level of privacy that can be maintained for people who wish to use that for whatever purpose, which gives them some flexibility with the days that they might be able to go to work or days that you just can't show up to work.
And when I've talked to workplaces, the thing that they share with me is they don't want to lose good workers. They know it's costly and difficult to recruit, to replace good workers. So if you can hold on to your workforce that's already very skilled and talented and understands the job, that's in their best interest. It's in the employee's best interest. So, there is really, I think, a mutual understanding of the benefits here, and there's a win-win in this for employees and employers. And it's making sure that we're doing a good job of providing the right information to employers, so that they can feel empowered themselves to properly support their staff. So it's really about knowledge. You talked about it earlier. Knowledge is power, and if you've got good information, and you feel like you can properly understand what's going on, then you can make more rational decisions.
And I think we'll see that change in culture. And especially as we see, you know, more female entrepreneurs, more female CEOs, more female leaders in business too. I hope to see a change in practise that will flow through as a result of that. I feel really excited to be a part of government at a time when women's health's being taken so seriously, and that we've been able, through the Senate Committee, to be able to listen to the voices of women, and to understand what some of the challenges have been, and to then take action to address those challenges.
The work is not done, of course, but we are making some really great improvements, and I'm really encouraged by the feedback women have shared with me, and some of the stories where women have talked to me about how it has changed their life. They felt like they were losing their sense of self, and they were finally able to get an answer to what was going on. And it was perimenopause, and they could get access to hormone therapy, and suddenly they felt like everything they thought they'd lost was returned to them. And it just transforms people in a matter of a couple of weeks. I've heard some terrible stories of women who felt like they had no other choice but to, sadly, say goodbye to everything that they knew. Whether that's their career or their family or their loved ones, and thankfully have received support in time. But that's a massive wake-up call. These examples are preventable. These women should not be suffering and struggling like this, and that's where this work becomes so important. So I'm really proud to be part of a government that is doing this.
JONES: Yeah, and I'm proud to be a woman in this era, too, where it's been shoved into the spotlight, and to be a part of that generation where the boat is turning, where we're finally addressing it, and we're finally talking about it, and making women feel heard and not alone. And you know, it's a really- your 50s, to me, is- it's been a really challenging period of my life, and I've been through a lot, including cancer. And I mean, that had nothing on this. It's just so disarming at times. So I really love to see and be part of that movement. I think it's such an important cause. So congratulations to you on part of the movement helping to break the taboo finally around perimenopause and menopause. Thank you so much, Rebecca. Keep up the great work.
WHITE: Thank you so much for the opportunity to talk about it. Let's keep talking about it. You're absolutely right.
JONES: Rebecca White, there she is, the Federal Assistant Minister for Women. That website, for more information again is health.gov.au/perimenopause. Minister White also touched on the great work of Jean Hailes for Women's Health. Its CEO, Dr Sarah White, chats to me back in my debut series in the episode The Lady Garden. I'm Patrina Jones. Thanks for listening.