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🎄✨ Wishing Everyone a Merry Christmas ✨🎄
This season, we celebrate with teal and gold — teal for ovarian cancer awareness and gold to honour the children and babies who are also diagnosed with ovarian cancer.
Our Christmas tree of awareness ribbons reminds us that love and community support that fuels research that saves lives.
From all of us at ROC Inc., thank you for standing with us, sharing symptoms, and backing the research and awareness that drives change. May your holidays be filled with warmth, connection, and the courage to keep raising awareness.
💙💛 #RockforROC #ovariancancerawareness #gctresearch #ROCInc #butterflywingsofawareness #merrychristmas #HopeInTeal #SupportResearch #rareovariancancer
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In Solidarity with Bondi
On behalf of the board and members of ROC Inc, we extend our deepest condolences and heartfelt thoughts to all those affected by the tragic events in Bondi yesterday.
As Australians, we stand together in shock and grief. Our love and compassion go out to the victims, their families, and friends, as well as to those who have been injured.
We also wish to acknowledge and thank the courageous first responders and the community members who stepped forward to help during this devastating time.
May love, strength, and healing surround everyone touched by this tragedy. Our thoughts are with you.
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A breakthrough for fairness and health 🧬
This week, Parliament introduced a bill that would ban life insurers from discriminating against Australians based on genetic testing results.
For families impacted by cancer, this reform is vital. It means people can undertake genetic testing to better understand their risks and options without fear that results will affect their access to affordable life insurance.
🔹 Protects those who carry inherited cancer risk genes (like BRCA1/BRCA2)
🔹 Encourages early detection and preventive health choices
🔹 Ends years of uncertainty and discrimination
This change has been a long time coming, driven by advocacy, research, and community voices. It represents a huge step forward for equity, science, and wellbeing across Australia.
ROC Inc. welcomes this progress and continues to stand with females and families navigating rare and hereditary cancers — ensuring their stories, resilience, and rights are heard. 💙
Australia Moves to End Genetic Discrimination in Life Insurance
This week, the Australian Parliament introduced landmark legislation that would ban life insurers from discriminating against applicants based on genetic testing results. The bill, known as the Treasury Laws Amendment (Genetic Testing Protections in Life Insurance and Other Measures) Bill 2025, was tabled in the House of Representatives on 26 November 2025 and has already gained bipartisan support, making its passage highly likely.
Why This Matters
Currently, life insurers can legally use genetic test results to determine whether to offer cover, adjust premiums, or impose conditions. This practice has long discouraged Australians from undergoing genetic testing, even when such tests could identify serious health risks early. Research from Monash University found that life insurance implications were a major barrier to participation in preventative DNA screening, despite nine in ten Australians saying they would otherwise be willing to take part.
Genetic testing can reveal inherited risks for conditions such as breast, ovarian, and prostate cancers (BRCA1/BRCA2 variants), as well as heart disease and other hereditary illnesses. With this information, individuals can access surveillance programs, preventive medication, or even life saving surgeries. However, fear of insurance discrimination has meant many people avoided testing, potentially missing opportunities for early intervention.
What Will Change
If passed, the legislation will:
• Remove the exemption that currently allows life insurers to discriminate based on “protected genetic information.”
• Cover all forms of genetic testing, including predictive disease risk, pharmacogenomic testing, consumer DNA kits, and research related testing.
• Ensure that insurers cannot use genetic test results to deny coverage, raise premiums, or impose restrictive conditions.
• Place enforcement under the financial services watchdog, with penalties for companies that breach the ban.
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino emphasized that “Australians should not be discouraged from undertaking genetic testing out of fear that it may impact their ability to get life insurance. Genetic tests help save lives”.
Advocacy and Community Impact
The bill is the culmination of nearly a decade of advocacy, research, and community pressure. Advocacy groups such as Inherited Cancers Australia have highlighted the human impact of genetic discrimination, sharing stories of families who benefited from testing but feared its insurance consequences.
For organisations like ROC Inc., which support females and families affected by rare ovarian cancers, this reform represents a major step forward in equity, science, and community wellbeing. It empowers individuals to make informed health decisions without the shadow of financial penalty.
Looking Ahead
The legislation will be debated in upcoming parliamentary sittings. If enacted, it will reshape the relationship between health innovation and financial protection in Australia, ensuring that genetic progress translates into public benefit rather than private disadvantage.
This reform is not only about insurance—it’s about trust, fairness, and the right to pursue preventive health without fear.
#genetictesting #Fairinsurance #cancerawareness #ROCInc #granulosacelltumour #rareovariancancer
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I’m deeply honoured and incredibly moved by this recognition.
Thank you, Anna Watson MP - Member for Shellharbour, for sharing our story in Parliament—it means more than words can express.
To have Mikayla and I acknowledged in this way and to see ROC Inc. highlighted for its mission, is a powerful reminder of why we keep pushing forward. Rare ovarian cancer is often overlooked, but together—with community, compassion, and determination—we’re changing that.
I’m especially grateful that Anna spotlighted one of the key changes I and ROC Inc. are advocating for: improving diagnostic pathways for rare ovarian cancers. In particular, we’re encouraging the consideration of additional biomarkers in cases where conventional indicators may not reflect disease presence. It’s a small shift that could make a life-saving difference.
I also want to acknowledge Associate Professor Simon Chu and his team at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research. Their expertise, integrity, and unwavering support have been instrumental in this journey. I’m forever grateful to have them walking alongside us as we push for change.
To the ROC Inc. board—thank you for your belief, your insight, and your commitment to patient-led advocacy. Your support continues to shape everything we do.
This moment belongs to everyone who’s walked this path with us. I’m so proud of what we’ve built, and so grateful for the support that continues to grow.
Shellharbour City Council Illawarra Women in Business Dovida Wollongong Tasha Armour Ryan Park MP
#granulosacelltumor #jgctresearch #ourwingsroc #ROCInc #researchiskey #ovariancancerawareness #rareovariancancer #shellharbour #illawarracommunity
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