'Sometimes you're scared': New MP tells Parliament about learning her breast cancer has RETURNED – weeks after being elected to Parliament
- The new Labor member for Dunkley has just been diagnosed with breast cancer
- Peta Murphy's maiden speech to Parliament described her new health battle
- She was given the news only two weeks ago, following her swearing in as an MP
- The former barrister was first diagnosed with cancer in 2011 and changed plans
A new member of Parliament has revealed her cancer has returned - only a week after she was sworn in.
Peta Murphy won the outer Melbourne seat of Dunkley at the May election, becoming the first successful Labor candidate since 1993.
Her joy, however, was short-lived when she discovered she had breast cancer again, seven years after her original diagnosis.
'Two weeks ago, a week after being sworn in as the member for Dunkley, I received the unexpected news that my cancer had returned,' she told the House of Representatives on Wednesday morning in her maiden speech.
Peta Murphy, a new member of Parliament, has revealed her cancer has returned - only a week after she was sworn in as an MP
'As I now know, cancer is not just indiscriminate, it's sneaky.
'I am neither unique nor alone in the fight that I am about to take on.'
Facing cancer for the second time, the 48-year-old former criminal barrister and political adviser spoke frankly about her life-threatening health battle.
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'Let's be frank, cancer sucks – don't kick me out for unparliamentary language,' she said.
'It changes the way your body feels and it changes the way you feel about your body.
'The treatments can make you sick. Sometimes you're scared. Sometimes you're angry.'
She won the outer Melbourne seat of Dunkley at the May election, becoming the first successful Labor candidate since 1993. Her joy, however, was short-lived when she discovered she had breast cancer again, seven years after her original diagnosis
The new Labor member for Dunkley said cancer was tough on loved ones too.
'You worry about how your family and your friends are coping,' she said.
'You value their support but you resent the fact that you need it and for too many people on top of all of this, is the worry about how to pay the bills if you can't work, about who's going to look after the children while you're getting treatment.'
Ms Murphy was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 just before she was due to move to San Francisco with her husband Rod.
Ms Murphy was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2011 just before she was due to move to San Francisco with her husband Rod (pictured right)
Instead of moving to California in the United States, the couple moved to the bayside area of south-east Melbourne to be closer to her husband's family.
She described her initial cancer diagnosis seven years ago as 'a reminder that life can be fragile and we'd better make the most of it'.
In 2016, she unsuccessfully contested Dunkley but secured a 4.1 per cent swing against first-time Liberal candidate Chris Crewther, following the retirement of former cabinet minister Bruce Billson.
Ms Murphy was elected in May with a smaller 1.7 per cent swing, following an electoral redistribution that made the seat notionally Labor.
She was one of just three Labor candidates at the May federal election to take a seat off the Liberal Party as the government campaigned against the Opposition's negative gearing and franking credits tax policies.
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