About UVI3

Australia leads the world in skin cancer, so why are we still paying for prevention ourselves?

Australia has the highest rate of skin cancer in the world. We've known this for decades. We talk about it constantly. And yet, when it comes to the single most effective prevention tool we have, sunscreen, we still treat it as a personal consumer expense.

That makes no sense.

Skin cancer is the most commonly treated cancer in Australia. Every year, billions of dollars are spent on GP visits, surgical excisions, hospital care and oncology treatment, much of it for cancers that are preventable. At the same time, Australians are expected to fund their own first line of defense against UV exposure, even in public spaces, schools, sporting fields and workplaces.

We don't treat other major public health risks this way.

Vaccines are publicly funded because they prevent disease and protect the whole population. Clean drinking water is publicly provided because it prevents illness. Hand hygiene is embedded in public spaces because it stops the spread of infection.

Sunscreen belongs in that same category.

Australia has done an extraordinary job of educating people about sun safety. "Slip, Slop, Slap" is recognised globally. But education alone is not enough if access is inconsistent, expensive, or dependent on whether someone remembered to bring sunscreen that day.

Right now, sunscreen is invisible in our public health system. It's regulated, tested, and proven, but it's not treated as essential infrastructure. That gap means prevention is uneven. It favours those who can afford it, who plan ahead, or who work in environments where sunscreen is supplied. Everyone else is left exposed.

That's not a failure of personal responsibility, it's a failure of policy.

A national sunscreen prevention program would change that. By providing free, visible, TGA-approved sunscreen in public and high-exposure settings, schools, sporting facilities, beaches, parks and workplaces, we could normalise protection the same way we normalised hand sanitiser.

This is not radical. It is practical. And it is affordable.

Estimates suggest a national sunscreen prevention program would cost a fraction of what we currently spend treating skin cancer each year. Even a modest reduction in future cases would save lives, ease pressure on GPs and hospitals, and reduce long-term health costs.

Most importantly, it would send a clear message: prevention matters as much as treatment.

That is why we have launched uvi3.org, a platform dedicated to building public momentum for sunscreen to be treated as essential public health infrastructure for all Australians.

This is not about free products. It's about smart prevention. It's about aligning our policies with our evidence. And it's about acknowledging that in the harshest UV environment on earth, protecting people from cancer should not depend on what they can afford or whether they remember to pack sunscreen.