NSW Liberal leader Kelli Sloane has declared "masculinity should be celebrated" as she announced a new position in her team targeting men's health.
Davidson MP Matt Cross, who survived bowel cancer, has been named the state opposition's parliamentary secretary for men's health.
Although it is not a full shadow cabinet portfolio, Cross will effectively act as a shadow minister to improve the lives of boys and men through physical and mental health outcomes.
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Sloane told 2GB Radio today the matter was close to her heart as a mother to three boys.
"Before I was in this role as opposition leader, I was shadow health minister and I noticed the huge disparity in health outcomes between men and women, boys and girls," she said.
"Men are three times more likely than women to commit suicide. They will die four years earlier than women from avoidable causes, more likely to have cardiovascular disease, to have avoidable cancers, they don't go to the doctor as much.
"These are huge problems, and they're statistics that should absolutely stop us in our tracks."
https://omny.fm/shows/ben-fordham-full-show/celebrate-masculinity-kellie-sloane-appoints-minister-for-men/embed?size=Wide&style=CoverSloane said the conversation around men needed to change so that masculinity was "celebrated".
"We've got to stop saying that men need to be fixed, that they're broken, that they're toxic," she said.
"Let's turn that around and let's say you are supported, you are loved, and your masculinity should be celebrated."
The federal government has its own special envoy for men's health, Dan Repacholi, who was appointed last year, but Sloane said she wanted to "get serious about it" at the state level.
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Cross said his new position was a "real honour" in a video he filmed on his way to meet his oncologist at Royal North Shore Hospital.
"Talking about men's health is just so important. We need to be able to start a conversation," he said.
"It's okay to be vulnerable. It's about sharing our pains, sharing the need to support one another, and being human."
The NSW Liberals have also announced Jordan Lane as the new shadow parliamentary secretary for home ownership and rental affordability and Michael Kemp as the new shadow parliamentary secretary for the prevention of regional crime.
The NSW Liberals have 10 women and 16 men in their new opposition ministry.
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