\u201cThat loss stripped away any tolerance I have for bureaucracy, excuses, or slow-moving systems,\u201d Maggs says poignantly when asked about the state of play of skin cancer in Australia.<\/p>\n
The Australian government has dragged its feet on skin cancer prevention for too long, with little official progress in the pipeline. Initiatives like Skin Check Champions are cutting through the red tape to take the fight to the source.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe exist for one reason only \u2013 to find skin cancers early and save lives. Not someday. Not next year. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scott Maggs, founder of Skin Check Champions<\/p>\n
Maggs\u2019 no-bullshit mission is to bring preventable deaths from melanoma as close to zero as possible, by increasing early-detection probabilities, particularly for demographics at a statistically higher risk.<\/p>\n
Until now, they\u2019ve just needed the right tools for the job, which all changed last month when the mission was turbo-charged by a massive global endorsement.<\/p>\n
![\"Skin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Defender-Awards_Skin-Check-Champions_04.jpg\")
On the road with Scott & the charity\u2019s new Defender 110, pulling their mobile clinic all over Australia.<\/p>\n
Skin Check Champions has just taken home the APAC prize of the inaugural Defender Awards<\/a>, selected from a global shortlist of 56 projects. A tactical mission overhaul designed to springboard Skin Check Champion\u2019s life-or-death operations. The kit-out? A $200,000 bursary, expert mentorship, and a slick new Land Rover Defender 110<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Defender Awards were designed to support \u201cheroes who embrace the impossible every day\u201d, and in regional Australia, where Scott has identified the most at-risk communities, \u201cthe impossible\u201d involves dragging a fully-equipped mobile clinic across corrugated dirt roads and into remote locations. <\/p>\n For Maggs, this vehicle, which actually replaces an original Defender 110 he\u2019s owned and operated for the past few years, is both practical infrastructure and a natural fit. <\/p>\n \u201cThe Defender 110 isn\u2019t a prop,\u201d he continues. \u201cWith it, we\u2019re getting out there and getting it done. Beaches. Farms. Festivals. Construction sites. Remote towns in the bush. Wherever the risk is highest, that\u2019s where we\u2019ll go. It also means we can haul our \u2018Silver Bullet\u2019 mobile clinic into remote communities safely, confidently, and repeatedly. It\u2019s built for the harshest continent on Earth, which is exactly what we\u2019re up against.\u201d<\/p>\n The task massive, but abundantly clear: scale up screening in a country with the highest skin cancer rates in the world. To get there, the team is leaning into AI-assisted screening to help regional clinic nurses detect skin cancers early.<\/p>\n \u201cThis isn\u2019t about replacing clinicians, it\u2019s about amplifying them,\u201d says Maggs. \u201cAI gives us reach, efficiency, and consistency at scale. It\u2019s how we move from thousands of checks a year to hundreds of thousands without burning out the workforce \u2013 and how we make early detection easy, not a chore.\u201d<\/p>\n A start-up mentality is being applied here to a clear and nuanced health crisis. The tech, now being snowballed by the funds from the Defender Awards, allows for more checks with better triage. It\u2019s already identified more than 600 potential melanomas and 1,800 non-melanoma skin cancers since rollout. <\/p>\n \u201cFinding a suspicious spot is only half the job. Making sure someone actually gets treatment, that\u2019s where lives are saved,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re practical, scalable, and unapologetically focused on outcomes. Since our inception, we\u2019ve already provided skin checks for well over 36,000 Aussies, and inspired hundreds of thousands more to visit their local GP or skin check clinic. Saving the healthcare system well over $56 million through early intervention. That\u2019s not theory, it\u2019s bankable proof.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n For Skin Check Champions, winning a $200,000 bursary is a game-changer, but Maggs is explicit on where the money goes; it\u2019s about closing the loop with expert guidance, which is also part of the award.<\/p>\n \u201cGetting guidance from people who\u2019ve built exceptional global platforms, not just local programs, is a serious advantage at this stage. Defender can unlock a network of ultruistic high-performers on the world stage we\u2019ve yet to tap into.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe bursary then lets us strengthen the systems behind the scenes: patient tracking, follow-up staff, data integrity, and clear clinical pathways to the best professionals. That\u2019s a big focus. If we close the loop properly, with a patient-first philosophy, we don\u2019t just find cancers \u2013 we stop people dying from them. That\u2019s our vision. To leverage partnerships, people and opportunities \u2013 to make skin cancer history.\u201d<\/p>\n Thankfully, the vast majority of cases can be successfully treated if they are detected early.<\/p>\n![\"Skin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Defender-Awards_Skin-Check-Champions_02.png\")
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