{"id":833014,"date":"2026-07-30T07:56:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833014\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T07:56:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T07:56:16","slug":"jacinta-allans-legacy-how-the-victorian-womens-pain-inquiry-transformed-healthcare-for-women-and-girls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/833014\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacinta Allan\u2019s legacy: How the Victorian women\u2019s pain inquiry transformed healthcare for women and girls"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cIf I want to be remembered for one thing,\u201d the outgoing premier of Victoria said on Tuesday<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s this: I led a government that listened to girls about their health.\u201d<\/p>\n

As an aspiration, it sounded humble. But for a swath of women, it counted.<\/p>\n

When Jacinta Allan launched a landmark inquiry into women\u2019s pain<\/a> in 2024, she provided a space for others to tell their stories and share their experiences. Ultimately, more than 13,000 women and girls seized the opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"LeahLeah Filley says the pain inquiry Jacinta Allan launched helped her feel less alone and more hopeful of better treatment for women.Penny Stephens <\/p>\n

How history remembers Allan remains to be seen given her mixed legacy<\/a> that includes the scandals surrounding Big Build projects<\/a>, record state debt<\/a> and the cancelled Commonwealth Games<\/a>. But experts unanimously agree the inquiry into women\u2019s pain, the first of its kind in Australia, dragged the issue out of the shadows and changed the face of women\u2019s health.<\/p>\n

Filmmaker Leah Filley told the inquiry of being so gaslit while seeking help for 25 years of chronic pelvic pain that one doctor offered her antidepressants instead of a medical certificate.<\/p>\n

In her 3000-word submission, Filley spoke frankly about \u201cthe despair I felt at times, and the loneliness of chronic pain\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"JacintaJacinta Allan and Mary-Anne Thomas, the then health minister, announcing the Women\u2019s Pain Inquiry in 2024. Penny Stephens<\/p>\n

The inquiry exposed the second-class treatment of women\u2019s suffering so effectively, it was \u201cextraordinary and momentous\u201d, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredible … women being listened to for the first time<\/a> in a really legitimate way,\u201d Filley said. Although doctors are still unable to diagnose the cause of her pain, that the state government declared it important, \u201cdelivered validation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Dr Karin Jones, the head of the Royal Women\u2019s Hospital Chronic Pelvic Pain Clinic, said the inquiry was a significant milestone in health policy that \u201cdelivered far more than those of us working in the world of women\u2019s pain ever thought it would\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing the inquiry we have seen actual change,\u201d Jones said. \u201cMore enthusiasm and interest from academics, health care workers, and from patients a sense that they are less alone and that they deserve answers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Premier<\/a><\/p>\n

As a result of the inquiry, a new early intervention model was introduced at the hospital for those waiting to see a gynaecologist. A more holistic approach was supporting patients to find explanations for their pain, Jones said, \u201cto help them make sense of what is happening in their bodies \u2013 not much to ask, but a fundamental step to taking back control of their life\u201d.<\/p>\n

For Allan, the pain project was no hard-hat stunt, but a personal passion. Her distress as she recalled the worst of her own endometriosis pain<\/a> and accompanying fertility struggle was real when in 2022, then the deputy premier, she announced plans for the inquiry. It began in 2024.<\/p>\n

Allan said at the time that when she started out in parliament as a 26-year-old, she kept quiet about her suffering and her fertility struggles because she didn\u2019t think the workplace was an \u201cauthorised environment\u201d in which to reveal it.<\/p>\n

As happened to many women at the time, it took 10 years for the source of her trouble to be found \u2013 a diagnosis gap that is in part narrowing due to awareness via the inquiry she championed.<\/p>\n

Professor Sue Matthews, the joint chair of the inquiry and the chief executive of the Royal Women\u2019s Hospital, credits the investigation with having mainstreamed an issue once considered fringe by many.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way I would describe the legacy of the pain inquiry is it moved women\u2019s pain from the margins and invisibility to the centre of policy, which is just phenomenal,\u201d Matthews said. <\/p>\n

Related Article\"Premier<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is impossible to ignore now and that is the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

The inquiry\u2019s report, handed down in November 2025, produced immediate measures. The \u201cgreen whistle\u201d \u2013 analgesic inhalers to alleviate pain during gynaecological procedures like IUD insertion \u2013 were rolled out. A statewide women\u2019s pain treatment standard was created, and an action plan is under development.<\/p>\n

It led to the establishment of a statewide child and adolescent clinic run by the Royal Children\u2019s Hospital, which offers reproductive health and pain-condition care for people up to the age of 18.<\/p>\n

Fifteen women\u2019s clinics have already been rolled out statewide, with a further five to come.<\/p>\n

Perhaps as important as its 27 recommendations was the spotlight the inquiry placed on what it found were widespread \u201cexperiences of dismissal, disrespect, and inadequate treatment \u2026 leading to distrust in the system\u201d.<\/p>\n

Former health minister Mary-Anne Thomas, who oversaw the inquiry before announcing her retirement from politics<\/a> in April, labelled the treatment of many women who shared what they\u2019d been through as \u201cmedical misogyny and gaslighting\u201d. Allan\u2019s frankness allowed others to feel safe to discuss and demand more, Thomas said.<\/p>\n

\"Thomas,Thomas, pictured in 2024, says Allan is passionate about improving the way women\u2019s health is treated.Simon Schluter<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the thing about Jacinta, she had her own lived experience of endometriosis, and she shared the challenges it presented to her when she wanted to start a family; the pain that she lived in for so long,\u201d Thomas said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just feel very grateful that she was so willing to share those stories so other girls and women would know they were not alone and that conditions like endometriosis do not discriminate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thomas also noted Allan\u2019s determination to ensure women across the state had a right to contraception and termination, despite a growing sensitivity around such issues in some sections of the community.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"More<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cAnother issue she has been steadfast on, and much stronger than any other leader before \u2026 has been her determination that women and girls have access to abortion care \u2013 together, neither of us were afraid to talk about that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

During her premiership, Allan also expanded the state\u2019s Chemist Care Now program to allow 850 participating pharmacies to supply the oral contraceptive pill without a doctor\u2019s prescription for adults over the age of 18.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s Health Victoria chief executive Sally Hasler said that under Allan\u2019s leadership, Victoria became the national leader in women\u2019s health provision.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is an incredible and really unique position for women in Victoria to have had a premier who chose to use her lived experience of dismissal in the healthcare system to drive meaningful reform and investment,\u201d Hasler said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a powerful example of how women in positions of power can drive more equitable outcomes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hasler and others warned that given the pain inquiry\u2019s recommendations are yet to all come to fruition, future state governments would need to be held to the standards the inquiry set.<\/p>\n

Federal Assistant Health Minister Rebecca White and her predecessor, Ged Kearney, both credit the Victorian government\u2019s work with improving women and girls\u2019 healthcare in a way that would stand the test of time.<\/p>\n

The inquiry \u201creally shifted the whole medical system into a new way of looking at healthcare for women\u201d, Kearney said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Keira<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI was talking to an emergency care worker at the Northern Hospital at Epping the other day, and he said to me because of all the work the [state] government has done around women\u2019s health, they have completely changed how they triage women now when they come in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kearney said Allan and Thomas\u2019 insistence on highlighting substandard treatment of women in pain helped other governments realise the extent of systemic misogyny in the sector<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope other women in leadership positions can see how appreciative women are when you speak up and make change on their behalf; I think that is a real legacy,\u201d Kearney said.<\/p>\n

Start the day with a summary of the day\u2019s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"WendyWendy Tuohy<\/a> is a senior writer focusing on social issues and those impacting women and girls.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[64,63,137,500],"class_list":["post-833014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-healthcare","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-healthcare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}