Nicola Willis

It's been underinvested for decades, and the New Zealand public are saying...

it's time to step up.

Look, there's no doubt we've made a little bit of progress in the last couple of years, but it's certainly not enough to respond to the large numbers of cancer diagnosis that New Zealand public are facing at the moment.

Well, I totally disagree.

I think it does, and the evidence around the rest of the world shows that it does.

All of the five actions that we've got in the manifesto are evidence-based.

And if you take skin cancer, it is a really good example because it is the one that has the highest return on investment.

So of all of the cancers diagnosed in New Zealand, skin cancer is the... We have the most diagnoses of skin cancer compared to the rest of the world.

90% of those can be prevented.

And for every dollar that we invest...

We get $11.90 in savings.

But it is about behavior.

You're right.

People need to make those changes.

But you can't make changes if you don't know what to change.

Well, I don't know about that.

I had a skin cancer myself a couple of years ago, and my behavior has totally changed in the last couple of years because, yes, I put on sunscreen, but I didn't necessarily know the frequency that I needed to put on sunscreen.

I didn't know that actually I really should be wearing long sleeves and covering up, so

Yes, we can all remember the slip-slop-slap messages that we heard in school, but it's like anything.

If it's not repeated again and again and evidence changes, then we're not going to change our behaviour.