# Cancer Australia

Source: https://onco.cc/institutions/cancer-australia/  
OnCo record `cancer-australia` (Institution). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

The Australian Government's national cancer control agency, set up in 2006, which wrote the ten-year Australian Cancer Plan and coordinates the national Optimal Care Pathways.

## Summary

Cancer Australia was established by the Australian Government in 2006 and describes itself as the national cancer control agency, leading and coordinating evidence-based action and making recommendations to government on cancer policy and priorities; it marks its twentieth anniversary in 2026. It developed the ten-year Australian Cancer Plan, a national strategy written after consultation with people affected by cancer, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, clinicians, researchers and policy makers, with a stated focus on the groups whose outcomes are poorer. Its chief executive is Professor Dorothy Keefe.

Two pieces of national machinery run through it. The Optimal Care Pathways, hosted by Cancer Council Australia with proposals for new pathways sent to Cancer Australia, set out what good care looks like at each step from prevention and early detection to survivorship or end-of-life care, for each cancer type, so that the standard does not depend on where a person lives. It also did the enquiry and feasibility work behind the National Lung Cancer Screening Program, which the health department cites as the evidence base for the program's screening pathway.

## Fields

- Kind: Institution
- Last checked: 2026-11-03
- Also known as: Australian Cancer Plan; Optimal Care Pathways
- City: Sydney, AU
- Type: government
- Website: https://www.canceraustralia.gov.au

## Sources

- Cancer Australia: about us (Internet Archive copy, 13 July 2026): https://web.archive.org/web/20260713220314/https://www.canceraustralia.gov.au/about-us
- Cancer Australia: Australian Cancer Plan (Internet Archive copy, 12 October 2026): https://web.archive.org/web/20261012222028/https://www.canceraustralia.gov.au/australian-cancer-plan
- Australian Cancer Plan: https://www.australiancancerplan.gov.au/
- Cancer Council Australia: Optimal Care Pathways: https://www.cancer.org.au/health-professionals/optimal-cancer-care-pathways

## Connected records

- cancers: [Non-small-cell lung cancer](https://onco.cc/cancers/nsclc/)
- fronts: [Prevention & Risk](https://onco.cc/fronts/prevention/), [Supportive Care & Survivorship](https://onco.cc/fronts/supportive-care/)
- companies: [ANZUP Cancer Trials Group](https://onco.cc/companies/anzup/), [Australasian Gastro-Intestinal Trials Group](https://onco.cc/companies/agitg/), [Australasian Leukaemia and Lymphoma Group](https://onco.cc/companies/allg/), [Australia New Zealand Gynaecological Oncology Group](https://onco.cc/companies/anzgog/), [Breast Cancer Trials](https://onco.cc/companies/breast-cancer-trials/), [TROG Cancer Research](https://onco.cc/companies/trog/)
- institutions: [Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer](https://onco.cc/institutions/acpcc/), [Australian Institute of Health and Welfare](https://onco.cc/institutions/aihw/), [Cancer Council Australia](https://onco.cc/institutions/cancer-council-australia/)
- people: [Dorothy Keefe](https://onco.cc/people/dorothy-keefe/)

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JSON: https://onco.cc/api/v1/entities/cancer-australia.json