Background
Skin cancer is Australia’s most common and costly cancer, with 2023–24 health system costs estimated at $2.47 billion. In 2025, the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Advocacy Network and the Australasian College of Dermatologists launched the National Skin Cancer Scorecard - an evidence-based tool to assess progress in reducing disease burden and to identify priority actions to improve outcomes.
Despite advances, incidence remains high and significant data gaps persist, particularly for keratinocyte cancers and patient-reported outcomes, limiting coordinated national action.
Aim
The Scorecard establishes a collaborative agenda to reduce the burden of melanoma and keratinocyte cancers. It identifies priority policies, tracks progress and promotes coordinated investment across the cancer continuum. Equity for regional, rural and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations is central. The Scorecard highlights achievements, identifies gaps and will be repeated every five years to ensure accountability and sustained progress.
Methods
A whole-of-system co-design approach engaged people with lived experience, clinicians and researchers to prioritise 16 ‘Call to Action’ items and five foundational enablers. Using available data, progress is ranked from No Progress to Significant Progress.
Results
Actions span prevention, early detection, treatment and care, supported by foundational reforms including national surveillance, research investment, consumer engagement and workforce planning. Accountability mechanisms include public indicators, jurisdictional audits and annual reporting aligned to the screening Roadmap.
Key opportunities include sustained prevention funding, a national risk-based screening program, regulatory clarity for digital tools and apps, workforce expansion and alignment with the Australian Cancer Plan.
Eighteen peak organisations and lived experience experts contributed. While progress is evident in treatment and prevention investment, gaps remain: limited keratinocyte cancer data, inconsistent school policy uptake, lack of funding for asynchronous teledermatology and variable access to multidisciplinary teams and registries.
Conclusion
The Scorecard is a transferable, standard-setting model for cancer advocacy that enables measurable and defensible progress tracking. It highlights the importance of addressing data gaps early. For example, treatment equity is assessed through regulatory approval timelines, while proxy measures are used for harder-to-track areas such as multidisciplinary care access. By identifying what is not measured, the Scorecard ensures these gaps are no longer overlooked.