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At 19, Elizabeth Funa dreamed of a career in exercise and sport science. Then, doctors told her they would need to amputate her leg.
“It felt like my whole world stopped,” the now 28-year-old Bankstown resident said. “Suddenly my focus shifted from building this career … to simply trying to survive.”
Funa is one of the estimated 3000 people in NSW pushed out of the workforce each year due to cancer, according to a new report from Cancer Council NSW and the McKell Institute.
After being diagnosed with stage four Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Funa quit her dual role as a personal trainer and membership officer at a gym and dropped out of university. She said she could have continued her administrative role during treatment if she had been offered more flexibility.
“If I did have the support from management to be able to work from home or at least reduce the working hours, then it would have definitely helped,” Funa said.
About 56,000 people in NSW are diagnosed with cancer each year, and about 40 per cent are aged in their prime working years.
NSW has no dedicated policy to help patients keep their jobs during treatment, or help them return to work. In Victoria and Queensland, employers can access subsidies for hiring jobseekers from disadvantaged groups, including those recovering from illness.
Professor Bogda Koczwara, who leads the Australian Research Centre for Cancer Survivorship, said the report was a “sign of the times” as rates of cancer survival increase.
“It’s really important for us to consider what life is after cancer,” she said. “Not just through the prism of medical aspects … but rather what does it mean for your livelihood.”
The report estimated the workforce exodus created major economic losses, including more than $240 million in lost wages annually, as well as reduced tax revenue and increased demand for social security payments.
Recent Australian Institute of Health and Welfare analysis highlighted that cancer diagnoses among young people (under 65s) had risen, with incidence rates for Australians in their 30s and 40s about 11.6 per cent higher in 2025 than in 2000.
“Often they can work, just in a reduced capacity, but we feel the system just hasn’t quite kept pace with the reality,” Cancer Council NSW policy and advocacy manager Brad Gellert said. “This has huge impacts on both their mental wellbeing and the financial stability of themselves and their families.”
While some workers can access income protection insurance through their superannuation, government income support for under 65s with cancer is virtually non-existent. They do not qualify for the NDIS and are ineligible for aged care, and Gellert said that JobSeeker’s mutual obligation rules – which require numerous job applications – make it unsuitable for people with cancer.
“There really isn’t an alternative welfare route for these people, and they do slip through the cracks,” Gellert said.
McKell Institute chief executive Ed Cavanough said the basic policy principle of the report was to “incentivise a retaining of the employer-employee relationship throughout the duration of a cancer treatment”.
Its key recommendation was a targeted wage-subsidy scheme that could “pay for itself”. It proposed the employer, the state and federal government directly fund up to 60 per cent of the cancer patient’s salary for up to a year while their capacity is reduced.
“It would essentially enable people to stay connected to their workplace, stop that long-term welfare reliance, and it would give … employers the ability to retain a person who’s a valued staff member,” Gellert said.
The report also suggested payroll tax concessions for employers that maintain the employment of their worker, a donated or government-funded “cancer and chronic illness leave bank” that employees could access after their sick leave is exhausted, as well as an expansion of flexible work and carer’s leave under the Fair Work Act.
NSW Industrial Relations Minister Sophie Cotsis said the government would review the report’s findings and recommendations alongside Commonwealth counterparts.
“We understand the devastating impact cancer can have on workers and their families, including being unable to work due to treatment,” she said. “I have experienced this myself, and I am committed to ensuring employees with cancer are supported.”
A federal government spokesperson said the Fair Work Act’s National Employment Standards were under parliamentary review by a committee, which will consider if any minimum workplace entitlements – including personal and compassionate leave, unpaid carer’s leave and flexible working arrangements – should be updated to meet the needs of workers, employers and the economy.
For Funa, who did not need an amputation and is now in remission, the feeling of being “just one employee [in] thousands” after her cancer diagnosis propelled her to change career and switch her university major to human resources, so she might help others in a similar situation.
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