Former deputy prime minister Tim Fischer is having chemotherapy in a Melbourne hospital for acute leukaemia.
Mr Fischer, 72, is being treated at Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
"I can confirm I have been diagnosed with acute leukaemia and completing a 28-day cycle of treatment in the Peter Mac Hospital," he told AAP on Monday.
"I am feeling okay but face further rounds of chemotherapy treatment."
Mr Fischer praised staff at Peter Mac and the Albury Wodonga Cancer Centre and Royal Melbourne Hospital, where he has also received treatment.
The former Nationals leader and ambassador to the Vatican gave up most of his public roles and moved with wife Judy to a cattle farm at Mudgegonga, near Yackandandah in Victoria's northeast.
Last December, he said he had been undergoing mild chemotherapy for a cancer that had been diganosed in 2008.
Australian Associated Press
