I think you are right, and what they mean here is aggressive treatment. That by itself may be perfectly fine if so warranted by you context. However, what I think is really important here is the dichotomy between effective treatment and simply alleviating the symptoms. You could say something like "When there is no cure available, one can always resort to palliative care." This would sound perfectly fine in the US, but maybe you guys down under have your own favorite ways. In any case, the devil almost always is in accepted usage. Cheers.

One of those.