Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week a coronial inquest into the death of four-year-old Alex Baptist commenced. Alex died at kinder from an anaphylactic attack—an issue that could have easily been resolved had the appropriate training been given and medication been on hand. I will not go into the details, obviously, as a coronial inquest is under way. But Alex is dead and his parents mourn. This case came to my attention for various reasons, but, as I have a four-year-old son at kinder who also suffers from a severe peanut allergy, it hit a bit closer to home than most.

It is estimated that up to 380,000 Australians will have an anaphylactic attack. Anywhere between three and five per cent of children also suffer from such attacks. It is alarming to learn that the number of children with food allergies in Australia has doubled in one generation alone. It is estimated that about 10 per cent of kids have a food allergy and about one per cent are allergic to peanuts specifically, as is my child and as was Alex. One child in 200 will experience a severe allergic reaction to food that could be life threatening. Up to 10 Australians die each year from anaphylaxis. Since 2002, three school-aged children—Alex was at kindergarten, so that is four children—have died from an anaphylactic attack.

Anaphylactic reactions can cause blocked airways, coma, heart failure and brain damage. Death can occur in minutes, even from very small traces. In most instances it is from touching somebody else’s food, because most of our children who have allergies know that they are not to go anywhere near peanuts. Adrenaline given immediately with an EpiPen is the only treatment. It opens up the blood vessels and, hopefully, buys 15 minutes to get a paramedic there in time. In Alex’s case, his kindergarten had his EpiPen. Unfortunately, it was not administered appropriately at the scene. By the time the paramedics got there, they could not revive him. This is a tragic case and it should not have happened. We have had other coronial inquests into children’s deaths and we need to be doing more about it.

Labor have committed to putting together $5 million for research into understanding the causes of severe allergies and to find, hopefully, a cure. But we also need to be doing something now. Something can be easily done across the board. The incidence of food allergies is growing. We need to ensure that all childcare centres, kindergartens and schools have standards and implementation policies in place. We need to know that our children are protected and also that their carers are protected—that they know how to identify anaphylactic reactions and how to administer the life-saving medication. I have had to learn how to use my EpiPen, and I am hoping I never have to do so. It is fairly easy to do, but you do need to know how. Obviously, if someone is having an attack, it is a fairly panicky situation.

On grand final day I went shopping. It is the best time in Melbourne to go shopping because no-one is in the shops; they are all at home watching the telly. After shopping, I took my son and daughter into a restaurant and ordered them a sausage roll. My son turned to me and said, ‘Mummy, why are there baked beans in my sausage roll?’ There were not; they were pine nuts. I went ballistic at the poor woman behind the counter. I said, ‘How dare you serve me something with nuts in it, and not advertise it.’ She was incredibly apologetic. She said it was a new batch, she did not know what was in there and she would give it to me for free. I went off my head and said: ‘That is not the point. The point is that my child could have had a severe reaction to it.’ Luckily, I do carry my EpiPen in my bag. But, as I said, I never want to have to use it, and neither do other parents.

We need to find a cure, and this can be done. This allergy does not know state boundaries. From the outset, we need to ensure that there are safeguards in place—that there is appropriate training for teachers, carers and parents so that they know how to administer drugs and so that there can be no repeat of a four-year-old dying at kinder. I have spoken to Alex’s parents, who are never going to get over this accident, this tragedy, this loss of their son’s life. They have two young children and they watch them like hawks. They have had parents at their centre accuse them of being overly sensitive. As Alex’s mother quite rightly put it: ‘I have lost one child. I am not going to lose another.’ Hopefully, if we ensure that teachers, carers and kindergarten teachers across the nation know how to react and how to administer the drugs then we will never see another child die—(Time expired)

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