Kay Hull (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to support the National Health Amendment (National HPV Vaccination Program Register) Bill 2007, which will record on a register personal and vaccination information for individuals receiving the HPV vaccine under the National HPV Vaccination Program. This register is needed because the existing Australian Childhood Immunisation Register only collects information up to age seven. The aim of this bill is to overcome some technical difficulties with the Department of Health and Ageing being able to collect and use a person’s Medicare card number for purposes other than the purpose for which the Medicare number was generated.

The HPV register will assist in monitoring the number of doses of vaccine received, notifying individuals if doses of vaccine have been missed, recalling individuals in the event that booster doses might be required in the future and providing educational materials. It will also allow vaccination information to be compared in the future to patient outcomes, as recorded in Pap smears, cervical cytology or cervical cancer registers. It is so important to have accurate registers of information so that medical professionals have access to a person’s medical history. This information can be vital in diagnosing future illnesses and determining which medications to prescribe to patients. It can be difficult for a teenager or a young adult, and difficult for the families of these people, to remember and have knowledge of all the vaccinations that they have received, so this register will also mean that medical professionals can use this information rather than relying on information from the actual patient or their family. Many times you may have a separation in a family, whereby parents go separate ways, and then records of children’s vaccination programs are not kept intact. Years down the track, it becomes a vital and difficult issue for some of those young people to reconcile exactly which vaccination programs they have undertaken. A mum or a family member could have a tragic death, and with that death goes all of the information on the way in which the children were vaccinated in their early years. That leads to confusion about many illnesses. Particularly when young couples decide to marry, this becomes a problem. Having a register such as this will mean that professionals and those people will be comforted that they can access this kind of information and that it is not lost to them forever.

The cross-referencing of information will provide information about the effectiveness of the HPV vaccine in reducing cervical cancers and inform the future directions of the HPV program. Australia is one of the first countries in the world to fund a HPV program. It really is a great credit to the Australian government, particularly to the minister, for having acted on this fantastic initiative. This bill will remove the obstacles associated currently with the collection of personal and HPV vaccination details and the disclosure of Commonwealth assigned identifiers, such as the Medicare number, for the purposes of the register. It also establishes the register and provides for the recording of certain personal information about individuals participating in the HPV program. It also details the purposes of the register and provides individuals with an opportunity, on written request, to be able to access these kinds of details in individual circumstances.

It also allows for the cross-referencing of information about the vaccination status of females on the register, with Pap smear, cervical cytology or cervical cancer registers maintained by states and territories. It also recognises that some personal information—such as name, address, date of birth and Medicare card number, which are already in the possession of, or under the control of, the Commonwealth—may need to be disclosed to and used by the Department of Health and Ageing in order to facilitate the operation of the register. It facilitates the payment of a small administrative fee to GPs who provide details on the register relating to individuals in the 12- to 18-year-old group who are vaccinated with HPV vaccine.

Our immunisation system is now world class, with immunisation coverage rates above 90 per cent for 12-month-old children for the last six years. The proof of the success of the program can be measured by the large decline in the rate of preventable diseases. In the case of polio and smallpox, it has led to the eradication of diseases in Australia. Our childhood immunisation rates have increased. When I was on the Wagga Wagga City Council, I was running a program, through ABC radio, trying to encourage young mums and families to vaccinate their children, because at that time only 53 per cent of children were fully immunised by the age of 12 months. We saw the re-emergence of whooping cough and the threat of other diseases being reintroduced simply because our young mums and dads had never seen the devastating consequences of those diseases. Many people were frightened off by claims—whether or not they were valid—of damage caused to children through having vaccinations.

I felt it was almost a national crisis, with almost half the children in Australia not vaccinated against killer diseases and typically terrible diseases. So prior to my coming into this House I encouraged families to vaccinate their children. I am really proud to see that we have now lifted those rates substantially, with over 90 per cent of children now fully immunised. I congratulate the government on this massive effort because it has been committed to ensuring that Australians can access free vaccines to protect the population against vaccine preventable diseases through our National Immunisation Program.

As the previous speaker indicated, the Australian government announced in 2006 that a free human PV vaccination program for all Australian girls and women from 12 to 26 years of age would be implemented. In 1996 the Australian government expenditure on vaccines was $13 million a year; when the Howard and Vaile coalition government came into this place, vaccination expenditure was a mere $13 million a year. In 2006-07, our vaccine expenditure was $283 million a year. I am very proud of the government for this extensive program to ensure the protection of Australian children.

The HPV program has commenced with $475.9 million of funding over five years from 2006-07 until 2010-11. The commitment to the vaccine funding of that is estimated to be over $443 million. We have a very good program for schools and young girls in particular. This program will provide vaccinations for three groups of females: girls aged 12 and 13 years, which will be delivered through schools on an ongoing basis; girls aged 13 to 18 years, which will be delivered primarily through school for a two-year catch-up period; and young women aged 18 to 26 years, which will be delivered through our community programs, including GPs, for a two-year catch-up period. This will be staged in various ways and by various means, but it has commenced in 2007 and will continue through 2008.

I am extremely pleased to see that the government has acted forcefully and decisively, as it does, to ensure that our Australian children, and their families, are supported and protected and to encourage families to move on this issue. I congratulate the minister and the government. I commend this bill to the House.

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