Josh Frydenberg (Kooyong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to acknowledge the nearly 50 million people worldwide who are living with epilepsy, including 185,000 Australians. More prevalent than Parkinson's disease, cerebral palsy or multiple sclerosis, epilepsy is according to the World Health Organisation the most common serious brain disorder in the world.

For sufferers, seizures can be regular and harmful, making a normal life hard to live. Afraid to tell their friends, many keep their condition private, conscious there is a social stigma attached. That is why we should celebrate initiatives like Purple Day, which is a global day of epilepsy awareness. Purple Day was founded in 2008 by Cassidy Megan, a nine-year-old Canadian girl living with epilepsy who was, in her own words, determined to show that people with epilepsy are ordinary people like everyone else. Indeed they are.

This year on 26 March I joined families, the CEO of the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria, Graeme Shears, and Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria staff, and Claude Ullin, chairman-elect of the Epilepsy Patrons Council of Victoria, for Purple Day. With the Foundation's Victorian headquarters based in my electorate of Kooyong, the morning tea was a great opportunity to share stories and hear why we need to build greater awareness, provide better support services and invest more resources in important medical research in the field. I know I join all my colleagues in this House in saying to all those living with epilepsy: you are not alone and you have our strongest support.

See this speech in context