Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Health and Ageing, I present the committee's report Diseases have no borders: inquiry into health issues across international borders, together with the minutes of the proceedings. The report is based on evidence received during a series of roundtable discussions held by the committee during 2012. I ask leave of the House to make a short statement in connection with the report.

Leave granted.

Ordered that the report be made a parliamentary paper.

The number of people travelling to and from Australia each year is increasing rapidly. As international travel increases so too does the risk that infectious disease will be imported across borders. One thing is certain: infectious diseases do not respect international borders. What is less certain is whether Australia is equipped to respond to emerging infectious disease threats of national concern.

Infectious diseases take many forms and spread in many different ways. In a rapidly changing environment, it is difficult to predict when the next pandemic will occur, how severe it will be or how long it will last. Based on available evidence, countries around the world, including Australia, are preparing to respond to another influenza pandemic. Other emerging disease threats of national and international concern are slower to progress but are equally of concern to infectious disease experts. Such threats include the emergence of antimicrobial resistant diseases both in Australia and abroad, such as multi-drug resistant tuberculosis in Papua New Guinea. That is something that the committee was quite concerned about. There were a number of reports of issues in the Torres Strait, with PNG nationals travelling through the Torres Strait Islands, such as Sabai, which has implications for health in Australia.

In this inquiry, the committee considered how Australia responds to the challenges posed by emerging infectious disease threats. The committee reviewed health screening measures implemented at Australia's borders, Australia's ability to respond to a national or global health crisis and Australia's role in controlling the spread of infectious diseases within the Asia-Pacific region. The committee also considered how disease threats are managed within the porous border between the Torres Strait Islands and Papua New Guinea, as I have already mentioned.

The committee has made a number of recommendations to the Australian government as it prepares to face the ongoing challenges posed by infectious disease threats. Among these, the committee has recommended that the government assess the case for a national centre for communicable disease control. Infectious disease experts suggested that such a centre would offer a more coordinated, efficient and sustainable approach to disease control than currently exists. This was a recommendation that the committee received on a number of occasions and one that I believe that all committee members strongly support. I might add that all committee members supported this report.

On behalf of the committee, I extend thanks to all of the round table participants. Their knowledge of and insights into emerging disease threats in Australia were invaluable in assisting the committee with its inquiry. I think it is fair to say that, while this was a series of round tables, in actual fact the depth of information that became available to the committee indicated to the members that the series of round tables could have been a full-blown inquiry. It took a significant amount of time as there were a number of issues that emerged during these round tables.

The committee also would like to thank the representatives of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship, the Christmas Island hospital and the International Health and Medical Services for providing the committee with a tour of the health facilities at the hospital and within the immigration detention centres on Christmas Island. A number of those people also participated in the round tables. I can say that the information that we received on Christmas Island was invaluable and really contributed significantly towards the report that is being tabled this morning.

The committee would also like to thank the administrator of the island, Mr Jon Stanhope, Councillor Kelvin Kok Bin Lee and other representatives of the Shire of Christmas Island for their assistance regarding the committee's visit to the island. Councillor Lee also participated in the round tables.

Finally, I would like to thank my committee colleagues for their participation in and contribution to the inquiry. As always, I would like to give credit to the committee secretariat for the wonderful work that they do, for the support that they have provided all the members of the committee in this very, very important series of round tables that were conducted and for helping us draft the report. I commend this report to the House.

See this speech in context