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

At the commencement of my contribution to this debate I would like to acknowledge the member for Chisholm for her contribution, for bringing this to the parliament and, even more so, for the role that she has played in educating the parliament on this issue. She has educated the parliament and she has educated us as members of parliament, and we can go back to our electorates and talk with some knowledge about this issue. This has been a longstanding campaign by the member for Chisholm and we should acknowledge the fine work that she has done on this.

When she says that we need to raise awareness, that it is a national epidemic, this is something that she has been doing for years. It is a message we need to take back to our electorates, because each and every one of us would have been approached by a constituent at some time who was suffering from some type of food allergy or whose child has had their life put in jeopardy simply because they have a food allergy. It is something that as a community and as a society we really need to take very seriously. It is not just a fad. It is not something that people manufacture. It is something that is truly life threatening, and that is the message that needs to get out there: this is life-threatening. As a country, we need to put it high on the agenda because it is increasing. We do not know why it is increasing but it is an issue that needs to be addressed.

As has been said by previous speakers, food allergy occurs in one out of 20 children. But the figure that is even more horrific is that one in 10 Australians aged 12 months has a food allergy. That is a very significant number in our population. These food allergies, as has already been stated, are life threatening, and particularly the allergy to peanuts and some seafoods. These allergies are extremely life threatening and are allergies that you do not grow out of by more exposure to the food. You do not grow out of it just because you get a bit older. They are with you for life and, as such, we need to address the issue.

To see somebody with a severe anaphylactic reaction to food is frightening and something that must be avoided at all costs. It is only by having more information about what causes this response that we will ever get to the core of the matter and understand what it is about.

It is much more common in boys than it is in girls. Quite a bit of information has been put out there showing that allergy experts and immunologists cannot explain this rise in food allergies in children over the past 20 years. That needs to be investigated. We need to know what is causing this increase, and to put in place strategies to deal with it and ways of managing it. A person that does have a severe allergy to a food must manage it. It is a lifetime management. The member for Chisolm talked about the trials her son went through. There is a lot of peer pressure put upon people around their eating habits. There is just no reason that has been put forward for this increase. There is no end in sight. It is occurring not only in Australia. As the member for Chisolm pointed out, we are leaders in that field. It is particularly common in developed countries. The member for Chisolm's motion calling for the establishment of a national food allergy register to capture an accurate picture about food allergy in Australia and statistics is very important and should be endorsed by this parliament. (Time expired)

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