Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I rise today in support of this motion and I commend the member for Wakefield for moving this motion. I understand it is an area of great interest to him. It is very important for the House to acknowledge that, in Australia, Hearing Awareness Week runs from 23 to 29 August 2015. This is particularly pertinent given that hearing loss currently affects one in six Australians and is predicted to affect one in four Australians by 2050.

This motion also provides an opportunity to acknowledge the role that Australian Hearing plays in our nation's health system and to understand why this organisation should be kept in government hands. It was only about twelve months ago that I spoke in this House about my concerns about the Liberal-National government's proposal to potentially privatise Australian Hearing. At the time, I spoke of the vital service that Australian Hearing has provided to the people not just in my electorate of Richmond but indeed right throughout the nation since its inception in 1947.

In fact, Australian Hearing was established by the Chifley government in 1947. It was started to provide services to returning servicemen and servicewomen and to children who had lost their hearing from rubella outbreaks. It has operated in government hands ever since. It is now the sole hearing service provider for children under the age of 26. It also provides services to former military personnel, age pensioners and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over the age of 50. Australian Hearing provides services at 468 hearing centres and visiting sites throughout Australia, including many rural and regional centres where hearing health services might not otherwise be available. Included in the 468 locations are 212 remote communities. The services include hearing tests, fitting hearing devices and providing counselling and rehabilitation programs.

It is hard to imagine who would service these communities if Australian Hearing were to be privatised. As we have said, we on this side of the House oppose the privatisation of Australian Hearing services and we are concerned about the possible impact that privatising Australian Hearing could have upon the quality of services and the ability to access such services. The peak bodies representing hearing impaired Australians have also expressed their strong opposition to the government's proposal to privatise Australian Hearing. The fact is that Australian Hearing and the National Acoustic Laboratories play a significant and important role in providing world-class hearing services at a low cost to hundreds of thousands of Australians every year.

Australian Hearing has an internationally recognised reputation as a best practice government provider and research organisation. Indeed, that great record of achievement is now under threat because of this government. But the fact is that the government has absolutely no case for privatisation and has ignored the widely expressed concerns about risks to the quality of and access to these services.

This is an important discussion to have, especially with Hearing Awareness Week almost upon us. As we have said, that week runs from 23 to 29 August and aims to highlight the many events being held around the country. The events will focus on the nation's hearing health and the many solutions that are now available to the rapidly growing number of with hearing impairment sufferers. Events will be held around the country to raise awareness of hearing issues, including the Australian Hearing Hub Open House which will be held at Macquarie University on 22 August in the lead-up to the Hearing Awareness Week.

As we all know, and as the member for Wakefield said in introducing this, hearing does matter. It is important that we do more to understand the causes and the scale of the problem that we face today. In fact, one in six Australians have some sort of hearing impairment or disorder and this is predicted to affect one in four Australians by 2050. We know that hearing impairment or deafness afflictions occur via a number of ways through medical conditions or injury. Some people are born with hearing impairments while others may develop them as they get older or, indeed, through injury or exposure to loud noises. It is vitally important that we do raise awareness of those early warning signs and to ensure that people get checked. A decline in one's hearing tends to go unnoticed for some time—it can be a gradual process—and it is important that people are aware of the warning signs and that they get checked as soon as they are aware of any issues.

As I have said, Australian Hearing provide an extensive array of services, particularly to young adults who are under 26 years of age, Indigenous Australians, former military personnel and elderly Australians with complex hearing needs. They provide a range of very important services often to people who simply cannot afford the full commercial services for hearing tests, for fitting hearing devices or for accessing some of the many excellent rehabilitation programs that are available as well. We know that Australian Hearing can provide these services and we know that privatising these services would be devastating for those groups that are in need. As we focus upon the value of Australian Hearing in Australian Hearing Awareness Week, let us keep working to keep this great organisation in government hands so that it can keep doing its vital work.

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