Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This morning I would like to speak on an issue that has affected too many families yet few may be aware of. I am referring to football related heart attacks. To put it simply: we must stop soccer players dying on football fields because a defibrillator was not available. We should be especially concerned given the number of lives it has taken over the last two years alone. In 2014 there were five deaths on football fields in Sydney, with another four already this year when we are only two months into the season.

Just imagine: you are playing soccer with your friends on a local field or training with a team you joined. You start feeling unwell. You head over to the sidelines. Then you collapse. The coach or a bystander desperately tries to revive you. They perform CPR but to no avail, because you have gone into cardiac arrest. They try to find a defibrillator, but there isn't one. An ambulance is called, but it is too late. As rare as it sounds, the statistics reveal the sad truth. We can only imagine the devastation amongst teammates, friends and family as they all struggle to comprehend why, as a society that is so conscious of health and safety, a lifesaving defibrillator is not mandatory on sporting fields.

During the winter recess, I met with Andy Paschalidis, former SBS presented and player for the Forest Rangers Football Club, who is spearheading the Heartbeat of Football campaign because he also has been personally touched by this issue. He was at Gannons Park in Peakhurst, Sydney last year when his best friend, Matt Richardson, collapsed and died on the field. Matt was just 43 and left behind a wife and three young children. It is just devastating.

Sadly, Matt was not the first or the last. As I mentioned previously, there have now been nine people who have died on the sporting field, four of them from my electorate of Barton. Ante Bosnjak was the first. He passed away during an annual six-a-side preseason tournament. It was a cruel irony because Ante died during a game that was held to honour another player who died of a heart attack several years earlier. Kodjo Etonam Adjassou was only 24 when he collapsed and died whilst playing for the Bankstown City Lions. Kodjo had settled in Australia after spending 10 years in a Ghanaian refugee camp, before his soccer talent was spotted.

John Annas collapsed and died at Rudd Park in front of his dad and teammates, leaving behind a wife and four children. None of them knew he had a heart condition. Emin Rufati was a St Ives Football Club veteran who collapsed and passed away suddenly, leaving behind a wife and two young children. Mrs Rufati has said she never expected to be a widow at the age of 46. Similarly, Ash Ariyaratnam left behind his wife and two children, after collapsing on an oval in April this year. In May, Col Green, a player and coach of the over-45s for Avalon, died during a game. He left behind his wife and daughter. Perhaps the saddest case was the one of Marc John Arcuri. Marc started to feel unwell before collapsing and going into cardiac arrest. CPR was performed, but he could not be revived. Marc was only 15. Just recently, a Central Coast man, Mickey Dean, died in similar circumstances. Mickey was playing in an over-45s match when he felt chest pains. A paramedic on the team rushed to help him, but he could not be revived. He left behind a wife and two children.

I know that some of my colleagues have been made aware of this issue, notably the member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks; the member for Bowman, Andrew Laming; and the Minister for Human Services, Senator the Hon. Marise Payne. They have all met with Andy to discuss the aforementioned issues. I know this matter has bipartisan support, and it should because this is a clear health concern for anyone partaking in sporting activities. Awareness of this issue is a key driver for change, and that change is to have mandatory defibrillators on every sporting field right around Australia. The cost of defibrillators ranges from $2,000 to $3,000, but it can double the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest. CPR, combined with early defibrillation, can be life saving. This statement has been confirmed by the acting CEO of the Heart Foundation, Mark Dupe: for every minute that passes, there is a 10 per cent less chance of revival. Victoria recently spent $3 million rolling out 1,000 defibrillators across the state. My hope is that New South Wales and every other state can follow suit.

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