Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

Not for the first time I am in screaming agreement with the member for Higgins as she leaves the chamber. We should mark the occasion! I think the member for Higgins made a great deal of sense in her contribution to the Australian Immunisation Register Bill 2015. Like the member for Higgins and the member for Throsby, who spoke before her, and like other speakers from both sides of the chamber, I am a strong supporter of the immunisation of young people—children in particular—against dreadful diseases like diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis, chicken pox, measles, polio, mumps and rubella.

This legislation consolidates the legislative framework to manage and expand the two existing immunisation registers, and it also broadens their scope. The Australian Childhood Immunisation Register will expand to collect and record vaccinations given to young people under the age of 20 from the start of next year and then, in September 2016, will be expanded to cover all vaccinations from birth to death. This is a good outcome and a good idea. The HPV register will be replaced with the Australian school vaccination register, which will broaden the immunisation data collected by school vaccination providers to include more types of immunisations administered in schools. I am very pleased, and this side of the House is very pleased, to be supporting this legislation through the House today.

There is a bit of a baby boom happening in the parliament at the moment. There are a lot of new parents in this building, including the member for Higgins, who spoke before me. A whole range of us in this place have become parents—the member for Kingston, the member for Adelaide, the member for Pearce very, very recently, and the member for Charlton recently had his second child. There are a whole bunch of us in this place—the member for Mitchell and the member for Greenway, a little bit earlier. Last year, was it?

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