Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It was a privilege to second this motion which was brought to the chamber by the member for Calwell, and I do appreciate her raising this. Acting Deputy Speaker Hastie, I am sure that you, as a recently elected member, will have the Stroke Foundation knocking on your door at some stage, as they did when I first became the member for Swan in 2007. At that stage, they were working from a very small office in the bowels of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. They had one little office and one person and they were unfunded. Since then, they have become part of the national identity, with people being made aware of stroke awareness week and stroke around Australia.

It is also interesting to note that this is timely as, unfortunately, on Saturday my mother-in-law suffered a massive stroke. My wife, Cheryl, is now in Melbourne by her bedside sitting with her to comfort her and be with her. Hopefully, she will get through this particular episode. I would like to thank the doctors and nurses at Austin Hospital who are looking after her and doing a magnificent job. I am sure that all my colleagues in the parliament wish Cheryl and her family the best. It is a timely reminder that stroke affects one in six people. Examples like that remind us all that we have to be vigilant and careful and make as much out of National Stroke Week as we can.

I am not going to give a personal medical history, but—and, Acting Deputy Speaker Hastie, you might not believe this—at one stage in my life I was a smoker. In 2002, after visiting my GP and deciding to give cigarettes away, my doctor put me onto some Cartia. I said, 'What are you giving me these for?' He said, 'These are to help prevent you having a stroke.' I said, 'Why's that?' He said, 'You've got a history of stroke in your family'—which I do have. I said, 'Why didn't you give them to me before?' He said, 'If you're silly enough to smoke, I wasn't going to give you something that was going to have a negative effect.'

It is a timely reminder that our health is up to us. It is our own responsibility and a matter for self-determination in regard to how many times we visit the doctor. I visited my doctor last week and had another check-up between sitting weeks of parliament. It reminds us all how important National Stroke Week is. I have an office staff member who woke up in the middle of the night and found himself slurring. He got his wife to take him to hospital, and he had had a ministroke. Last year, my brother woke up at three in the morning and recognised the symptoms because our family has a history. He got his daughter to take him to hospital and was able to recover from it immediately. He had to have two operations on the veins in his neck, which is apparently a highly dangerous operation, to clear out the 90 per cent blockages that he had.

Stroke is something that we can prevent by carefully looking after our own health. It is interesting to note that they have talked about the symptoms. As we have said, National Stroke Week takes place from 12 to 18 September 2016. It seeks to raise awareness about the need to prevent stroke in Australia, encourages all Australians to understand the symptoms of stroke and encourages healthy lifestyle choices and regular check-ups. Stroke remains one of Australia's biggest killers and the leading cause of disability. It kills more women than breast cancer and more men than prostate cancer, as we heard from the other speakers.

As we said, according to the Stroke Foundation, one in six people will have a stroke in their lifetime. I am not sure how many people here know, but I know immediately of six people who have had strokes. It is probably the six degrees of separation again: we know more and more people, as we get older, who have had a stroke. I am in the category: after being in parliament with the member for Moreton for seven years and the pressure I have been under from him, I could be a big candidate for a stroke—but do not take that personally, Member for Moreton!

A stroke happens when the supply of blood to the brain is suddenly interrupted. Blood may stop moving through the artery because of a clot or plaque, or even because the artery has broken or burst. When the blood stops flowing, the brain does not get oxygen and the brain cells in the area die. While some cause temporary disability, others cause permanent damage, and often strokes can be fatal. Some symptoms may last up to 24 hours and others can disappear within seconds. The Stroke Foundation notes that, the longer a stroke remains untreated, the greater the chance of stroke-related brain damage. Again, I applaud the member for Calwell for bringing this to the chamber, and I ask that all Australians make sure that they make themselves aware of National Stroke Week. Thank you.

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