Emma Husar (Lindsay, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to support this bill which makes minor changes to the No Jab, No Pay arrangements. Unfortunately for some in the community, the immunisation debate continues to exist. It is a debate that should have ended long ago. The scientific evidence that vaccines save lives is overwhelming. It is unfortunate as well that we have some people in parliament who believe we should be having a debate and stopping immunisation. Senator Hanson's questioning of the safety of vaccines does nothing but put people's lives—and children's lives—at risk. While Senator Hanson backed down from her suggestion that parents should use a non-existent test for vaccine allergies, she still has not apologised for her earlier comments linking vaccines to cancer or autism.

Let me tell you, as a mother who is raising a child with autism, I would still take raising him—with all of his quirks—over not having him at all and his life being cut short by a disease that we managed to find a vaccine for and which we have reduced or eliminated.

Medical experts—experts, Senator Hanson, those people who dedicate their entire lives to research, developing knowledge and providing advice to the community—were all in agreement that your comments were ignorant and dangerous. The only person, however, who did not criticise her—his key preference dealer—was the Prime Minister. My office was inundated with criticism of Senator Hanson, not only on this issue but also on the segregation of children with special needs.

Australia's strong immunisation program is critical to eradicating life-threatening diseases, and failure to vaccinate is a threat to public health. Our leaders and the people in these places need to be doing everything possible to ensure parents know about the deadly risk of failing to vaccinate their children, not spreading misinformation. That's why Labor has called on the Turnbull government to fund a national education campaign on vaccines, and I am pleased to see that this is now happening.

People like Senator Hanson would benefit from this, but she undermines the confidence in the Immunise Australia Program, and the confusion has only the potential of lowering immunisation rates and causing harm. Parents are only interested, I believe, in doing what's best for their children. They don't need extra confusion, and they don't want to put their children in danger. A national education campaign that delivers the message that vaccines are safe and effective and save lives is thoroughly warranted. This should include advertising and information based on science, not opinion, for parents.

It is vitally important that our hospital system is not placed under any more duress. In my seat of Lindsay, we know only too well the impacts of flu this season. I couldn't imagine how the system could handle an epidemic or outbreak on top of it. Just last Sunday I was at Nepean Hospital's emergency department, and I saw firsthand the state that it's in: 83 patients at 3.30 in the afternoon in an emergency department that has only 32 beds. We have been given no additional clinical services, just billboards and promises. Imagine the inundation with an unvaccinated community.

While parents wait and staff are under enormous pressure in Nepean Hospital, the state government announces plans for a car park. There are no beds in car parks. There are no doctors or nurses in car parks either. We need some serious action now. A health precinct that cannot meet current capacity with certainty is not going to meet future needs with our ever-increasing population growth. It has now been seven years, and Liberal member Stuart Ayres has done nothing to increase staffing or bed capacity at the Nepean. The promise of an upgrade is a mere mirage. And, after 12 years, our local after-hours GP clinic, which was co-located at the entry of the emergency department, has been moved off site without any consultation with our community. The whole issue around stress of our health system is interrelated. I have mentioned flu, and this is an issue that we could also help with better education and with better vaccination campaigns.

As well as encouraging immunisation and shutting down stupid comments by preference dealer Hanson, the government must play its part in ensuring that the vaccine supplies are available. I note the recent shortage of the meningococcal B vaccine and am pleased that it is now resolved. I am pleased that action has been taken to protect our children from this devastating disease. I know firsthand the effects of meningococcal disease and how horrendous it is. My only sister, who is older than me, contracted the deadly disease 17 years ago. She spent weeks in hospital and was in a coma. Any steps that undermine our population's health should be called out.

Finally, the government announced that it would pursue No Jab, No Play laws. These are state and territory laws that allow childcare centres to turn away children who are not immunised. While some states and territories have them in place, there isn't a national approach. If the announcement sounded familiar, it's because the Abbott-Turnbull government already announced this policy almost four years ago. In May 2013, the member for Warringah and then Leader of the Opposition committed:

If childcare centres want to implement "no jab, no play" then they should be free to do so - and we will work with the states and territories to make it happen …

This government has been in office for over four years, and what has it done on the No Jab, No Play policy? Still, we welcome the government's renewed commitment on this issue, and I commend my support.

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