Matt Keogh (Burt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am the proud parent of Nicholas, who last week turned one year old—a very enthusiastic one-year-old, just finding his feet and taking his first tentative steps. At this age, it is normal for parents to be concerned with things like choking hazards and them falling flat on their faces. What I shouldn't be worrying about is whether or not Nicholas will be at risk of contracting preventable diseases when he goes to day care or starts school. I am deeply concerned about the wave of parents choosing not to vaccinate their children and the implications this can have on families like mine and so many others in my electorate and across the nation.

Just this week the WA health department has had to step in and stop the spread of measles in a Perth school, where up to 200 unvaccinated children are now at risk of contracting the virus. In fact, Perth has one of the worst childhood immunisation rates in the country, according to a report recently released by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. The report states that some suburbs in Perth have vaccination rates as low as 80 per cent compared to the national average of 93 per cent. We are, indeed, at risk of losing our herd protection in some places in my state.

While I can appreciate the recent commentary around the supposed side effects of vaccines, which may have some parents thinking twice before booking their kids in for routine jabs, the overwhelming scientific evidence shows that vaccines save lives. The theory that forms the crux of this antivaxxer movement is that vaccines cause autism. This is based on a 1998 study published in a medical journal that 'found' a link between vaccines and autism, saying one in 100 were at risk. That journal later retracted that information because it was found to have been falsified. The author of the study was reportedly set to benefit from lawsuits that relied on the data he had published. But the damage had already been done, and the antivaxxer movement is, alas, in full swing. Even if vaccines did cause autism—which they don't—they still massively reduce the risk of other diseases, like diphtheria, polio, meningitis, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, mumps, whooping cough, pneumonia, retrovirus, rubella, smallpox, tinnitus and chicken pox, all of which can be fatal.

It must be said that the approach of No Jab, No Pay is a compulsion by the state to take a risk. It is, overall, a harm-minimisation approach where side effects may, in a very small proportion of the population, occur. But it is for the greater good. Importantly, to not do so would result in much greater harm not only to the population at large but also it is more likely to result in harm to those that may be susceptible to those side effects from vaccination. This balancing act is a difficult one but, after much consideration, I believe we have landed in the right place.

Amanda Young was a young and talented 18-year-old, living in my electorate of Burt, who died tragically after contracting meningococcal septicaemia. She was an inspiring young woman possessing many skills and passions and was a much-loved daughter of Barry and Lorraine. She was talented, hardworking in sports, academics and music, and throughout her life excelled in competitive sport as well as many other areas in her school life and at university. Amanda attended an intervarsity rowing competition regatta in Penrith, in October 1997, where she, tragically, contracted meningococcal disease and died at the age of 18. She was only a year or so older than I was.

Amanda's legacy lives on because her parents established the Amanda Young Foundation, with the aim of reducing deaths in WA from meningococcal disease and supporting survivors of the disease. They are, of course, big promoters of these vaccines. I mention this because it makes clear how important it is that we make sure we have a strong national education campaign to support the No Jab, No Pay policy and the importance of vaccination. With so much misinformation making its way into our mainstream discussion, it is incredibly important that the government assumes leadership on the role and presents Australian parents with the clear facts.

I am hopeful that our discussion of this bill in this place today may encourage the government to commit more to a national education campaign—a campaign that can learn from the work that's been done by organisations like the Amanda Young Foundation, which serve as such a sobering reminder of what can happen when people do not have access to necessary vaccines. In particular, I hope that this debate will serve to dispel some of the myths and misinformation that have been propagated—indeed, by some of the elected representatives in this parliament.

But, as well as promoting vaccination, it's also important that parents have access to vaccinations. Last year we were confronted with a shortage of meningococcal B vaccination. The Labor Party took issue with this and wrote to the government to express its concerns and urged it to make sure that we didn't find ourselves with this shortage again and that it be resolved. While more meningococcal B vaccinations have now been made available to the Australian public, there are still concerns that the amount available to the public is not enough to meet demand that may arise in the course of the coming year or so. That should be resolved.

I support this bill because it clarifies some of the detail around No Jab, No Pay arrangements. But I think it is important that we use this opportunity to shine a light on the issues related to childhood vaccination and the misinformation about it that is propagated. I hope the government does more to restore public confidence in our vaccination regimes and that it restores confidence in the science behind vaccination and the integrity of the vaccination program more broadly.

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