Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge and thank the member for Canberra for moving this motion, and I thank her and the member for Herbert for sharing their stories of their babies. Today is International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Today, and each day that follows, six families will grieve the loss of a stillborn baby. More babies will fight for life in neonatal intensive care units around the country, where the issues or infections that they were born with will become insurmountable. Tonight candles will be lit to acknowledge bereaved parents and provide support in their loss.

The number of little lives lost each year tells the story of families affected by the loss of a baby or a pregnancy. We estimate that one in four pregnancies results in miscarriage. In 2016, 2,849 lives were lost to stillbirth or within the first four weeks of life. This issue is even more prolific among Indigenous Australians. They are almost twice as likely to experience the loss of a baby due to stillbirth or neonatal death than the Australian population at large, and this rate has not moved for the past two decades. Furthermore, culturally and linguistically diverse Australians also experience stillbirth and neonatal loss at a higher rate than the general population. In 2013-14, nearly 35 per cent of all stillbirths that occurred in Australia were born to women who were born in countries other than our own. Given these statistics, I commend the Senate for establishing the Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education. This committee will inquire and report on the future of stillbirth research and education in Australia. I acknowledge the work of Senator Keneally in highlighting these issues, and her daughter Carolyn's importance to her family.

For families of the future, we must do everything that we can to reduce the number of babies lost. We must educate families about steps that they can take to improve pregnancy outcomes. We must properly fund critical research into why stillbirth still happens. We must ensure that we take the opportunity to gather data wherever possible to better this critical research. This is why Labor announced that, if a Shorten Labor government is elected, it will invest in driving down the stillbirth rate in Australia. Labor will fund prevention, education and research programs that will make a critical difference in saving lives and sparing families the unimaginable heartbreak of losing their babies. When the Senate select committee delivers its report, Labor will consider further measures. These include developing a national stillbirth strategy to ensure that this issue is addressed with comprehensive policy measures.

Today is about recognising those families for whom there is someone missing to celebrate birthdays, Christmas, graduations and all those special family moments. Today is about supporting parents and grandparents, and mums and dads too. Today is about recognising their loss, which is rarely spoken about. Talking about their feelings and concerns will help families better cope with the future that lies ahead.

The Senate select committee submissions tell us that it's not only grieving mothers who are impacted when a baby is stillborn. Stillbirth is especially difficult for fathers, who are often expected to hold things together and suppress the pain they're feeling. Stigma is a cycle. Vulnerability and trauma on this issue should not be things that families feel they need to hide. As a caring and compassionate society, Australia owes it to the families who have lost children to step up and discuss how we can do better. We know that having a conversation around regular infant movement dramatically reduces the risk of stillbirth. We know that taking women's anxieties seriously during pregnancy has a positive impact on live births. And we know that naming stillbirth as a risk to women between 18 and 24 weeks dramatically increases awareness, vigilance and, ultimately, prevention.

Today though is also about recognising those groups like Sands Australia, the Stillbirth Foundation and Red Nose that work tirelessly to support families and develop solutions to improve the numbers of little lives lost every year. It is only recent changes that have allowed babies in New South Wales that were stillborn to be registered by Births, Deaths and Marriages. This official recognition has helped to raise awareness of the scale of the issue, but, more importantly, it helps families and communities recognise the baby's existence was important. I would like to express my sympathy to all families—dads and mums, grandparents, siblings and friends—who've been touched by today's recognition. My family recognise Michael and Meaghan, who are still a very special part of our family.

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