Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tomorrow, 15 October, marks International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day. Tomorrow six Australian babies will be stillborn, as six will be today, as six have been, day after day, for the past 20 years, and probably well beyond that. Tomorrow six Australian families will have their worlds changed unspeakably, as six will be today, and as six have been, day after day, for the past 20 years. Whichever way you put it, this number—one baby every four hours; six babies a day; 2,200 babies a year—has stayed unchanged since records began around 20 years ago. That is some 44,000 Australian babies lost. That is some 44,000 Australian families suffering unspeakable grief. And that is the problem: in this country their grief is truly unspeakable.

As Senator Keneally has explained, collectively as a country we have considered stillbirth too sad a problem to talk about. We have viewed stillbirth as a private tragedy rather than a public health problem. However, I'm sure we can all agree that it is more sad and more tragic if we continue on as we have been, unchanged, in denying the 2,200 Australian babies lost every year the awareness that that they and their families deserve and the hope that things will get better.

In light of International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, I thank the member for Werriwa for her dedication to this cause and for moving this motion in the House today, and I ask that we have courage to break this silence and make stillbirth a national health priority, to follow on from the Senate inquiry into the stillbirth research and education and to act with haste on the recommendations it suggests. These recommendations are relatively simple and inexpensive. They are things such as small changes in clinical care and in the education required that would reduce the stillbirth rate by approximately 30 per cent alone, some of which were mentioned by the previous speaker, the member for Mallee.

What is particularly tragic—and I acknowledge this was just raised by the good member for Mallee—is that this average birthrate is skewed. It is skewed against rural communities and it is skewed against First Nations communities, like so many other health statistics in our country. The further away a woman is from a city, the more likely she is to have a stillbirth. For First Nations mothers, the stillbirth rate is double the national average. These inequalities do not just extend to perinatal health and do not have a quick fix, but they are worthy of our time, our efforts and our priority all the same.

Miscarriages are another tragedy that Australian women are at risk of during pregnancy but, unlike stillbirths, they are, to a greater extent, unavoidable. They are also much more common, affecting one in four Australian women. Yet, like stillbirths, the taboo surrounding miscarriages forces parents into silent suffering and without enough access to the support services that they need. As their elected representatives we must end the silence on lost pregnancies and infant loss in this country and provide the policy direction, the research funding and the support needed to reduce these rates for all of our families once and for all.

Our communities lead the way in this vital work. In my electorate of Lilley we have the Peach Tree Perinatal Wellness centre, led by the inspiring Susannah Holmes and her dedicated and vivacious gang of women. They work day in, day out to support and educate expecting and new parents. In Brisbane we are also lucky enough to host the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth—the CRE—led by Vicki and her wonderful, dedicated, clever team who have done so much, and who I look forward to seeing tomorrow for the launch of the Safer Baby Bundle. With their assistance and their dedicated work, we have it in our power to reduce the terrible rates of lost pregnancies in this country, especially those that are stillbirths.

We must make haste in doing so because for every day that passes there are another six babies' lives lost that could have been saved. Australian parents who live with lost pregnancies and stillborn babies show some of the greatest resilience in our communities, and this parliament should honour them by doing the same and by making the reduction of stillbirths a public health priority. For the families who live with this loss every day I reiterate my commitment to doing as much as I can and pledging my support, and tomorrow I will grieve and remember with you all.

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