Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am delighted to have the opportunity to speak on this motion moved by the member for Murray. I thank her for her long-term concern and dedication in bringing this very serious and concerning issue to a high profile in Australia. From the debate so far, I know this is a problem that concerns members on both sides of the House. I have no personal experience with my own children or family members being affected by FASD. However, as the federal member for Cowan, I want to see every child in my electorate with the greatest opportunity to succeed.

As members of parliament we can work to better education and health outcomes across this country through mainstream and early intervention processes. But in the case of FASD the damage is already done. I therefore wish to be clear that I have grave concerns about the danger that unborn children in this country face. Intellectual problems, behavioural problems and learning difficulties are problems that seem to result in progress along an acknowledged route towards antisocial behaviour and crime due in no small part to an inability to fully participate in society.

What if those disabilities were not just a random combination of genetic conflicts but instead were the result of a specific incident caused by the behaviour of the mother when she was pregnant? This is the question I have always had regarding foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. In this country, we have laws that say that a person cannot be given alcohol before they are 18 and that is because their brain is not fully developed and some damage may result. As a society, we are rightly outraged if we hear of a child being given alcohol for whatever reason. Every responsible adult knows that alcohol consumption by children is wrong. But when we think of women drinking whilst pregnant, it does not yet have the same perception of harm to the child and that is why this issue of FASD requires a far higher profile in this country.

What we know is that alcohol is absorbed into the bloodstream. In the case of a pregnant woman it is also absorbed into the baby's bloodstream thereby ensuring the baby will have the same blood alcohol level as the mother. It is therefore correct that any amount of alcohol consumed will see that alcohol enter the baby and impact negatively on the development of the baby. That impact will be permanent. The greater the amount of alcohol, the greater the risk. Also, when the alcohol is taken, it will impact in different ways. Permanent disabilities are likely but to various degrees and alcohol taken over a number of days early in the pregnancy will see facial abnormalities apparent in the child. foetal alcohol spectrum disorder including foetal alcohol syndrome may include abnormal facial features, growth problems and also problems with vision, hearing, learning, memory and communication. FASD also includes alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorder, which might create the same intellectual disabilities as FAS and which will result in the child doing poorly in school and having judgment and poor impulse control issues. Alcohol related birth defects may also see a person affected with problems of the heart, kidney, bones or hearing. The warning signs for infants include a low birth weight; irritability; sensitivity to light, noise and/or touch; feeding problems; and a failure to thrive.

Those with FASD problems will, to varying degrees, when they finish school have problems with managing money, time management, decision making, seeking and holding employment, and conducting a range of tasks. They are not likely to be able to function at the same level as those that have not been affected by FASD. Under such circumstances, given such outcomes, any alcohol use in pregnancy is highly risky. Beyond the damage to the child, I wonder what impacts alcohol consumption will also have for our society.

I also ask the question: what problems do we have in Australian with disabilities and with criminal behaviours that are directly linked to a person being permanently damaged by the actions of their mother consuming alcohol whilst pregnant? This is an issue that greatly concerns me. It could be a link to so many problems in our society and is thereby deserving of a far greater profile than it currently has. I certainly believe that more public education is required to highlight this issue as well as more education for health professionals to help identify the extent of the problem. It would also be right to conduct more research into the matter so that we can determine whether problems with intellectual disabilities and with criminal or antisocial tendencies in certain areas may also be linked to FASD problems.

Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Murray for bringing this important motion on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder to the parliament. This is a very important issue. I do not think enough attention is given to it. I hate to say this, but I do not think that women are given the information they need about this vitally important subject.

I asked one of my staff members to get together some information for me on this issue and I had to ask if he could reduce the amount of information he had, because the more he looked the more information he found. He even discussed it with his wife, who is a registered nurse. She told him that the information that is given to women is inadequate and that there needs to be a lot more information out there.

As recently as yesterday there was an article in one of the Sunday papers in which a woman was saying that she wanted to drink and she was going to drink what she felt was a moderate amount of alcohol. She argued that there was no information that said that drinking while pregnant is bad for the baby. That is misinformation and the information needs to get out there.

The term 'foetal alcohol spectrum disorder' is used to describe a range of disabilities in children. Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder affects every aspect of a young person's life as they grow up. It affects their work choices because it affects their intellectual ability. It changes their facial features and their appearance and that affects the way people relate to them. It affects them in so many areas.

The Alcohol Education and Rehabilitation Foundation have done a lot of work in this area. They have done some groundbreaking research and campaigns. I have met with them. They recently invested $500,000 in seven projects across Australia. A recent poll released by the foundation found that 80 per cent of Australians believe that consuming alcohol while pregnant can be harmful to the developing foetus and 72 per cent believe that drinking alcohol while breastfeeding is harmful to the child. A poll taken in Western Australia showed that a large proportion of women drank whilst they were pregnant. There was a random sample. The poll found that a high percentage of non-Indigenous women continued to drink during their pregnancy and that the percentage of Indigenous women who consumed alcohol was even higher.

I note that the member for Hasluck is here in the chamber. I think they have done more research on this issue in Western Australia than in other areas of Australia. The research that has been undertaken should be taken seriously. National guidelines in relation to drinking during pregnancy should be widely publicised. It is time that very strong statements are made about the impact drinking has upon the development of foetuses and the impact drinking alcohol whilst pregnant has on the life of the child once it is born. I refer members to an article in the West Australian on 1 September that showed that children from all socioeconomic groups are affected. This is a big problem. It needs to be addressed. It can only be addressed by making sure that information is out there for everybody.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the foetal alcohol spectrum disorder motion proposed by my colleague the member for Murray. This is a disorder that has been discussed for some period of time, and the previous speaker made reference to the number of reports. There are significant reports that have been undertaken, produced and circulated, but it seems to be a challenge in the way in which the public sector—that is the various state and territory governments and the Commonwealth—have failed to give due attention to a social problem that has significant health, psychological, learning and other challenges in the way in which a young child who comes into the world is affected by the impact of alcohol. One of the challenges we face in this day and age is that it is often thought of as being confined to Aboriginal communities and Aboriginal mothers and children but it is not. In some work we were doing in the Pilbara my colleague Dr Simon Towler, the Chief Medical Officer, made reference to one of the paediatricians saying he had diagnosed another nine new cases in the Pilbara. Dr Towler asked which Aboriginal community and the paediatrician said, 'It is not.' He said it is within the main community in the town in which he practices.

The challenge that we have is changing the thinking of women during pregnancy, but the other issue that arises out of this whole concept and construct of alcohol is that often women do not know that they are pregnant and the practice of using shooters or drinking heavily socially has an impact in those first six weeks of life. By the time they realise they are pregnant, the impact of alcohol in those formative stages has been quite marked. By the way, not all women suffer the consequences of alcohol consumption. There are children who are born without some of the spectrum of disorders associated with foetal alcohol. Nevertheless, we have an obligation to do something because the flip side to this is that I have seen adults who show all the attributes and meet the criteria against foetal alcohol spectrum disorder but nothing has ever been put into place that assists them to enhance their educative pathway in terms of the support they need, nor does it enable schools to identify that there is a need in this area for resources that allow teachers to provide education programs that at least give these children some skerrick of hope in receiving an education that will ground them well for some form of life in the future.

It is an area that has had significant key people do work but in particular I want to acknowledge enclosure Dr Gervase Chaney. I worked with him in WA Health. I asked the WA child health network to produce a model of care for foetal alcohol spectrum disorder so that professional colleagues could guide those who were raising issues but in particular to support the education department in Western Australia where school principals were asking for assistance from the health arena. The work they have done forms the basis for a direction of connectedness between two principal agencies that take over half of the state's responsibility in two key areas. If they take that on wholly and in the context of being focused on those children affected then I think we will see a better coordinated effort in impacting on mothers and some of their thinking but at the same time providing opportunities for children born with those disadvantages that will impact on their lives. The other thing is that it will enable us as a society to take some responsibility in the way that we guide. I certainly do not support a nanny-state approach in saying that thou shalt not drink, but at least allow people to make some decisions based on sound medical knowledge, based on the fact that their child is the ultimate essence of a continuing life and then for the mother to have a role, within that. I would support any work that we do in this parliament and any state and territory parliament on FASD. (Time expired)

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I commend the member for Murray for actioning this motion. She is the deputy chair of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and I am the chair. I commend her for the work she does in that regard.

People who are suffering from FASD and their families can get considerable support from the federal government, everything from the disability support pension to carer payment, carer allowance, carer supplement, the child disability assistance payments and, of course, there are the family support programs which we are rolling out across the country. Community organisations will share in more than a billion dollars over the next three years to support local families. In my electorate alone there is $5.9 million for family services supporting many vulnerable families and often there is the impact of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, FASD. I commend the work that those local organisations do.

The standing committee of which I am the chair, received compelling evidence on the issue of FASD and the links with offending behaviour. FASD is a term encompassing a range of physical, mental, behavioural and learning disabilities. People with FASD are unable to learn from mistakes, cannot change their behaviour and many times do not understand the consequences of their action. There is really yet no diagnostic measure in relation to this, although DoHA has stated that it is in the final stage of procurement process for the development of a diagnostic screening test to assist clinicians in diagnosing babies and children affected by FASD.

Sue Miers, the spokesperson for the National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome and Related Disorders, stressed that FASD is not an Indigenous problem, although it is compelling that it is more of a problem in Indigenous communities than in the non-Indigenous communities. But there is anecdotal evidence which the inquiry received, of the impact in Indigenous communities. Australian studies show that women who are most likely to drink alcohol during pregnancy have a high risk of their children developing FASD and clearly this is a significant problem. Early diagnosis is difficult, and problems with FASD compromise school outcomes, and lead to mental health problems, unemployment, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse and often contact with criminal justice system eventuates.

In Australia it is pretty clear that FASD is certainly under diagnosed and there is no real concrete data on FASD prevalence. At most risk, as I said, are people with lower socioeconomic backgrounds, particularly Indigenous communities. The Equality Before the Law Benchbook of Western Australia discussed the lack of FASD data in Australia. The evidence that came from that was that the known birth prevalence for FASD in Aboriginal children is higher at 2.76 per 1,000 live births in WA and 4.7 per 1,000 live births in Northern Territory.

The federal government is putting money into the first study of FASD in Australian Indigenous community and it has been initiated by the Fitzroy Valley community and pools the expertise of paediatricians, allied health professionals, social workers and local Indigenous people. We have a group consisting of FaHCSIA, DoHA, the Attorney-General's Department and DEEWR, chaired by DoHA, tasked to report to the Australia Health Ministers Advisory Council in relation to this particular matter. Also we have made it clear that we need to take steps in relation to it.

Our committee recommended in recommendation 9 that the federal government urgently addresses the high incidence of FASD by developing and implementing a FASD diagnostic tool and therapy, particularly in partnership with Indigenous communities. The committee also recommended that there be a recognition of FASD as a registered disability, as a condition eligible for support services in health and education systems. We urge the government to consider carefully those recommendations. We also recommended that the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, I see the chair here, the member for Moreton, conduct an inquiry into FASD. This sounds a little incestuous but in fact, I am looking forward to that inquiry, I happen to be a member of that committee as well. This is a very serious problem and we need to address it. I urge the government to adopt the recommendations in the Doing time report that I referred to. I commend the member for Murray for the motion.

Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak to the motion moved by my colleague the member for Murray in relation to foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD, is known to be one of the biggest causes of non-genetic permanent intellectual impairment and lifelong physical and mental damage to children, including permanent brain damage and increased chances of learning and behavioural difficulty as well as depression. One study, published in the Journal of Paediatricsand Child Health in 2003, stated that in the Top End of the Northern Territory, my home, an estimated 0.68 children per 1,000 live births were affected by foetal alcohol syndrome.

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Proceedings suspended from 20 : 01 to 20:1 5

As I was saying, a study published in the Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health in 2003 stated that in the top end of the Northern Territory an estimated 0.68 children per 1,000 live births were affected by FASD. This figure was significantly more for Indigenous births, with the prevalence estimated to be 1.87 per 1,000 live births. Interestingly, researchers suggested that the non-Indigenous prevalence might rise to 1.7 per 1,000 live births where births were identified as partial FASD or alcohol related neurodevelopment disorders were assumed to be cases of FASD, whereas the prevalence was estimated to be a more significant figure of 4.7 per 1,000 live births for Indigenous births.

The public perception of alcohol in pregnancy is mixed. Generally people think it is okay to have alcohol during pregnancy. This motion identifies the need for a better informed community, alerting them to the potential dangers of consuming alcohol during pregnancy.

I currently have an 18-year-old work experience student from my electorate working in my office in Parliament House. Her name is Caitlin Carne. She was shocked after reading some research about foetal alcohol spectrum disorder earlier today. She said: 'Some of my friends have gone through pregnancies and there are some who are currently pregnant, and we thought having a glass of wine or two a day was fine. There needs to be more education and awareness; I need to tell my friends.' Caitlin is exactly right: there does need to be more education and awareness of FASD and the potential risks associated with drinking alcohol during pregnancy. That is why my colleague the member for Murray has brought this issue to this place, to ensure that the community is better informed and aware of this totally preventable disorder. Already today, as a result of this motion being brought to this place, there are a number of young people from my electorate who are now aware of the potential dangers associated with drinking alcohol.

A 2010 Western Australian report on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder suggests that an alarming 45 per cent of Australian women drink during pregnancy. Around half of those pregnancies are unplanned, so many babies will be exposed to alcohol in their first trimester. The member for Murray has indicated that some healthcare professionals may not be sufficiently educated to understand the condition and its effects. The member for Murray has also indicated in this place that there are instances of healthcare professionals aware of FASD who may be embarrassed to tell mothers that the child's condition may have been a direct result of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. The member for Murray also suggests that there may be children with FASD who have potentially been misdiagnosed with autism. This does not help when it comes to providing support services. Better awareness and education is key in helping those who suffer from this disorder. Early detection and support can assist those with the disorder to live a better quality of life.

There is bipartisan support for this motion. Both sides of this House agree that it is important to highlight within the community the potential risks associated with drinking alcohol while pregnant. This House, through this motion, is required to support the idea that there is a need to develop models of care and helping strategies for families and individuals dealing with this disorder. There is no doubt that the awareness program that this motion calls for actually started here today. I am confident that Caitlin will be sharing with her friends the potential risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy. There is no cure for this disorder, but with better education and awareness starting here today we can bring about prevention. (Time expired)

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion put forward by the member for Murray. I commend her on her efforts, through this motion, to shine a light on the dangers associated with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD. I am on the Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs with the member for Murray, and she is acting deputy chair at the moment on the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs, where we intend to commence an inquiry into FASD as soon as we finish the inquiries we are conducting at the moment. Most members would be aware of the risks to unborn babies associated with pregnant woman consuming alcohol during pregnancy. However, in some sections of society the dangers are not as well known. The number of babies affected by foetal alcohol syndrome is thought to be as high as 2.7 per 1,000 babies born. It is even higher in Indigenous communities. Some studies have found that 60 per cent of cases of FASD were Indigenous.

There is still debate about what level of alcohol can be safely consumed by pregnant mothers but it is interesting to note that the World Health Organisation now recommends that women should be advised not to drink at all. Babies born with foetal alcohol syndrome face a range of difficulties later in life including lower IQ, developmental delays, behaviour problems, learning difficulties, memory problems, increased risk of behaviour problems such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, increased risk of mental health difficulties such as depression and psychosis and increased risk of alcohol and drug misuse. Sadly, there is no cure for foetal alcohol syndrome and those who suffer from it suffer for a lifetime. Only prevention is the answer.

I understand that the Gillard Labor government has developed and distributed materials advising pregnant or breastfeeding women that not drinking is clearly the safest option. The government is also investing $700,000 to the National Drug Research Institute to develop materials to assist health professionals and alcohol and drug workers, especially those working with ATSI people. The Gillard Labor government has also provided $450,000 to the Telethon Institute for Child Health Research to develop a diagnostic instrument to assist clinicians in diagnosing babies and children with FASD. More importantly, the Gillard Labor government is also supporting people with foetal alcohol syndrome and their families.

People with FASD who are over 16 years old may qualify for the disability support pension if their level of impairment prevents them from working for 15 hours or more a week for at least the next two years. The government's range of payments to carers is also available to carers of children and adults with FASD who, because of the demands of their caring role, are unable to support themselves. The rates of FASD are much higher in remote Indigenous communities and this is a national disgrace. The government has a range of actions in place to help reduce these chronic rates but obviously we need to do more.

Through our income management initiatives, the Gillard Labor government is working to ensure that welfare payments are always spent in the best interests of children. These measures limit expenditure of income support payments on excluded items, such as alcohol and tobacco, to help ease financial stress and ensure these payments are spent on essentials—it seems ridiculous but things, for example, like making sure there is food on the table for children.

We are also investing $1 billion in the Family Support Program to support families, improve children's wellbeing and safety and build more resilient communities. The saying that it takes a village to raise a child is true. It is clear that the Gillard government is doing a lot to increase public awareness and reduce cases of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder. It is also clear that there is much more work to do. For all too many years my wife, who has worked in child protection now for 21 years, has told me so many sad tales of children that have experienced foetal alcohol spectrum disorder and the sad lot that awaits them later on in life. Sadly, the cycle goes on and on. There is much work to be done and I look forward to the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs doing its little bit to contribute to knowledge in this area and I commend the member for Murray for bringing this issue to the attention of the House.

Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.