Melissa Parke (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to share the inspiring story of 10-year-old, Izaac Coubrough, who lives in the suburb of Munster in my electorate of Fremantle. Born with profound hearing loss, Izaac was, at eight months old, the youngest Western Australian to receive a Cochlear implant.

On 6 March this year, Izaac, his mum, Rachel, and grandmother, Amy Sloan, will travel to Canberra, where Izaac will address the National Press Club with his speech about the inventor of the Cochlear implant, Graeme Wood AC.

A student of the Telethon Speech and Hearing Outpost at Mel Maria Catholic Primary School in Attadale, Izaac is mad keen on water sports. He is a member of the Coogee Beach Surf Life Saving Club, where he loves to compete in carnivals. He is also into his third year of playing water polo with the Melville Water Polo Club in Bicton.

It is just fantastic to see the positive and liberating impact that the Cochlear implant has had on Izaac and his family. This is a reminder of the crucial role played by public screening and early intervention programs, which exist to ensure the early detection and treatment of deafness so that people affected are not left isolated, and can fulfil their potential.

The inaugural Power of Speech event to be held at the National Press Club next Thursday, 6 March 2014, is sponsored by Cochlear. Celebrating the gift of speech and sound, the event will feature Izaac and 11 other children from around Australia and New Zealand—to challenge the common perceptions of what hearing-impaired children can achieve.