Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week we are celebrating National Science Week across the country. On Tuesday some scientists and researchers doing incredible projects which are being funded by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, ARENA, came to Parliament House to show all parliamentarians their outstanding, world-changing work. While I was there I met many of the dedicated scientists and researchers who are in the middle of launching projects that could fundamentally disrupt and change the way our cities and our towns source energy within our lifetimes, potentially within the next decade. CSIRO, Monash University and Melbourne University are part of a consortium which can print solar cells; printable solar cells are rolling off the line right now. Just imagine: when you are able to print solar cells directly onto rooftop materials—onto corrugated iron— you will not need to install a new solar panel; the roof will be the solar panel. There were incredible advancements going on in energy storage from UltraBattery and Ecoult, where there is the great prospect of being able to store the energy the sun produces during the day so that every home or every business can use it overnight. We saw great companies like Reposit Power, who were looking at how to integrate that back into the grid so that every household can have some freedom from energy companies. We saw the great work being done by NICTA, who are putting together a national map of renewable energy so that anyone can go online and find out where the best place is to generate renewable energy and to build a new wind farm or put up new solar panels.

Standing in that room, I felt incredibly proud knowing that in the last government, when we had a power-sharing arrangement, it was the Greens who came up with the idea of ARENA and secured its existence and its ongoing funding. But, as I stood there, the Minister for Industry and Science took to the microphone and spoke of his support for ARENA, for their researchers and their projects, but what he did not say was that it is this government's policy to shut ARENA down and to take funding away from it. Everyone in the room knew that, as soon as the minister left the room, he would get back to work on trying to close down these important and incredible projects—to act as though there had been no technological advancements in the field of energy production since the combustion engine in the 18th century. Instead, we have this incredible brainpower and innovation happening right here, in this country, that needs support and that needs innovation. But it is not getting it, and the people in that room and the scientists and researchers knew that this government's proposal was to shut down organisations like ARENA. Last night I met a woman who told me her husband was working as a renewable energy researcher and that they were about to move to the UK because they could no longer be guaranteed secure funding here in Australia.

These tales are being told right across the country. In my electorate I have met with PhD student Jess, who came up here to parliament. She wants to stay working in her field, but she feels that she needs to step away from research if she wants to stay in Melbourne and to have any sort of job security that will enable her and her partner to take on a mortgage. I met with George, who was very recently forced to hang up his lab coat and move into the business world after a very successful 12 years in the School of Chemistry at the University of Melbourne because of the limited opportunities in science and research in this country.

At the moment, scientists and researchers feel that the funding for science and research is just living from budget cycle to budget cycle and that, every time governments get into trouble, every time they feel they need to balance the budget, they treat science and research as a honey pot to dip into. As a result of that uncertainty, we are witnessing a brain drain. People are saying, 'We will go overseas to other places where they secure funding for science and research and where young researchers know that they can have a long career.'

Sadly, under this government we have the percentage of spending on science and research at its lowest levels since we started keeping records. We are at a 30-year low on spending on research and development in this country. We need to boost it up to at least three per cent, which is where many of our trading partners are, and hopefully up to four or five as some other countries have.

There are some green shoots in this country. Already over 20,000 people have signed up at respectresearch.com.au for the Respect Research campaign. They are putting up stickers like this one here all over their workplaces around the country because people know that Australia's future depends on science, research and innovation, and that means governments from across the political spectrum need to stop chopping and changing science funding and instead commit to securing it for the long term and lifting it to at least the levels that our trading partners have.

Nickolas Varvaris (Barton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This morning I would like to speak on an issue that has affected too many families yet few may be aware of. I am referring to football related heart attacks. To put it simply: we must stop soccer players dying on football fields because a defibrillator was not available. We should be especially concerned given the number of lives it has taken over the last two years alone. In 2014 there were five deaths on football fields in Sydney, with another four already this year when we are only two months into the season.

Just imagine: you are playing soccer with your friends on a local field or training with a team you joined. You start feeling unwell. You head over to the sidelines. Then you collapse. The coach or a bystander desperately tries to revive you. They perform CPR but to no avail, because you have gone into cardiac arrest. They try to find a defibrillator, but there isn't one. An ambulance is called, but it is too late. As rare as it sounds, the statistics reveal the sad truth. We can only imagine the devastation amongst teammates, friends and family as they all struggle to comprehend why, as a society that is so conscious of health and safety, a lifesaving defibrillator is not mandatory on sporting fields.

During the winter recess, I met with Andy Paschalidis, former SBS presented and player for the Forest Rangers Football Club, who is spearheading the Heartbeat of Football campaign because he also has been personally touched by this issue. He was at Gannons Park in Peakhurst, Sydney last year when his best friend, Matt Richardson, collapsed and died on the field. Matt was just 43 and left behind a wife and three young children. It is just devastating.

Sadly, Matt was not the first or the last. As I mentioned previously, there have now been nine people who have died on the sporting field, four of them from my electorate of Barton. Ante Bosnjak was the first. He passed away during an annual six-a-side preseason tournament. It was a cruel irony because Ante died during a game that was held to honour another player who died of a heart attack several years earlier. Kodjo Etonam Adjassou was only 24 when he collapsed and died whilst playing for the Bankstown City Lions. Kodjo had settled in Australia after spending 10 years in a Ghanaian refugee camp, before his soccer talent was spotted.

John Annas collapsed and died at Rudd Park in front of his dad and teammates, leaving behind a wife and four children. None of them knew he had a heart condition. Emin Rufati was a St Ives Football Club veteran who collapsed and passed away suddenly, leaving behind a wife and two young children. Mrs Rufati has said she never expected to be a widow at the age of 46. Similarly, Ash Ariyaratnam left behind his wife and two children, after collapsing on an oval in April this year. In May, Col Green, a player and coach of the over-45s for Avalon, died during a game. He left behind his wife and daughter. Perhaps the saddest case was the one of Marc John Arcuri. Marc started to feel unwell before collapsing and going into cardiac arrest. CPR was performed, but he could not be revived. Marc was only 15. Just recently, a Central Coast man, Mickey Dean, died in similar circumstances. Mickey was playing in an over-45s match when he felt chest pains. A paramedic on the team rushed to help him, but he could not be revived. He left behind a wife and two children.

I know that some of my colleagues have been made aware of this issue, notably the member for Robertson, Lucy Wicks; the member for Bowman, Andrew Laming; and the Minister for Human Services, Senator the Hon. Marise Payne. They have all met with Andy to discuss the aforementioned issues. I know this matter has bipartisan support, and it should because this is a clear health concern for anyone partaking in sporting activities. Awareness of this issue is a key driver for change, and that change is to have mandatory defibrillators on every sporting field right around Australia. The cost of defibrillators ranges from $2,000 to $3,000, but it can double the chance of surviving a cardiac arrest. CPR, combined with early defibrillation, can be life saving. This statement has been confirmed by the acting CEO of the Heart Foundation, Mark Dupe: for every minute that passes, there is a 10 per cent less chance of revival. Victoria recently spent $3 million rolling out 1,000 defibrillators across the state. My hope is that New South Wales and every other state can follow suit.