Kerry Nettle (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to indicate that the stem cell bank has been talked about in the Australian context since 2002. Here we are, with four years notice from the last time I raised it as an issue of concern in the Australian context, debating it again. I appreciate the comments that people have made in recognising that there is some value in stem cell banks. I have looked very closely into this issue and the operations of the Stem Cell Bank in the United Kingdom. Central to a stem cell bank being able to operate is having stem cell lines. So, rather than moving a whole lot of amendments about how a stem cell bank should operate, this is just the central one. It cannot be a bank if there are no stem cell lines in it, so let us require there to be stem cell lines in it. That is why I am proceeding in this way. I will make some other comments generally about the stem cell bank later on.

People have raised issues around consent and whether that would deter people from doing research. I am not sure that it would deter people from doing research—I do not know. I think that consent issues are issues that need to be dealt with. There are Lockhart recommendations about the NHMRC looking further into issues around consent. Consent is a big issue, an issue I have read books on. This is an issue we can talk about in a lot of detail. But what I have tried to do here is deal with the fundamental, core element, which is: let us have a bank. Everyone has said that they want a bank. And the central component of a stem cell bank is stem cell lines. That is why I am proceeding with this amendment.

I also want to indicate that all the amendments I am moving are on behalf of the Australian Greens. The amendments have the support of all four of the Australian Greens senators including my colleague Senator Milne, who is overseas at the moment. She has indicated she has a different view from mine in relation to the bill but she is supportive of all of these amendments that seek to put the public interest at the forefront of the research and how it occurs.