Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yeah, yeah! It is the NSRL, Senator Cameron. They are currently doing a review of the serological assays used to diagnose Lyme disease, because that is in dispute at the moment. So there certainly needs to be discussion and extensive consultation with stakeholders once that review is done, and I am very pleased that review is being done.

The committee recommends that the Australian government increase funding for research into tick-borne pathogens as a matter of urgency. This funding should include funding for research on pathogens which may cause infection, funding for research on whether newly identified pathogens can cause illness in humans and funding for the development of diagnostic tests—that is where a lot of the arguments are—to detect infection by any newly identified pathogens endemic to Australia. It is really important that we have this research to look at these pathogens.

As I articulated, representatives from Murdoch University, including Professor Irwin, presented evidence to our latest hearing, where they identified more pathogens in ticks but in other vectors as well. That research is essential, and we need to make sure that is adequately funded. We make a number of other recommendations about the need to fund more research, in particular, to establish a clinical trial of treatment guidelines, with the aim of determining a safe treatment protocol for patients of tick-borne illness.

While we are doing research to identify possible pathogens, to identify the vector, we need to be treating people who are sick. We need to make sure that people who are sick are no longer stigmatised, no longer told that it is in their head. That is what patients are being told. People who are sick, who have a number of symptoms, are being told it is in their head. I know that if I were really sick and I were being told it was in my head, it would make me even sicker and worry. It may in fact affect my mental health if, when I am suffering, I am being told that it is all in my head. We need to acknowledge that people are sick and we need to support bringing the groups together. In fact, we recommend that a summit be held to start working out a way forward.

We also recommend that government allocate funding for research into medically appropriate treatment of tick-borne disease and that medical authorities measure the value of treatment in terms of patient recovery and return to health. The best treatment options must then be developed into clinical treatment guidelines. We also recommend that the Australian government Department of Health facilitate, as a matter of urgency, a summit to develop a cooperative framework which can accommodate patient and medical needs, with the objective of establishing a multidisciplinary approach to addressing tick-borne illness across all jurisdictions. By doing that, I think that will help to build confidence and relationships between the stakeholders, who are very deeply divided at the moment. If we are going to address this issue, we cannot afford to continue with the way it is currently being handled.

As I said, we made 12 recommendations, which I know my colleagues will also address when they get up to make their contribution. I would like to take the opportunity to thank all those people who made submissions and all those people who appeared before our inquiry. People shared some of the most personal details of their struggle with this illness and with the way they have been treated, and they were very generous with their time and in sharing that very personal information. So I thank them very much.

I thank our secretariat, who once again has done an outstanding job. As I said yesterday, the Community Affairs References Committee staff go above and beyond the call of duty. They have made a significant contribution with this inquiry. I hope that the work our committee has done will help to start to get this issue addressed very seriously, that people are acknowledged as being sick, that they get the treatment they need and that we put money into research to try to find out just what is going on. Something is going on. The committee are not claiming that we have solved this. We hope our recommendations will help us find a way forward on this very difficult issue.