Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

On Friday 15 October, Australia observed International Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day, a day to honour and remember all babies lost to miscarriage, stillbirth and perinatal death. In February this parliament passed a motion that I moved to eternally recognise this day. I thank Senators McCarthy, Polley, Rice, Molan, Bilyk, Waters and Hughes for their support of the motion.

In Australia, hundreds of thousands of parents marked this day. In Australia, one in four pregnancies ends in miscarriage. Six babies are stillborn every day. Perinatal deaths—that is, the death of a baby in the weeks just before, during or after birth—number around 3,000 a year in Australia, and, of those deaths, 2,200 are stillborn.

Today I also want to honour John and Kate De'Laney. Kate and John have been instrumental in ensuring that 15 October is recognised in Australia, including via a campaign to light up public buildings, from coast to coast, in pink and blue. John and Kate have been incredibly generous in sharing their story of loss, and, in doing so, they have given so many parents the opportunity, the courage and the support to share theirs. My husband, Ben, and I also marked 15 October, as our daughter Caroline was stillborn in 1999. I acknowledge that many other senators and MPs also know the loss of their babies. Ben and I join all parents in Australia who know the loss of a loved and cherished baby through either miscarriage, stillbirth or perinatal death. We remember you, tinged with sadness but in recognition of the love that you have for your children.