Gerard Rennick (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today I want to raise the plight of thousands of Australians who became severely ill or died after being infected with blood containing hepatitis C or HIV between the 1970s and the early 1990s, before proper screening procedures were introduced. To quote Charles MacKenzie, himself a victim of the scandal and who has led a 30-year fight for justice on behalf of Australian victims:

This is the worst public health scandal in Australian history," he said. "People have died, children have died. This was not an accident at all.

Charles is sick of burying his mates and watching others suffer. Victims say they are yet to receive targeted financial assistance or an apology from the federal government, despite those measures being recommended by a Senate inquiry in 2004.

Many of the victims were infected through contaminated blood transfusions, including a baby from Melbourne who acquired HIV. An estimated 1,750 had haemophilia, a condition that hampers clotting of the blood and treated with contaminated blood products manufactured by CSL before it was privatised by the then Labor federal government. Substantial compensation schemes are operating in a string of countries, including Scotland, Ireland and Canada. The UK infected-blood inquiry began in 2018 and is being led by former High Court judge Sir Brian Langstaff. He is examining thousands of documents, including those that relate to Australia's response to the disaster. I call on the Australian government to apologise to the victims of this scandal and provide proper compensation to them.