Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senator Moore, I move:

That the Senate:

(a) notes:

  (i) that Australia's Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Awareness Week will be held from 6 May to 12 May 2018,

  (ii) that MND describes a disease in which the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control walking, talking, eating, swallowing, and breathing progressively die – MND is also known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or Lou Gehrig's disease,

  (iii) that life expectancy of a person diagnosed with MND is short, being less than 3 years,

  (iv) that at present, two Australians are diagnosed with MND and two die from the disease every day – an estimated 420 000 are living with MND across the world,

  (v) the importance in raising awareness that MND has no effective treatment and there is no cure, yet MND can strike anyone at any time,

  (vi) the vital role the MND community plays in providing care that minimises the loss of dignity for those suffering from MND, and

  (vii) that progress has definitely been made with MND research, and ongoing effort is needed to achieve breakthroughs that will lead to a cure; and

(b) acknowledges the collective effort of MND associations, families and friends in ensuring no one faces MND alone, and striving to raise awareness and engage with the community towards bettering our understanding of the causes of MND, finding effective treatments and discovering a cure.

Question agreed to.