Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On 4 July, with co-chair Dean Smith, I had the great pleasure of co-hosting the World Hepatitis Day event here in parliament. This was on behalf of the Parliamentary Friends for Ending HIV, STIs and Other Blood Borne Viruses, and, of course, hepatitis B and C are some of those bloodborne viruses. I should note that World Hepatitis Day took place on 28 July, and the theme this year has been 'Its Time for Action'. There are nearly 300,000 people living with hepatitis B and C in Australia. Untreated, it absolutely devastates lives.

I want to take this opportunity to highlight what actions are being taken to eliminate viral hepatitis. The Australian government committed $126½ million in the last budget to extend and expand activities to support the prevention, treatment and testing of BBVs and STIs. This is going to underpin the investment for the Fourth National Hepatitis B Strategy and the Sixth National Hepatitis C Strategy set for release in coming months. We have before us a clear roadmap towards the elimination of viral hepatitis by 2030.

We continue to be a global proponent of global initiatives to eliminate viral hepatitis as a major public health threat by 2030, and I'm pleased that our government's affirmed its commitment to lead international efforts. There have been great innovations in treatment and cure, but we have seen falling diagnosis and treatment rates. There are barriers that exist to people's access to treatment, which includes injecting drug users in Australia's prisons. I thank all— (Time expired)