Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I thank the member for Fowler for bringing this really important motion to the parliament. I must say that I am disappointed that there is no member from the other side speaking on this motion. Maybe they did not understand quite what it was about but this illness or this gut disorder affects hundreds of thousands of Australians and it impacts on their life in so many different ways.

The member for Fowler has a grandson who has Crohn's disease. Crohn's disease is a very debilitating disease. People do not know how they will feel from one day to the next. I think it is really important that we as a parliament get our heads around diseases such as Crohn's disease, colitis and all the other gastrointestinal diseases that affect people's lives. A person living with a gastrointestinal disease has to struggle each day to live a seminormal life. For instance, they struggle with their education. It impacts on their ability to study and achieve at school because in so many instances they miss an inordinate amount of school. They have trouble participating in sport, once again because they do not know how they are going to feel from one day to the next. It really does affect them.

As far as work is concerned, people that have Crohn's disease or have any severe or significant gastrointestinal disorder miss work. I have had constituents come and talk to me about the impact that it has on their employment and the way they have had to struggle to maintain employment or to actually have any sort of employment whatsoever. It even impacts upon a person's social life. I had a constituent visit me a couple of weeks ago. She had to cancel a previous appointment. She said: 'I am terribly sorry but I could not come last week because I have Crohn's disease and I was having a really bad day. I could not leave the house.' Many of these bowel conditions actually impact on a person's ability to do anything.

Crohn's disease is a common inflammatory bowel disease. Crohn's disease causes inflammation in the bowels of people who are living with it. The inflammation can be anywhere along the digestive tract. Just imagine how this impacts on a person's ability to lead a normal life. The symptoms can be abdominal pain, diarrhoea—which is one of the effects that people find most difficult to live with—fever and weight loss. It can affect people of all ages and I think the member for Fowler touched on that aspect of it. Ulcerative colitis is a type of inflammation of the bowel and it develops in the large intestine. Symptoms include, once again, diarrhoea and internal bleeding—all things that make a person nervous about leaving home, all symptoms and effects that really impact upon a person's life. There are many other gastrointestinal disorders, such as diverticulitis, but they all impact on a person.

More research is needed. We need to get behind it in this House. I am pleased to see Dr Gillespie here in the House and I know that he is an expert in this area. I am pleased to see the government is supporting the motion of the member for Fowler because it is an excellent motion.

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