Gavin Marshall (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have been following the debate on the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Bill 2006 with interest and have noted that many senators have seemed to agonise over this bill. I have carefully considered the content and the effect of the bill, but I have not agonised over it for a single second. This is because every time my children contract one of the many childhood diseases I give thanks to those medical and scientific pioneers that made treatment and cures possible and available. Every time my children receive a vaccination against some of the most horrendous and debilitating diseases—diseases which have killed and maimed millions of human beings—I give thanks to those scientific and medical pioneers who made these vaccines possible and available.

And, while I am presently in good health, the future is unknown. I would hope, if I am injured or ill, that there will be a treatment or cure for my illness and, if it is not available, that it would eventually be available to my children. And when my children have children of their own, and the cycle of injury and illness starts again, I hope that they will have access to future treatments and cures made possible by research undertaken by the medical and scientific researchers of today: research made possible by this bill.

History has shown that we continue to move forward through pioneering advances in science. Our current society has benefited immeasurably through the knowledge gained through all the generations of humanity, and we have an obligation to future generations to ensure that such gains in knowledge continue. I will not vote to deprive our children and subsequent generations of future treatments and cures by restricting the medical and scientific pioneers of today unnecessarily. Unashamedly I vote for our children, and I at least will put families first. I commend the bill to the Senate.