Alan Ferguson (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak briefly on the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction and the Regulation of Human Embryo Research Amendment Bill 2006 because I believe that I have an obligation to let the Senate and my fellow constituents know why I am taking the position that I am in relation to this bill. I did not find this a difficult decision to make. Many people did, but I did not. As a matter of fact, I must be one of those ‘rebel conservatives’ that I read about a couple of weeks ago in the Financial Review, which was making comment about a document that was supposed to have been leaked to the Financial Review. I must be one of those ‘rebel conservatives’ because I intend to support the bill.

There are a number of reasons why I intend to support the bill, but I preface those remarks by saying that I am a Christian and a regular churchgoer—not quite as regular as I should be, perhaps, but regular nevertheless. One of the things that I took into consideration was that on the Lockhart committee there were also a number of regular churchgoers who came to the unanimous position that they did at the end of their deliberations. As far as I am concerned, this is not a matter of a Christian or a Christian church having a singular view. There are many views amongst people who count themselves as Christians in our community. There are probably many views amongst those who belong to other religions as well, but in this case I will be supporting the bill.

Thirteen years ago my eldest daughter was diagnosed with MS. I do not expect that the research that would be entered into by the passage of this bill is likely to bring a miracle cure; no-one expects miracle cures. But if through the passage of this bill we could give scientists the ability to find a cure for many of the diseases which are now incurable I would never forgive myself if I voted against the bill and did not give medical research the extra possible opportunity to succeed in finding a cure for some of the terrible diseases which are now incurable and which afflict so many in our population. And so I did not find it a difficult decision at all. I have intended to support this bill from the very minute that it was proposed by Senator Patterson.

I also want to talk about the use of this sort of research in other countries. If we in Australia decide that we are not going to proceed down this line of medical research, it is not going to stop the use of embryonic stem cells in research in other countries around the world. Belgium, China, Israel, Japan, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and South Korea are all countries which, in some form or other, allow the creation of embryos both by fertilisation and by nuclear transfer. This is certainly the current position for research in the United Kingdom, Belgium and China.

If we do not proceed along this line in Australia, it does not mean that it will not take place. It does mean that many of our brightest and best in the research field might have to go elsewhere to pursue their careers, but it does not mean that it will not take place. I certainly believe there are those in the past who have managed to come up with cures for many of the diseases which terrified the world for a long period of time. Just think of the effect that smallpox had in the 1700s and 1800s. Just think of what the discovery of penicillin did for a whole range of other infections. Just think of all the research that has taken place, many of it by Australian scientists, who are regarded amongst the best in the world. I see Senator Bob Brown in the chamber. I am sure, Senator Brown, that as a medical doctor you would know of the enormous ability of Australian researchers and the amount of work that they have put into medical research, sometimes coming up with cures for diseases which have never been found in other countries. So we have all these other countries in the world which currently allow this sort of research. The United Kingdom has permitted the creation of embryos via somatic cell nuclear transfer since 2001. Canada permits the use of embryos excess to IVF needs. I have not got a list of all of the countries, only of some of those countries that are currently benefiting from the ability to use this research.

I looked at the committee’s report on the Lockhart review recommendation. I noticed the quality of people who were part of that Lockhart review—a review commissioned by the government. The Lockhart review came up with a number of recommendations to the government, and then the Senate committee has looked into that review in having an inquiry into the bills that were put forward by Senator Patterson and Senator Stott Despoja. I looked carefully at the prohibitions that they had included in their recommendations, and the prohibitions that they have placed on this bill are sufficient for me to support the bill because they have put safeguards to the extent that I do not believe that anyone involved in medical research will be able to misuse the ability to do research that the passage of this bill will provide for them.

These are things such as a prohibition on the implantation into the reproductive tract of a woman of a human embryo created by any means other than the fertilisation of an egg by sperm. That has been prohibited in the past and will continue to be prohibited. It is obvious from the six or seven prohibition clauses in the recommendation that the committee has looked very carefully into the provisions of the private member’s bill proposed by Senator Patterson. And it has decided that putting these prohibitions in place will take care of many of the fears some people may have had about the passing of this bill allowing this research to take place.

As I said at the start, it was not at all a difficult decision for me. I know some people have agonised over which way they should vote on this, and I may be voting in a different way from how many of my colleagues and also many of my friends would expect me to vote. But I do so with a conviction that we should give medical research every opportunity it can possibly have to try and rid this world of some of the terrible afflictions that young people today have to live with. You only had to be in the House the other day with the kids with juvenile diabetes to know that they are pleading, ‘Please find a cure.’ They are pleading with research to find a cure for this disease which at times afflicts children from such a young age.

In my personal case, with my daughter with multiple sclerosis, as I said I do not expect miracle cures to come from this. But if a cure can be found—and I hope that one can be—as I said from the start, I would never be able to forgive myself if I did not support a bill that would give medical scientists every chance to find a cure for these diseases.