Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the motion on anaphylaxis, moved by Ms Burke. Anaphylaxis is becoming more prevalent. At least one in 100 children in Australia have had an episode of nut allergy and would be at risk from anaphylaxis. The incidence has doubled over the last 30 years. Fortunately, deaths from anaphylaxis are rare and they are also often preventable if immediate first aid is provided, which may require the use of intramuscular adrenalin through an EpiPen.

This issue has been highlighted by a number of recent cases. There has been a New South Wales coroner’s case involving the administration, on a school camp, of peanut butter to a child with peanut allergy. The coroner has made several recommendations to avoid this ever happening again. Of course, as with all types of allergy, it is very important to avoid the triggers. In most cases these are food; sometimes they are bee venom or a bee sting.

I welcome this motion from the member for Chisholm and her initiative in bringing this motion forward for debate.  I think it would be a great thing if, at COAG, we could see that all schools, preschools, childcare centres and kindergartens have guidelines for dealing with anaphylaxis. The one caution I have is that I am not sure that it would require national legislation. I think it is something that could be done through COAG, through a council of education and health ministers working together.

I should also say that I am indebted to Dr Mike Gold, who is a paediatric allergist at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital, for his help on anaphylaxis and for directing me to Anaphylaxis Australia’s website, which has already been mentioned, and the professional website, the ASCIA website: allergy.org.au.

When we look at schools and anaphylaxis we see that there are no national guidelines for managing anaphylaxis in a school setting. Each state does things differently, and national guidelines would play an important role in making sure that every school and every childcare centre has the gold standard. South Australia was the first state to introduce a uniform policy on anaphylaxis. It was the first state to have EpiPens in schools. I recognise the recent efforts that Victoria has made to make sure that anaphylaxis is much better resourced in the public system.

I asked a principal of a primary school in my electorate what her school did in relation to anaphylaxis and she informed me that all teachers at that school have done a first aid course and know how to use an EpiPen. I cannot say whether this is the experience in all schools, but certainly that one school I visited had a very well thought through policy on allergy.

It is very important that all teachers have training in recognising a child with anaphylaxis, and treating it. We also need policies to help children avoid their triggers. Staff and teachers need to be trained to recognise anaphylaxis and use the EpiPen. One issue here is that there is no standard first aid course. In South Australia it is done by St John Ambulance and the Australian Red Cross.  Often the quality of the first aid training depends on who is doing the training.

Another issue is the public funding of facilities which evaluate and test people with allergies. This is a responsibility for the states and territories but these services are often not well resourced and there are waiting lists for children with anaphylaxis.

There are four steps in dealing with the issue of preventing food anaphylaxis in schools, preschools and childcare centres. Firstly, it is important that the centre has medical information about the child at the time of enrolment, including a signed anaphylaxis action plan. Secondly, we need to educate the carers on the importance of avoiding triggers and using EpiPens. Ideally, education of all staff should be by qualified professionals and reinforced every year. Thirdly, every centre—every school—needs strategies to avoid triggers. This depends on the child, their peers and all school personnel. Fourthly, we need age-appropriate education of the child.

When we look at food, it is very important that there be no sharing of food. At the school level, a policy of risk minimisation for certain foods, especially peanuts and tree nuts, should be followed. This includes removing items containing nuts from school canteens. Nuts should not be taken on school camps. For children under seven, classmates of students with peanut allergy should avoid bringing sandwiches with peanut butter in them. I commend this motion to the House for bringing prominence to this issue.

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