Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to associate with the comments made by the member for McMahon and thank him for sharing those very deeply moving comments. So many women across Australia and around the world, so many parents and so many families, have been affected by this condition. There are stories that we could all share, I'm sure, but it's very significant that he shared these very personal statements with us here today. It is also pertinent that this bill is being debated this week because this week is PANDA Week. No, we're not talking about cute pandas from China; this is Perinatal Anxiety and Depression Action Week. I would like to acknowledge the great work of PANDA in this very, very important area, and also to congratulate the chair of PANDA, Nicole Batagol, on being elected this week to the Stonnington council, which is in my electorate of Higgins. I look forward to working with Stonnington council and Nicole on different issues of advocacy, particularly for issues regarding women and supporting them in their time of need.

PANDA Week is a week across Australia to recognise the pain and suffering and difficulties women and families face around the birth of a child, whether that child be a live birth or a stillbirth. I'd like to make recognition of the comments made by the member for McMahon about recognition of stillbirth. I would like to declare, as a paediatrician who's worked for many years with families in their time of grief and loss, that it is not until you are actually personally affected, or know somebody who is personally affected, that it becomes much easier to understand the loss that comes from stillbirth. That is because the opportunity to see and touch and experience the birth of a child is a very transformative moment in the life of a mother and the family and those that are expecting this birth. But in a stillbirth that opportunity is snatched.

It wasn't until I experienced a stillbirth through a very close personal friend that I understood that the loss of a stillbirth is the loss of ongoing opportunity. It was about 15 years ago. My husband and I were sharing a Bastille night celebration with a couple. The woman, who was a dear friend, was heavily pregnant—28 weeks pregnant—with twins. On that night, as two couples, we were sharing the fact that they would also become parents of four children. My husband and I have four children—two boys and two girls—and this couple already had two girls and they were about to have two boys. We were celebrating the fact that she was 28 weeks pregnant with twin boys and her life was about to transform. That night she went into labour and she lost first one twin and then the second twin to twin-to-twin transfusion, which is where one child has the blood supply and the other child is starved from the blood supply. I remember the shock and horror of that night and the terrible grief that that family was obviously going through but also the whole school community was going through, because we'd all been excited about the birth of her twins. But the pain didn't just stop in those days and weeks and months that followed for her and for the community. Every year you would think about the absence of the opportunities of those boys and what they might have grown into. That grief is something that is carried by that family, by that mother, by that father, by those siblings for the rest of their lives.

I've heard so many stories over time of that happening many decades ago or many years ago, but it does continue today. That is why a bill like this is so incredibly important; it recognises the pain and suffering and the loss of opportunity that a family feels when a stillbirth does occur. So I'm very proud to be part of a government that understands the requirement for an update to a bill and important amendments that are going to be passed. Once this bill is passed, it will help to deal with the pain and suffering in those difficult days, weeks, months and years that occur after a stillbirth.

The Fair Work Amendment (Improving Unpaid Parental Leave for Parents of Stillborn Babies and Other Measures) Bill 2020 will provide clear and consistent minimum standards of support for parents, making it easier both for the employer and for employees to understand their obligations. The bill, born out of the report of the Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education, will amend the unpaid parental leave provisions and complement the government-funded paid parental leave pay changes. Being provided with the same entitlements of unpaid parental leave as they would have if their baby had survived will be a real reassurance for grieving parents. The changes mean that employers cannot recall parents to work. Can you imagine if you've just been through delivery of a stillbirth? It's a time when you need to be with your family, your friends, your supporters. It's a time to be together, with those who love you and whom you love, not only to potentially grieve but also to arrange funerals.

This bill also encourages employees and employers to work together, depending on certain needs and circumstances of the family. These amendments to the bill will allow parents of premature babies and newborns who require hospitalisation immediately following the birth to pause their unpaid parental leave until the child is at home, where they are able to resume their leave. This is a very pragmatic support measure, and I very much welcome this aspect of the bill. In response to the report of the 2018 Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education, the Morrison government agreed in principle to all recommendations made by the committee, including agreeing to the development of a national stillbirth action plan to reduce the rate of stillbirth and to improve quality of care in relation to stillbirth. Those affected by pregnancy and infant loss should not suffer alone.

The Morrison government recognises the devastation that the loss of a pregnancy or an infant has on families. That is why we are taking pragmatic steps to invest in supporting these families through our $52 million perinatal service and support package. Having time to grieve and work through what has happened is important in order to ensure that proper support services are well funded and accessible to all. This investment includes $43 million for a new perinatal mental health program to support the mental health of expectant and new parents in Australia and provides support for families who are experiencing grief following stillbirth, miscarriage or infant death. Further, it includes a $7 million investment for stillbirth measures, including a stillbirth education and awareness program, research to minimise preventable stillbirth, and investment in the Safer Baby Bundle project, a new initiative to reduce Australia's high rate of stillbirth.

I recently spoke at a UNICEF and WHO Global Reduction in Stillbirth Zoom meeting, which was an international collaboration for assessing how to decrease stillbirths globally. I was very happy to represent the Minister for Health on that occasion. It was interesting to note that in an international context we have very good levels of preventing stillbirth in this country, but, unfortunately, disadvantaged women and families are at greater risk. That includes those from an Indigenous background, those from an immigrant background and those from rural and remote parts of Australia.

So there's much work to be done to improve stillbirth outcomes here in Australia. The investments will provide an improved and targeted intensive support service for families who are vulnerable. This includes those preventive measures that we know can reduce stillbirth, including targeting smoking, diabetes and infections such as HIV and hepatitis. These are all risk factors for stillbirth, and we need to work across the community, particularly in vulnerable communities, to decrease these risk factors in order to improve outcomes in relation to stillbirth. The Morrison government has also committed $7.6 million to ensuring that all eligible families who experience a stillbirth or the death of a child under 12 months of age will receive a payment of $3,600 to support them during that terrible time. This provides additional support for around 900 families each year.

The loss of a child is beyond devastating. As I said in my first speech, the words 'orphan', 'widow' and 'widower' describe a loss, but there is no word for the loss of a child. In fact, there is no word I know in any non-English language, either, for the loss of a child. It is an unspeakable grief. I am very proud that both sides of this House know the importance of this, and I'm very pleased that the opposition have been supportive of the amendments to this bill. Such matters are above politics and partisanship. I commend this bill and these amendments to the House.

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