Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

s TEMPLEMAN () (): We're all going to be emotional in this one. I want to thank my friend the member for Werriwa for moving this motion. It is so often those who have experienced a loss who are brave enough to shine a light on it. As we near Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day on 15 October, I'm very pleased to be supporting this motion.

The day of 15 October is an opportunity for parents, families, friends and healthcare workers to mark their shared loss, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth or infant death. Losing a baby at any time in pregnancy, in birth or in the neonatal period is devastating for families, but each year 20 to 30 per cent of women who are pregnant experience a miscarriage. It's an enormous statistic. And stillbirths are higher in Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities. We have much work to do there. There's no doubt that further research is needed to help lower the overall mortality rate and to provide support to families who have experienced the loss of a child, as well as help them overcome their trauma in a healthy and meaningful manner.

That's why the $6.8 million of funding that the Albanese government is providing to assist families dealing with the grief of stillbirth is so important. More than $4 million of that money will go to Red Nose Australia for their Hospital to Home program, and a further $2.6 million is for stillbirth education and awareness initiatives. I want to speak a bit about Red Nose Australia and, in particular, to give a shout out to Richmond High School in my local area, who for decades have been raising significant funds on Red Nose Day.

Richmond High School students do something that isn't done anywhere else. They don red capes and red clothes, and those of us who go along put on our red clothes, and we stand side by side on the oval to create a shape. Now, when we're doing it, we don't know what the shape is. But above us is a police helicopter, and it's photographing the enormous shape that's being made. It's only when we see the photo that we know what we've helped create. This year it was a koala hanging on tightly to a big red nose. For a bit over a decade, I've been really proud to be part of this human shape being formed, standing side by side with students and teachers.

When I attended this year's event, Pat Pilgrim, who is one of the originators of the event, told me it was very much a team effort in coming up with the idea, and she talked about the very first year they decided to do it. It was all thanks to the dome-shaped assembly hall that they had; it was standing there until recently. The idea was to drape it in red to create a giant red nose to mark Red Nose Day and to fundraise. It took hundreds of red plastic strips three metres by one metre—as Pat recalls, 2,200 square metres in all—which were lifted onto the roof with cranes once it had all been heat-welded together. The plan was to just let it flow over the building. They would pull something and let it flow over the building, a bit like, as she describes it, strawberry topping. It almost went to plan. And I've been told not to talk about any of the safety rules that might have been broken in order to get that red plastic doing what it was meant to do! The event attracted attention, and in 1994 the first police flyover happened so that the image could be captured. It's become a real tradition for Richmond High. Despite a lull for COVID, it's back, with the next crop of senior students leading the way. They have raised a huge amount of money for Red Nose Australia, and we're very proud of what they do.

Also within my region I've been privileged to get to see some of the work of A Butterfly's Embrace. Naomi Smith, the president and founder of A Butterfly's Embrace, lost her son Lucas in April 2014. She wanted to help support other bereaved parents who have suffered pregnancy and infant loss. This is people who have had that experience helping other people. As the member for Werriwa said, talking can really help. Naomi wants to see change. She wants to change the little things that should not be the way they are—the things that someone who hasn't experienced a loss probably hasn't thought of. No grieving parent needs added trauma on top of the already heartbreaking situation they're forced to face. They run an informal parent group that I'd encourage anyone to go to, at Ropes Crossing.

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