Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an important day and this is an important piece of legislation. And, as with most bits of legislation like this, there's been a lot of work behind the scenes by a lot of people. There are plenty who need to be acknowledged for this moment, and I'll just name a few here as we debate this bill.

Krystal Barter, who's a fierce advocate for genetic testing protections—she's a friend and someone I know who does not quit until she's achieved her goal. Eve Olsson was a Lynch syndrome advocate who shared her story and her experience publicly to help achieve this reform that the government is proposing today. Kara Ryan, one of the DNA Screen participants who work so closely with Monash University, used her experience as reason for this reform to progress. Then, of course, there's Dr Jane Tiller. There wouldn't be too many members of parliament that haven't met or sat with Dr Jane Tiller over the years, talking about not only her role in the Monash testing but also her role in advocating for this bill. I've met her at least 10 times in my time in this place and I'm sure she's been meeting many other members to get to today. Of course, we have our former assistant treasurer Stephen Jones, who started this process and importantly committed a re-elected Labor government to this reform, and the current assistant treasurer, the member for Fraser, who finished the job and introduced this really important piece of legislation here today—because genetic testing saves lives.

We're at a point in medicine, and with technological advancement, where we can identify risks before disease develops. But, like most things, our laws haven't kept up to date with the fast-moving pace of technology. The scientific and medical breakthroughs that will allow Australians to act early to avoid disease and to live longer, healthier lives are available to us right now. Yet, for too long, public policy has lagged behind scientific capability. This bill seeks to address that. For decades, Australians have had the worry of a terrible choice—the choice between genetic testing that could save their lives and prevent illness and the potential financial implications for their life insurance.

This was the key reason why the people who did initially sign up to a really important study, the DNA Screen led by Dr Jane Tiller at Monash University, didn't participate when they realised this choice that they had to make because of the genetic discrimination in life insurance. In the cost-of-living pressures we all seem to face, every financial decisions that Australians make matters, particularly when it comes to their health and their wellbeing. I'm supporting this bill because no Australian should be forced to choose between knowledge that could save their lives and the financial security of their family.

As I said, people were holding back from getting DNA screening, either through this big trial that Monash University conducted or just getting it done privately themselves because of the impact it may have on their life insurance. Life insurers, operating for profit, have had free rein over how they screen and how they can accept, deny or increase the costs of people's life insurance—insurance that people deserve. Treasury analysis has shown that the current life insurance framework has caused individuals to delay or, in some cases, not even undergo genetic testing because of the potential impact on their insurance affordability. It also put pressure on the research, and that's particularly concerning because we're not going to get improvements to health, or improvements to science or technology without research.

Monash University's DNA Screen struggled to get people to participate due to the impact of the current system. We need Australians to participate in medical research where it benefits our country and our economy. This bill seeks to address that anomaly and that unfairness. It ensures that Australians can get fair access to life insurance cover and that they are not discouraged from undertaking genetic testing. It's about a fair go, it's about better medical research, and, ultimately, it's about better health care, which is, to be honest, what all Labor governments are about.

In short, we're banning life insurers from factoring in the results of anyone's genetic testing when deciding whether or not to offer that life insurance and how to price that life insurance. Schedule 1 of this bill implements the government's decision to ban life insurers from using information about an individual's genetic testing to inform the offer of life insurance cover or the terms and conditions of the cover that is offered. The ban makes amendments to the Insurance Contracts Act 1984 to implement the ban and related amendments to the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 to align Australia's antidiscrimination laws with the ban. The objective of the amendments to these acts is to provide certainty to individuals that undertaking genetic testing—including through participation in health and medical research—will not impact their ability to obtain life insurance cover or the terms of that cover. It's intended that the ban will lead to increased uptake of genetic testing and provide extensive individual, public health, scientific and research benefits. The ban will not prevent individuals from volunteering genetic testing results with written consent and the use of these volunteered results in underwriting where this would not adversely impact the insurance offer or policy terms. The ban will not limit the existing ability of life insurers to access and use certain information for underwriting life insurance, including the existence of signs, symptoms or diagnoses of diseases, or individuals' family medical history.

This legislation and the clarifications within it are necessary to ensure that life insurance can continue to be properly risk rated and underwritten while still achieving the aim that we seek to address—and that's to provide protection over genetic test results—because genetic testing is only going to become more cost effective and more prevalent in our health system, and we need to make sure that these protections exist. It will create civil penalties and criminal offences for noncompliance and will be regulated by ASIC because we're changing the law to put people's health above insurer profit margins, and that's the right thing to do.

In my electorate of Bennelong, we've already seen firsthand the impact that genetic testing can have. Through the well-documented and spoken-about Monash DNA screen study, at least 80 young people from Bennelong participated in this kind of testing, and it's young people, in particular, that I think will benefit the most from broadly available genetic testing. Nearly 40 per cent of people in Bennelong are aged between 18 and 40. The sooner that they can get results from genetic testing, the sooner they can address anything that's identified. One participant in the Monash DNA screen study was identified as being at high risk of heart attack due to genetically high cholesterol, something they would not have known had they not got a genetic test. Because of that early detection, they are now accessing preventive health care that will literally save their life.

This legislation is about enabling people to get access to genetic testing without the issue of it affecting their life insurance premium. Just like that participant from Bennelong, all Australians deserve fair access to life insurance without being penalised for the preventive steps they take in getting genetic testing. Without these reforms, that same individual could have faced higher premiums or been denied cover altogether, simply for taking responsible action. If they hadn't, they would have been at risk.

These amendments ensure that our antidiscrimination laws and modern science work hand in hand with each other. Australians deserve certainty and protection, not fear and confusion, when making decisions about their health. We are here to tell all Australians that, following the passage of this bill, their decision to undertake genetic testing will not risk their access to life insurance. The bill addresses the most significant testing barrier for Australians and will pave the way for greater investment into preventive genome screening.

This fits in with our government's healthcare agenda. It's another way that we're strengthening Medicare and ensuring better health outcomes for all Australians. Across the spectrum, we're reducing costs for Australians because we believe that everybody deserves quality access to affordable health care. This is just one part of our health reform agenda, building on cheaper medicines, which have already saved Australians over $35 million. We've got bulk-billing GPs increasing in numbers across the country. In Bennelong, you'll be very pleased to know that we've gone from nine fully bulk-billed clinics up to 18, doubling the bulk-billing GP clinics in Bennelong, because of this Labor government. We've invested heavily in urgent care clinics across the country, with two servicing Bennelong—one in Top Ryde and a very recently opened new urgent care clinic in Chatswood that I had the pleasure of visiting only last week.

This is a health system that is complex but that needs to be agile. It needs multiple avenues to fix it and bring it up to standard after nine years of deliberate neglect by the former government. That's exactly what this government is doing, having been re-elected in 2025.

For too long, Australians have been holding themselves back from life-saving genetic testing because of fear created by the way that the system was set up. It wasn't a system that worked for people. I believe no-one should be discouraged from seeking life-saving information because of how it might be used against them. These amendments remove that fear and replace it with certainty. They remove a real barrier to preventive health care and will ensure that Australians can make decisions about their health without worrying about the financial consequences.

These reforms will have great impacts across Australia, particularly for younger Australians—those who have a history of illness within their family. The bill will support greater participation in genetic testing, which will, hopefully, also bring the cost of genetic testing down. It will strengthen public health outcomes as we learn more from increased participation in scientific research, and it will drive continued progress in health care in this country.

Amendments like these are what good governments do. It has been a long journey to get here but one that this government—starting under former assistant treasurer Jones and now introduced into the House by the Assistant Treasurer—is doing in consultation with advocates, insurers and the health community. This legislation will fix problems, remove barriers, back Australians to look after their own health and encourage them to do so. Australians should never have to choose between their health and their financial security, and with this legislation—when it passes through this parliament—they'll no longer have to. I commend it to the House.

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