Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to take this opportunity to talk about the Politician Adoption Scheme. It is a scheme run in Western Australia by the Developmental Disability Council. Its intention is to provide politicians with understanding of the issues faced by people with disability—in particular, kids. It is a bipartisan program. With the new Premier of Western Australia recently elected, it is important to note that he joins the past five premiers of Western Australia in a group of politicians who have been adopted by kids with disabilities. The importance of the program is that it gives us as politicians a real insight into the lives faced by kids with disabilities and by their parents.

I am fortunate enough to have been adopted by a young fellow called Mitchell Carter. Mitchell is 13. He is a young lad who, it was discovered when he was just eight days old, has Down syndrome. His parents report that Mitchell is a bit of a handful. I have to say that whenever I have seen him he has been a complete delight and a pleasure to learn from and be with. It is fun to watch the way in which he embraces this program as an opportunity to show me as a politician the inside world that he faces.

Some time ago Mitchell faced what was thought to be a fairly routine operation—a tonsil operation at the age of 12. The surgery did not work out quite as was planned, and he had seizures and significant difficulties. It was discovered through MRI scans that young Mitchell had a particular form of a brain disease called Moyamoya disease. He was fortunate to go to Sydney and have surgery that substantially corrected the problems created by that disease. It was a tough trip to Sydney, which really put his parents through the wringer.

Mitchell has just returned from another trip. This time the trip was sponsored by the Starlight Foundation. It was to Queensland. He had lots of fun. In many ways it was compensation for Mitchell, because his favourite football team, the Eagles, did not have such a good year. In fact, they had as close to the worst possible year as you could imagine. That is not going to stop Mitchell from supporting them, because that is what he does. He enjoys football; he enjoys the Eagles. He has been to Eagles training sessions. He has kicked a ball with Andrew Embley. He has learned that living with his disability is something that he can do. For the rest of us politicians who are part of that program, it gives us such a valuable insight into the courage and capacity of families to cope and the things that we can do better here to understand the challenges that these kids face. I commend the program to everyone.