Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise this evening to present two petitions. The first petition of 13,828 citizens asks the House to ensure that medical research remains properly funded and is resourced into the future. The second petition of 345 citizens requests the House to legislate to put a price on pollution that reduces carbon emissions and to protect the Murray-Darling Basin for future generations. To assist proceedings, I can inform the House that both have been examined by the Petitions Committee and have been found to be in order.

The community response to speculation that the government was planning to cut somewhere in the order of $300 million from medical research in the most recent budget was overwhelming, and the ultimate preserv­ation of medical research funding in the budget is testament to the strength of that community response. The Discoveries Need Dollars campaign united community groups and sector workers from across the country. I congratulate that campaign and the scores of grassroots campaigners—some of whom I hope are watching now and are using the Twitter hashtag '#protectresearch'—who worked to achieve such an important outcome in the budget, particularly in protecting funding to the NHMRC. Had the budget been cut, the consequences would have been disastrous The development of new treatments would have slowed and Australians suffering from chronic illnesses would have had their opportunities for recovery hindered.

During the course of the campaign, I was privileged to meet a number of people who are working on trials and new discoveries in my electorate, as well as the people who are benefiting from them. My memory of meeting Pat stands out. She was a diabetic and had been so for many years, but she had spent a year without having to have insulin injections because of a treatment being developed at St Vincent's using eyelets. That treatment has the potential to revolutionise the lives of those who are suffering from diabetes as well as the lives of their families. That is just one of the many forms of research that are being undertaken in my electorate of Melbourne.

Had the cuts gone ahead, researchers and clinicians careers would have been impeded. That consequence is a very important one because, as I have said, the electorate of Melbourne has more health and medical researchers than any other electorate in the country and, if we are serious about improving the quality of life of Australians and continuing to lead the world in medical discovery, as many of those people in Melbourne do, we should be steadily increasing funding, not potentially decrea­sing it. The quality and security of funding is just as important as the amount. One of the things that is increasingly clear is that, because funding is often only on a rolling three-year basis and is so insecure, many young researchers are choosing to go overseas not to broaden their knowledge but because it is one of the few places they can be guaranteed tenure and a secure career. Researchers have obligations, mortgages and rent to pay just like everyone else and their funding, their salaries and their livelihoods should not depend on rolling three-year contracts if they are lucky.

Twelve thousand people attended the Rally for Research events held in Melbourne and elsewhere across the country and 15,000 letters and postcards were sent to the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the health minister, the mental health and ageing minister, and other local members and senators. Close to 14,000 people signed the petition that I am proud to present today. I know that the government has commissioned a strategic review of Australian medical research fund­ing, with the terms of reference announced today, to better plan the resourcing of the sector, to focus its work on community expectations and to improve accessibility and affordability of disease treatments and diagnosis methods that arise from a properly funded research sector. This is a tremendous outcome from the campaign and I congratulate the minister for taking this step. Parliament should stand reminded of the strength of the medical research community and the expectations of the wider comm­unity. Australians value public investment in medical research and will not support any further attempts to undermine the sector. Lastly, I would like to pay special tribute to the staff and directors at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute who coordinated within a very short period of time a fantastic campaign that really rammed home just how important those working in the sector and the broader community consider medical research to be.

The timing of the presentation of the second petition regarding a price on pollution could not be more timely. I very much look forward to Sunday and the announcement that we will take the country's first step towards putting a price on pollution.

The petition s read as follows—

Save Health and Medical Research

To the Honourable the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives

This petition of concerned citizens draws to the attention of the house of the need for funded medical research.

Cuts to medical research will halt vital research to diagnose, prevent and treat disease in areas such as; heart disease, obesity, diabetes and cancer as well as research on 'closing the gap' and improving the health and wellbeing of indigenous Australia. Cuts will also affect the economy and cause job losses around the county.

We there for ask the house to not support any cuts made to Medical Research in the federal budget.

from 13, 828 citizens.

TO THE HONOURABLE THE SPEAKER AND MEMBERS OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

This petition of certain concerned citizens of Australia draws to the attention of the House that

The 2011 World Environment Day is Sunday, 5 June: the time is ripe for Australia to make two big steps forward for our environment.

We therefore ask the House to put a price on pollution that reduces carbon emissions and replaces Australia's

dirtiest power stations, like Hazelwood, with clean energy. Furthermore, it's time to get serious about saving Australia's lifeblood - the mighty Murray-Darling - for future generations. The Basin Plan must return enough water to save the Murray Darling river system.

2011 is the year to get serious about safeguarding our environment. This year, put an effective price on pollution and save the Murray-Darling, forever.

PRINCIPAL PETITIONER

from 345 citizens.

Petitions received.