Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Ryan for putting this motion forward and highlighting the emerging tsunami of precision medicine that's occurring around the world in developed countries. I will, if I can, digress a little. I was a medical student in the early 1970s. Since my time as a medical student, we've seen some dramatic changes in the way medicine is practised. When I started my training, the survival rate for the commonest form of childhood leukaemia, acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, was well under 40 per cent using only a few simple medications. These days, with a whole change of different treatments, up to and including bone marrow transplant, survival rates are now over 90 per cent—a dramatic change. In my time as a paediatrician in the early 1980s, I saw children diagnosed with an intellectual disability. The cause of the intellectual disability was unknown for about 90 per cent of children with intellectual disability. These days, it's now under 40 per cent with advances in genetics.

So there have been dramatic changes in the way that we look at the human body and the way that we look at genetics, and this has led to precision medicine. Probably the commonest form of precision medicine is blood transfusion. We've gone from screening for the simple blood groups, A, B, O and AB, to now screening for hundreds of different antigens and making blood transfusion much less prone to side effects and much more effective.

The practice of precision medicine is gaining significant attention, even in the times of COVID-19, as it's proving that the simple ways of doing medicine are no longer viable in these pandemic days. Precision medicine has achieved through its methodology new advancements in treatments like that pioneered by my friend Professor John Rasco, from the University of Sydney, who has developed a new genetic treatment for haemophilia B, the second most common form of haemophilia. It's a one-off treatment that is curative for life. So these children no longer need regular factor infusions every second day of their lives. They're no longer prone to the side effects of these products and they're no longer prone to recurrent bleeding, causing joint deformity and other major disabilities.

I believe that developments in the field of precision medicine will be monumental in developed countries like Australia. It will change the whole way that we approach the practice of medicine. I join with the member for Ryan in encouraging greater funding and support from the federal government and also from private enterprise to be provided to researchers and professionals studying precision medicine. My seat of Macarthur was the early birthplace and schooling place of Professor Graeme Clark, who developed the bionic ear. This is now even more precise in its management. It's now being used in children much younger than 12 months of age and is now also being used in older people. Precision medicine has a variety of expressions, and the cochlear implant is one of those.

There is a rare fatal childhood disease called Leigh syndrome. The genetic basis for this metabolic disorder has been extensively studied at Melbourne Royal Children's Hospital and the Murdoch Children's Research Institute. They have found a number of different genetic causes and will be targeting specific treatments to these genetic causes. With cystic fibrosis, there is a whole range of specific genetic treatments for each mutation now available, giving children with cystic fibrosis, a disease often fatal in early adult life, the possibility of leading a life towards normal life expectancy and a normal physical life. So there have been dramatic changes. We are now able to identify the genes for many metabolic disorders, and targeted medications will be available. So I thank the member for Ryan. It's a really great motion and I fully support it.

Fiona Martin (Reid, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak about precision medicine, an approach to patient care which allows doctors to select treatments which are most likely to help patients, based on genetic understanding of their disease. It allows for a tailored medical treatment based on characteristics of each patient, taking into account the differences between individuals. It transforms the way we practice medicine and deliver health care in our country. While medicine and health care delivery has always had personal and predictive aspects, precision medicine opens a new door in the way we view health. It is in direct contrast to the one-size-fits-all approach in which treatment and prevention strategies are developed for the average person. Precision medicine provides an increasingly fine-grained resolution that enables faster diagnosis and personalised treatment options and leads to better targeting of care and information. With greater investment and research being directed towards precision medicine, Australians will access new possibilities of disease prevention, saving costs and maximising the benefits from our health system.

As in the case of medical research more broadly, Australia has the resources and scope for world-leading innovation in precision medicine. Our healthcare system is regard as one of best in the world, and we have already embraced some of the technologies that underline precision medicine. We have a strong tradition in research and exemplary research talent that is connected internationally. Since 2010 the National Health and Medical Research council funded $52 million in precision medicine research and $465.5 million in genomics. In May this year the government announced a further investment in genomics research and artificial intelligence totalling $48.2 million. The Australian Research Council also funds research in genomics, data analysis and artificial intelligence. For instance, since September 2013 the ARC has funded a total of 239 projects involving research in artificial intelligence and imaging processing, totalling over $139 million.

By investing in ground-breaking research the Morrison Government is driving a new era of better health care and jobs growth. The coronavirus pandemic has shown us how essential a robust healthcare system is. The government knows that if we can continue to invest in Australia's $185 billion healthcare industry, jobs growth and economic recovery will follow. Australia's health sector has already established an innovative business capability that can realise precision medicine as an economic growth opportunity. Over $1.3 billion for a health and medical industry growth plan will inject an estimated $18 billion into the Australian economy. This plan will cement Australia's place as a world leader in health, medical research and technology development. It will create around 28,000 new jobs, provide a minimum of 130 new clinical trials and generate 50 per cent increase in exports, new markets and global market leadership in biotechnology, medical devices and pharmaceuticals.

At the core of the industry growth plan's investment is the Genomics Health Futures Mission, which is a 10-year, $500 million investment in genomic medical research. This research will support the clinical use of genomics that is safe, cost-effective and equitable and sensitive to the associated ethical, legal and social issues. The impact of this research will be felt throughout the electorate of Reid and right around Australia. It will save or transform the lives of more than 200,000 Australians and it will deliver better testing, diagnosis and treatment. We have already seen the funding committed to research projects like Mackenzie's Mission, a $20 million pilot research study of reproductive carrier screening for rare, severe and often fatal genetic disorders including spinal muscular atrophy and cystic fibrosis. I personally know of residents in my area who have lost children to mitochondrial disorder. This trial offers hope to parents who have already experienced trauma as a result of genetic disorders. The Morrison Government is committed to working with private enterprise to continue to invest in the genomics data analysis and artificial intelligence research required to grow the precision medicine sector. It will mean that we can generate jobs— (Time expired)

Celia Hammond (Curtin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Ryan for raising this important motion. Precision medicine is a relatively new approach for disease treatment and prevention and is one which has been enabled by recent advances in genomics, data analysis and availability, and artificial intelligence. It has enormous potential to transform health care on a huge scale as it allows doctors and researchers to predict more accurately which treatment and prevention strategies for a particular disease will work in which groups of people. It is a tailored approach which takes into account differences in people's genes, environments and lifestyles. As the member for Ryan has noted, the government has recognised its importance and is making significant investment in this area.

This emerging area of medicine and research is being embraced by a number of medical research institutes in the west, one of which is the renowned Perron Institute. The Perron Institute for Neurological and Translational Science, based in my electorate of Curtin, was founded by Professor Byron Kakulas AO in 1982 under its original name, the Australian Neuromuscular Research Institute. Led by Professor Kakulas for much of its life—and he still works there today—it has been undertaking vital and world-leading research into neurological conditions for three decades. It undertakes research into a broad spectrum of conditions, including stroke, Parkinson's disease, motor neurone disease, muscular dystrophy, myositis and multiple sclerosis.

I recently visited the Perron Institute to tour their world-class facilities and meet with some of their leading researchers. I was inspired by the people who work there. All of their work is being done under their guiding motto, 'Where hope begins.' Steve Arnott, the current CEO of the Perron Institute, emphasised that the focus of their entire team is to ensure that their research translates into positive outcomes for the wider community. They have a multidisciplinary approach to research and a strong connection between the institute's lab research and people who are suffering through its 15 specialised clinics.

The Perron Institute has three key strategies. First, it is to undertake translational research to tackle the major research challenges in neurology, and it has affiliations with all five Western Australian universities and with leading universities worldwide. Their second goal is to run clinics. It treats over 2,800 patients annually. They are people who come to receive treatment for their complex and usually long-term neurological and neuro muscular diseases. The third plank is to pursue breakthrough therapies. Like many other medical research institutes, the Perron Institute has also recently pivoted to undertake research crucial to our fight against COVID-19. To that end, the Perron Institute, in partnership with Murdoch University and Monash University, recently received federal funding to research into potential inhalable treatment for COVID-19.

In the field of precision medicine, the Perron Institute has partnered with Murdoch University to establish the Centre for Molecular Medicine and Innovative Therapeutics. It brings together scientists and clinicians from different fields of expertise to focus on the unique molecular and genetic make-up of individuals. CMMIT director Professor Steve Wilton leads the team of researchers at the centre to develop specific treatments for serious health conditions such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy, motor neurone disease, Parkinson's disease and blood disorders. This collaboration—and the centre—has already established a worldwide reputation for cutting-edge research on novel genetic therapies for neuromuscular disorders, particularly Duchenne muscular dystrophy. By way of an example, it was given accelerated approval in 2016 by the US Food and Drug Administration for a new treatment of Duchenne.

Some of Professor Kakulas's early research in the 1960s on the cause of muscular disease on Rottnest Island quokkas when they were held in cages revolutionised the way the medical and scientific world considered and treated muscle disease in humans. This groundbreaking approach to research continues to this day at the Perron Institute. The Perron Institute now has the capacity and the ability to utilise precision medicine in its endeavours.

Ian Goodenough (Moore, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Sitting suspended from 13:30 to 16:00