Julian Simmonds (Ryan, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise in the House to speak about the danger button batteries pose to our kids—unfortunately, not for the first and probably not for the last time. My heart goes out to the Conway family from the Gold Coast, who recently spoke about the loss of their little girl, Brittney, to a button battery. Brittney was just three years old when she tragically passed away in July after swallowing a button battery. Her parents never suspected that Brittney could have swallowed such a thing. As a parent I am so careful to make sure all of the button batteries in my home are secure; however, stories like these remind me and all parents how easy it is for unsuspected button battery products to end up in the hands of our kids.

One child each month is seriously injured by ingesting a button battery. These injuries can cause lifelong complications and, regrettably, the number of button battery injuries is growing. Just last weekend at the AFL grand final, 30,000 wristbands were given out containing unsecured button batteries. How many of these are now sitting on the floor at home or in the car, unsuspected and left there by parents? One of my constituents reached out after seeing one of my Facebook posts, saying that they had two of these wristbands floating around the car and they had no idea they contained button batteries and were a danger to their kids until they saw that Facebook post.

Parents are only human. We can be as careful as we possibly can be, but it is so easy to have something as simple as a wristband and not to think to check for button batteries. That is why we need legislation to give parents peace of mind that the products they bring into their homes are safe. In the lead-up to Christmas, this is particularly important and something to keep front of mind. New toys, watches, remotes and musical greeting cards are just some examples of products that contain button batteries. The shiny exterior of the battery is attractive to kids, and it can be swallowed in a matter of seconds. A chemical reaction occurs when the battery comes into contact with saliva, and it causes severe internal burns. Serious injury can occur in as little as two hours, and the results can be fatal. It is tremendously painful.

The ACCC have launched their 'Tiny batteries, Big danger' campaign. They provide useful tips for how to prevent button batteries getting into the hands of your kids. Check before you buy, secure button batteries, store them out of reach of children, learn how to dispose of them properly, know what to do in an emergency and make your family and friends who your kids may spend time with aware of the danger. I encourage all parents to visit the ACCC website, particularly in the lead-up to Christmas, to learn how to secure your home and these kinds of products that contain button batteries.

I've given the ACCC a bit of a bouquet, so now I'm going to give them a bit of a kick too. Minister Sukkar has tasked the ACCC with formulating recommendations for the federal government to create legislation that will ensure the safety of all products containing button batteries. Enough is enough. This has been a top consumer priority for the ACCC for two years now. We must take action sooner rather than later to protect our kids from the dangers of unsecured button batteries. It is as easy, as simple as mandating a screw to secure any button battery on a product that contains them. If there's a screw in place, that means the kids can't get access to them without a screwdriver. Having that mandated would give parents the security and the knowledge that the products they bring into their home are safe.

You'd still need supervision, of course, but mandating this kind of security for button batteries would give added peace of mind to parents. It's an additional cost to the manufacturing of these products, sure, but I know every parent in Australia would gladly pay the price of one or two cents extra per unit to have these button batteries secured by a screw rather than risk the thought of another parent going through what Brittney's parents did or another kid like Brittney losing her life in such tragic and senseless circumstances. I urge the ACCC to finalise their recommendations to Minister Sukkar as quickly as possible—to get on with it so we can protect parents and their children from these preventable injuries and deaths, so that not another family has to go through what Brittney's family went through, and so not another child has to have what is a very preventable injury, and we can prevent these things from happening in the future.