Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on behalf of a Blue Mountains family whose daughter Katie died at the age of 34 in August this year as a result of taking the AstraZeneca vaccine. She is one of nine deaths the TGA reports as linked to AstraZeneca and one of eight who developed TTS. To use the words of her dad, Ian, Katie was a 'vibrant, healthy woman with no pre-existing medical conditions' living in Sydney's inner west. She was a writer, comedian and performer and worked as a tour guide with BridgeClimb and at the Butterfly Foundation. I've listened to a podcast she made last year and heard her speak of her deep passion for travel and performing and of making a difference.

Katie received her first dose of vaccine in July. A few days later she had a rash on her arm, but her GP didn't feel it was linked. On 1 August she woke feeling unwell and her condition deteriorated rapidly. She was taken to RPA by ambulance, diagnosed with major bleeding in her brain. Doctors recognised this was an AstraZeneca case. That same day she had neurosurgery and an angiogram, but she didn't regain consciousness before she died three days later. Her family was not able to spend time with her because of COVID.

I speak about this knowing that there are some in the community who will try and use what the family have said to me for their own purposes. That would be wrong. They are grieving and angry that Katie's death is a direct consequence of the government's reliance on AstraZeneca. They acknowledge that many other people have died because of the failure of the federal government to better manage the vaccine program. They know Katie listened to the urging of the government and made the decision to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca after discussions with her GP. For the sake of people's mental health, she wanted to do her bit to help end the lockdown. They grieve that she was the one in a one-in-a-million risk. What's added to their grief and distress is the lack of contact initiated from either the government or AstraZeneca.

What they'd like is for Katie's death and that of others to be recognised in parliament. They'd like a public memorial acknowledging those who died during the pandemic, both as a result of the disease and of the vaccines, and public recognition at major gatherings in the form of a minute's silence. They'd like a vaccine compensation scheme that proactively reaches out to people who've lost a family member, one with specific time frames, relying on an expert legal and medical panel that considers impact statements from family members and treats them generously. What they want is reasonable.

They also want to see the Prime Minister acknowledge those who have died or been disabled through the vaccination program. They want recognition by the Prime Minister of what these people have experienced and what their families have lost. They have lost this for the sake of the rest of the community.