Anne Stanley (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes that:

(a) October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month and that Wednesday, 15 October 2025 marks Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day; and

(b) this day acknowledges the shared loss experienced by parents, friends, and healthcare workers of babies lost through miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death;

(2) acknowledges:

(a) that there is a significant impact on families who have lost a baby;

(b) that every year 110,000 Australians experience a miscarriage, more than 2,000 experience stillbirth, and almost 700 lose a baby within the first 28 days;

(c) that stillbirth occurrence is higher in Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities; and

(d) all families who have experienced loss, either recently or over time; and

(3) commends the Government for providing more than $40 million to organisations to support women and families following stillbirth, neonatal death or miscarriage.

Over the last almost 40 years since I lost my child Michael in the neonatal period, little has changed regarding the number of families that are affected by pregnancy loss. In 2023, out of the 285,305 babies born in Australia, there were 3,128 perinatal deaths, or one per cent of all babies born. Seventy-nine per cent of those babies were stillborn, and 21 per cent died soon after birth. It is estimated that one in five pregnancies, or 110,000 pregnancies, will end in miscarriage each year and that one per cent to two per cent of those women will experience a loss of more than three babies by miscarriage. These statistics are significantly higher for Indigenous women and women who come from CALD backgrounds.

The Albanese government has been working for some years to provide support for families who experience this loss. Last sitting fortnight, the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations introduced the Fair Work Amendment (Baby Priya's) Bill 2025, which introduces a new principle into the Fair Work Act that, unless employers and employees have expressly agreed otherwise, employer funded paid parental leave must not be cancelled because a child is stillborn or dies. This brings it into line with government paid parental leave and further supports parents at the worst time in their lives. When my third baby died, I received flowers from my employer at the funeral and, the next day, a letter saying my maternity leave had been cancelled and I should provide a doctor's certificate or return to work within seven days. This was less than three weeks after my baby was born and died. This has to change.

Over the period of 2022 to 2028, the government will have invested $62.7 million in measures to support healthy pregnancies, reduce stillbirths and preterm birth, improve national data collection and support families impacted by perinatal loss. Rigorous data collection provides researchers with clear targets of what to improve and then how to improve these statistics, because, for families, those losses are not numbers but little people who would have made their family whole.

In the budget 2024-25, the government announced $15.9 million for miscarriage education, awareness and support, funding for preterm-birth prevention strategies, monitoring and evaluation of the national stillbirth action plan and an additional $7.1 million to extend existing education and awareness for groups who are at a higher risk of stillbirth. Further, there was $5.3 million over four years to increase the specialised services to bereaved families. Services like Red Nose, Miracle Babies in my electorate, SANDS and others can be the lifeline for families experiencing these situations. They certainly were for me and my family in the early months after our children died. The support of organisations like this helped us talk and negotiate with doctors and other appointments. Every time we had another appointment in those early days, I had to relive the trauma and the anguish of what had happened. Having someone to talk to who had also been through a similar circumstance was important and helpful. It was wonderful to know our family was not alone.

The Albanese government has committed $23 million over four years to increase support for women and families experiencing stillbirth and miscarriage, supporting the Hospital to Home program, and bereavement care for the higher-risk population. As part of this, $13.9 million has been set aside to increase the number of autopsies with the aim to better understand and therefore reduce the rates of stillbirth, preterm birth and miscarriage. Recently, I was at a doctor's appointment where I was asked by the specialist how many children I had. This is a question that, even after all this time, I find hard to answer. I have five children, three wonderful healthy boys, aged 38 and 31, and Michael and Megan, who died 39 and 32 years ago. I still feel their loss keenly, and sometimes it's not easy to talk about. Old taboos still apply, but, with the support and recognition of organisations, like Red Nose and Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness, and significant funding and other supports by our government, I hope in the future it will be easier for anyone experiencing these tragedies.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Werriwa. I'm sorry for your loss. Do we have a seconder for the motion?

Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank my friend and colleague the member for Werriwa for raising this very important issue in the house and for discussing it with such generosity. Australia is one of the safest countries in the world in which to become pregnant and give birth, but there are still risks and losses associated with that process. One in four women—I'm one of them—loses a pregnancy to miscarriage. That is more than 100,000 Australian women every year. Every day, six Australian babies are stillborn. As many as a thousand babies die every year in the first 28 days of life. The loss of a baby, any baby, is a devastating outcome with far-reaching impacts on individuals, families and communities. In the past, as we've heard, these losses were often discounted or diminished, shrouded in silence. Families were told to move on, to try again. But every loss, whether through miscarriage, stillbirth or neonatal death, is a personal tragedy. So this month, and especially on 15 October, we remember those babies who are no longer with us. Every baby matters, and every baby deserves to be remembered.

As a paediatric neurologist, I know that compassionate care, timely support and open conversations are so important to help parents and children recover from this loss. So I commend organisations like Red Nose, SANDS and the Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence that act to lead the way in advocacy support and education. Their work is vital, and it deserves our full backing.

It's absolutely vital that we ensure appropriate access to bereavement counselling, that we improve hospital protocols for miscarriage and stillbirth and that we recognise the emotional toll of these experiences on mothers and fathers. We have to ensure that we always provide best practice bereavement and mental health care for all parents, including those who have subsequent pregnancies, which can be really difficult after such losses. It's also important that we acknowledge that our Aboriginal and culturally diverse communities face disproportionately higher rates of stillbirth and that they often lack culturally safe care. Australia's National Stillbirth Action and Implementation Plan was launched in 2020 after a 2018 Senate inquiry which established a lack of improvement in our rate of stillbirths. It's really important that we continue to support research into this area as part of our efforts towards public health monitoring and continuous improvement.

While every woman has the right to choose her preferred model of maternity care and place of birth, there are risks associated with some forms of birth, such as freebirth, which can result in poor outcomes for mothers and for babies. All deliveries should be attended by trained professionals able to provide medical support when needed to always ensure the best possible outcomes for mums and for babies. The recent evidence of better outcomes in private obstetrics in Australia suggests that we really need greater continuity of care in our public system. Many women experience fragmented care models with mixed medical and midwifery care or GP shared care when they would prefer a continuity-of-care model. This might include continuity of midwifery care in the public system, private obstetric care or care from a privately practising midwife in the private system.

Continuity of care is particularly important for high-risk populations such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, migrants and refugees, and remote and rural women. However, it is not available to or accessible for many. At least 14 private maternity units around the country have closed in the last five years alone. It's absolutely vital that we maintain local services to provide patients with the choice, to reduce the travel burden, to manage obstetric emergencies and to ensure equitable care. It's very important that women have a choice in how they give birth and for that choice to be informed and supported. It's absolutely vital that we provide the very best possible support for those parents who do experience miscarriages, stillbirths or neonatal death. So, again, I thank my friend and colleague the member for Werriwa for raising such an important issue in the House this evening.

Sarah Witty (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

'It's better this happens now than later. We can always try again.' These are things that were said to me when I experienced the devastating loss of yet another baby before they had the chance to take their first breath. Words meant to comfort instead cut deeply into my grief. At the time, I felt angry and a pain at how misunderstood I was, but over the years that anger slowly transformed into something else: gratitude. Strange, I know. As much as their words hurt, I came to realise they were spoken from a place of not knowing. They didn't understand the depth of this kind of loss, and in a strange way I was glad they didn't—gratitude. If they had truly known the pain of pregnancy loss, they would never have said those things to someone hurting like I was. If the people that were closest to me were unable to understand the extent of my loss, how could I expect others to know what I was going through? I couldn't.

Losing a child at any stage is profoundly painful, yet babies lost before they are even able to breathe are often met with silence, discomfort or avoidance. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month—a time to recognise thousands of families across Australia who have experienced the heartbreak of losing a pregnancy, a baby or a young infant. For too long, these experiences have been endured in silence. I know I did. This month provides a moment for our nation to pause, acknowledge the grief of families and recommit to supporting them with compassion, understanding and care.

The loss of a baby is a profound and life-altering event. The hopes and dreams of a future are suddenly replaced with deep sorrow. Did you know that every year 2,200 babies are stillborn and more than 700 newborns die before their first birthday? The Public Health Association estimates that around 100,000 pregnancies end in miscarriage. At the time of my miscarriage, my first miscarriage, it was one in four pregnancies. At that time, it was me, my sister and two friends all pregnant at the same time. It was my baby that was lost. It was my husband and I who watched those kids grow and reach those wonderful milestones in life—first birthdays, first steps, first days at school. As those wonderful kids face the end of their school life and wonder what to do next, it's important to remember that pregnancy and infant loss affect not only parents but also siblings, grandparents, extended families, friends and workplaces. It touches every part of our community.

As a society we have become better at speaking openly about many forms of grief, but pregnancy loss and infant loss are still often spoken about in hushed tones or not at all. Many parents say what hurts most is when their baby's life goes unacknowledged and when others do not know what to say. But, by having conversations like this one here in the parliament, we can help break that silence, validate that grief, honour the lives lost and ensure that families feel seen and supported. Awareness must always be matched with action. That includes ensuring bereavement leave and workplace supports are fit for purpose, that parents have access to counselling and culturally-safe services and that health systems are responsive to the needs of families in their care.

Community groups, peer networks and charities also play an essential role, providing understanding, remembrance events and practical support during the darkest moments. Their work deserves recognition and sustained support.

Tonight, as, around the country, homes light up a candle to mark Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, we remember all the little lives gone too soon. We stand with families who carry their memories every day and we recommit to creating a society where their grief is acknowledged, their babies are remembered and they are supported with love and dignity.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Melbourne, and, again, I'm really sorry. These are really deeply personal experiences that everyone is sharing, and it's tough, and I really respect that you have committed to doing so.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Melbourne, thank you for sharing that deeply personal story. Absolutely, condolences go out to you, and it brings home the fact that it doesn't matter the years that pass, it still cuts deep; the loss is still deeply felt.

My late mother, Eileen, carried a baby to full term, a beautiful little boy, and lost him the night before she was due to give birth. His little grave marker in the Wagga Wagga lawn cemetery simply has on it 'Baby McCormack 15.7.72', the date he was born, the day he obviously didn't make it. Mum carried that pain for all of her life. It actually changed her. My mum was a good person; unlike me, she was a really, really good person. I know how deeply it cut into her. She had two other children following this little boy, but my three sisters and I never forget 15 July. We always text each other, message each other, on that day because it is a special day in our family.

Thank you to the member for Werriwa for bringing forward this important discussion, and it is important. October is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and no-one feels this more than the mums who've lost bubs. It is deeply tragic. It is deeply personal. As a bloke, I want to say that we share your pain too, but no-one knows how profound is the loss in a woman who has indeed gone through that experience.

I want to also share with the House a couple I know well—they're only young—Sam and Maddy Armstrong. They live near Marrar, where I come from, and they lost a little girl in January 2024, Joy. They were supported through this loss by an organisation called Vilomah Community. This organisation provides help and wraparound services that assist particularly mums but also parents through the loss, healing and recovery—not that you ever recover, not that you ever properly heal. I would really like to see this organisation, which is under the umbrella of the Murrumbidgee local health district, properly funded so that it can enable referrals to become compulsory after a stillbirth, should the parents need it, want it and expect it, so that every family that suffers grief and loss has the opportunity to access a 12-month support program. It would be really good for mums right across the Riverina district.

Before Joy was born, Vilomah, knowing that they were going to go through this experience, reached out, talked about the services offered and explained in a very deeply personal and emotional way what was going to happen and what to expect. It didn't take, as Sam and Maddy explained, long to realise stillbirth is common in the Riverina, and we've heard it's common right throughout Australia. It's all too common. Sam and Maddy were shocked by the amount of people they knew who told them that they'd lost a baby through stillbirth. When you do talk about this thing—the member for Melbourne is right—it wasn't always talked about. Back in the early 1970s, it probably wasn't talked about at all. We're much more open now as a society. But people still find it hard—choking back tears—to even tell these sorts of stories, particularly in the federal parliament but also even to their own family members. I do commend you for your bravery and courage. Thank you for sharing that story.

As Maddy and Sam explained, a lot of these people have no support, no opportunity to grieve properly and no memory making. That's important, too. They are still babies. They are still parts of your family. Even though they don't make it, they're still very much part and parcel of your family. Also, mental health issues come as a result of this, as Maddy and Sam explained to me. Thank you, member for Werriwa, for bringing this important motion. Again, member for Melbourne, all our love and support to the important motion and again members of Melbourne, all our love and support go out to you.

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

In October, we mark Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and we do so to acknowledge the shared loss experienced by parents, friends, healthcare workers and community when babies are lost through miscarriage, stillbirth and neonatal death. I have spoken on this in previous years not because of lived experience but because, in my early years in this place, there hadn't been a lot of discussion about these matters, and I commend the efforts of the member for Werriwa to share her story and highlight the issue. And I commend those who have shared such personal stories tonight, like the member of Melbourne.

I'm really heartened that, when we speak about this now, we do it not only to acknowledge the grief and the loss; we can share some of the many practical supports the Albanese government has put in place, because that's a start. Around six babies are stillborn each day in Australia, and an estimated one-in-four pregnancies results in miscarriage. Each year in Australia, more than 110,000 families experience stillbirth or miscarriage. That is a lot of heartbreak and grief for many people.

So what are we doing to support these people? We've invested more than $62 million over five years in measures to support healthy pregnancies, reduce stillbirth and preterm birth, improve national data collection and support families impacted by perinatal loss. There are many actions within that funding envelope, from a national audit of early pregnancy assessment service clinics across Australia so that women and families can access appropriate services in their local area for treatment and follow-up care, through to a miscarriage data scoping study to establish existing and potential data sources and options for the national collection of miscarriage data, which we need.

I want to focus on a couple of our most recent announcements. We've provided $3.2 million over four years to Red Nose Australia to deliver the Healing Through Community projects, supporting families through stillbirth and miscarriage. Healing Through Community resources support stillbirth and miscarriage bereavement care services for First Nations families, refugee and migrant communities, women and families living in rural and remote areas, and women under 20 years of age. While any pregnancy can result in stillbirth or miscarriage, rates remain high for women in these communities. It was co-designed because we really need to listen to the women involved, and to the healthcare professionals, to get this right.

Another initiative is research into a simple blood test that could save the lives of hundreds of babies each year. It's the focus of new medical research funding, with $25 million for research into infertility, pregnancy loss and stillbirth.

The TIM TAMs study, led by Professor Stephen Tong from the University of Melbourne, received $2 million. His work aims to validate the first placental health test across Australia. The research team believes that a simple blood test could help health professionals better work out which pregnancies are at risk of stillbirth. These pregnancies could then be closely watched, and births scheduled to prevent stillbirth or other health problems. By better understanding the risk factors and causes, researchers believe more stillbirths could be prevented.

The third practical measure I want to speak of is a new law working its way through the parliament. The bill is named after baby Priya, who heartbreakingly died when she was just 42 days old. After informing her employer that her child had passed away, Priya's mum was faced with negotiating with her employer a return to work she hadn't planned for, at the same time as grieving the loss of her child. The new bill ensures that, unless employers and employees have expressly agreed otherwise, employer funded paid parental leave must not be cancelled because a child is stillborn. This brings it into line with our government paid parental leave, and I hope that will bring certainty to grieving parents.

I want to take just a moment to acknowledge loss experienced by some people going through the IVF journey. It's a newer experience, but I've seen sadness when another round of eggs has failed to fertilise, or when embryos haven't successfully transferred. I think, as science provides more hope for people, along the way there can be many disappointments, and we grieve all of those.

Tania Lawrence (Hasluck, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired. Given the sensitivity of the information and the stories shared tonight, I do encourage anyone listening who has suffered or been affected by pregnancy loss, stillbirth, baby or child death to consider contacting Red Nose Grief and Loss Support. You can call them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, on 1300308307. The debate is adjourned, and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:33