Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is a very interesting report. It is likely to become very much a matter of public interest in the future as we continue to discuss stem cell research. Senators would be aware from reports in the general media that cabinet has made some sort of a decision on the Lockhart report and that the Prime Minister has indicated that the coalition party room will be given the opportunity of discussing the Lockhart report in detail in the future. I appreciate that it is a very complex debate. It is an issue that deserves more than the 30-second passing reference that I am going to give it.

During the break, a lot of the disabled people and people with illnesses whom I met with in my electorate of the state of Queensland mentioned to me that they could not quite understand why the government would not be accepting the recommendations made by the late Mr Justice Lockhart in his report to the government. Without having formed any conclusions on the issues or without even being aware of what the actual question might be, it seems to me that if there are opportunities in medical research that can help those with debilitating disabilities then we should take them. We as a nation owe it those disabled now and in the future to do everything possible to try and address their difficulties. If research into stem cells will help those with disabilities, then I for one think that—in the broad and without going into it in detail, and confessing that I have not greatly studied it—as a general proposition it is something that the Australian nation should embrace.