Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to place on record my support for the report that the committee has tabled on mitochondrial disease and possible future amendments to our reproductive technology laws here in Australia. As my colleagues have highlighted, this committee report has navigated some complex moral issues associated with our reproductive technology laws, some of which were canvassed in very deep debates and important debates in this place when things like human cloning were prohibited. We now know that, actually, it's time to take a new look at these laws and see if they need to be amended to see if the disease burden suffered by Australians can be ameliorated by further research and changes in clinical practice whereby genes and mitochondrial material can be substituted in order for people to be able to remove these diseases from the lives of their offspring. These are important moral questions that deserve the Senate's attention, and I commend the report to the Senate. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.