Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the request of Senators Smith and Singh, I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes:

(i) the bravery of those Australians who shared their experiences of Hepatitis C in person and in the book Together We Can: See Our Future, launched at Parliament House Canberra on 16 June 2015 by Hepatitis Australia and the Australian Parliamentary Friendship Group for Blood-Borne Diseases,

(ii) That the stigma associated with Hepatitis C is increasing the suffering of many of the 230 000 Australians living with the disease,

(iii) that successful Australian treatment rates for Hepatitis C are extremely low,

(iv) That the Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee has recently recommended two new Hepatitis C treatments for listing on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme,

(v) that not only do these and similar new therapies have the potential to be used with relatively minimal side-effects and may offer a better hope of a cure for people who cannot tolerate existing treatments, they raise the possibility of the Australian eradication of Hepatitis C perhaps within a generation, and

(vi) the critical role funding plays in research and development into finding better treatment methods and a cure for Hepatitis C; and

(b) recognises and commends the organisers of World Hepatitis Day 2015, in Australia and internationally, who are working to bring together communities on 28 July to raise awareness and constructively work towards an end to this world wide epidemic.

Question agreed to.