MATTERS OF URGENCY – Babies Born Alive

I do thank Senator Ralph Babet for bringing this important issue to the chamber. It is something that is confronting to tackle and handle, but we should not be shy from doing that, because it is by tackling confronting issues that we can improve the livelihoods and experiences of as many
Australians as possible. As Senator Babet’s motion says, at least one child every week is born alive following a termination procedure. That’s based on state government health evidence from Queensland and Victoria. We don’t really have evidence from other states. It’s at least one a week. It obviously is likely to be more than that if we wereto include other states and jurisdictions. I often hear the opposition to any recognition of the debate that this doesn’t happen. The data says otherwise. Even more so, the guidelines that do exist in this area say a completely different story. The Queensland government, for example, have guidelines associated with the termination of pregnancies, and they have an entire section of those guidelines devoted to what occurs if a live birth occurs during the process. The question to those saying this doesn’t happen has to be: if it doesn’t happen, why does the Queensland Department of Health have a whole section of its
guidelines devoted to a circumstance where a live birth occurs? If a live birth does occur, that has to be a humanbeing. There’s a breathing person that has been born, a very vulnerable person, often in a situation where their life will not be long. All of us will eventually die, and I think all of us would expect to be provided a level of care whenever that event of death comes near. I and others in this chamber have tried to lead a process where we say very clearly that all Australian human beings deserve to have that standard of care, whatever their age and whatever the circumstances that led them to come into this world. It’s a very, very simple proposition. I moved this bill with others, like Senator Babet and Senator Antic. Senator Roberts was involved, as well as lots of others. Senator Fawcett has provided support. In the bill we put forward, we recognise that in these circumstances,
tragically, most babies will not be able to survive. They will have experienced shocking injuries that will not make them viable in the sense of a long-term life. What we just want—what we are asking for—is that, surely, in those circumstances, at the very least, palliative care should be provided. That means some level of pain relief, some level of basic humanity to a human being in that circumstance, just as we would with anybody towards the end of their life. Why isn’t that provided?
I do want to thank the senators that have worked on this for some time. As I said, it is a confronting issue, but putting a spotlight on it has led to change. We have seen in New South Wales and South Australia protections for babies born alive. We’ve seen in Queensland that those guidelines I mentioned have been changed since our Senate inquiry. Previously, those guidelines, quite shockingly, told health officials in Queensland to explicitly not provide life-sustaining treatment to a baby born alive. That has been deleted now since our Senate inquiry exposed these issues, and, instead, the guidelines say that care appropriate to the individual clinical circumstances and in
accordance with birth practice guidelines should be provided. So that is at least a positive step forward and gives at least the scope and right for health practitioners in Queensland to potentially provide a level of care to babies born alive. Even if they’re not directed to do so, at the very least they have the flexibility to do so. As we just saw, and as others have mentioned, in Queensland, it’s the midwives themselves that are on the front line of this issue. They have to handle—we heard testimony in our inquiry—the heart-wrenching cries of babies at the end of their lives. While they were under these restrictive guidelines previously, they could do nothing in response. That is completely unfair on them and completely anathema to the profession they have chosen, to help human beings in distress—an admirable profession they are in. I do think there is more work to be done here. I’m glad to see Mr Robbie Katter taking it forward in Queensland, doing that. The more we can put the spotlight on this the more we’re going to get sensible change in this area.