Petitions: Motor Neurone Disease
Mr HAWKE (Mitchell) (13:30): I rise to present petitions EN5968 and PN0603, online and paper petitions. The petitions have been considered by the Petitions Committee and found to be in order.
The petitions read as follows—
On average, each day in Australia two people die from MND and two people are diagnosed with MND. This is a relatively high prevalence compared to the rest of the world and yet, given that the numbers more or less cancel each other out, most people consider it to be a rare disease. While 10% of cases are familial, the remaining 90% of people have no idea how or why they got this disease. Because not many people know about it, they struggle to access the support they need and families are often at a loss as to how to best support their loved one. If MND became recognised as a notifiable disease, not only would more people know about it, but 1) those suffering from it would have better access to the support services they need;Petition and 2) more research could be done into how and why this disease affects so many. Therefore, it would not only make a difference at the individual and family level, it could potentially help us all to understand more about the disease and—hopefully!!—minimise the numbers of people who are being diagnosed and losing their lives to it on a daily basis.
from 7,235 citizens (Petition No. EN5968)
On average, each day in Australia two people die from MND and two people are diagnosed with MND. This is a relatively high prevalence compared to the rest of the world and yet, given that the numbers more or less cancel each other out, most people consider it to be a rare disease. While 10% of cases are familial, the remaining 90% of people have no idea how or why they got the disease. Because not many people know about it, people with MND struggle to access the support they need and their families are often at a loss as to how to best support their loved one. If MND became recognised as a notifiable disease, not only would more people know about it, but 1) those suffering from it would have better access to the support services they need; and 2) more research could be done into how and why this disease affects so many. Therefore, it would not only make a difference at the individual and family level, it could potentially help us all the understand more about the disease and—hopefully!!—minimise the numbers of people who are being diagnosed and losing their lives to it on a daily basis. Request: We therefore ask the House to make MND a notifiable disease.
from 6,610 citizens (Petition No. PN0603)
Petitions received.
Mr HAWKE: The principal petitioner, Mr Warren Acott, is someone I want to speak about in a moment. These petitions have attracted signatures from many, many thousands of Australians asking the House to help make motor neurone disease a notifiable disease, which will allow for those who are suffering from motor neurone disease around Australia to better access the support services they need and enable critical research to get done so we can continue working towards understanding this insidious disease and why it affects so many.
I want to spend a moment on Warren Acott, a fantastic Australian who came to Parliament House on the back of a lawnmower. He rode all the way from Melbourne. We all went out the front to meet him. Senator Carol Brown and I are the co-chairs of the Parliamentary Friends of Motor Neurone Disease. Woz, as he's more commonly known in typical Australian vernacular, was welcomed by many thousands of people. He's a great Australian. He brought these petitions to this House's attention so we can get this notifiable disease issue resolved. I know, Belinda and Woz, you're watching. I just want to say thank you on behalf of everyone here and every Australian for doing this. It's a step in a journey. We're going to get this done, and we're going to get this disease tackled. Thank you, Woz.