Wednesday, 29 November 2023

Motions

Parenting support services

Debate resumed.

Chris CREWTHER (Mornington) (18:01): I think we can all agree that Victoria’s and indeed Australia’s first ever public egg and sperm bank, which opened on 3 July 2023, was and is a huge benefit for Victorians who are trying to start a family through access to donor eggs and sperm. There has been a serious shortage of gametes in Victoria, which has caused delays in treatment and constrained treatment options for too long. Increasing the supply of gametes and embryos in Victoria will of course improve accessibility and alleviate some of the existing costs and risks associated with sourcing gametes and embryos. Over many years stakeholders including patients, industry experts and the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority have raised concerns about the serious shortage of donated gametes in Victoria. Feedback indicated that the scarcity of these donor gametes, in particular donor eggs, meant that it was not uncommon for people to seek donors through informal channels such as social media forums. This could result in inferior health outcomes, given the lack of regulation.

However, we have got a long way to go when it comes to improving access to gametes and embryos in Victoria. In Victoria the demand for sperm outstrips supply. Lack of donors means a lack of choice for would-be parents, with factors such as family history, hair colour and so on being important for some potential parents. Less sperm donors also means the need for closer monitoring and tracking to avoid future situations of, say, two people with the same sperm donor accidentally starting a family together without the knowledge of sharing the same father with the genetic risks that come with that. Finding the right fit in a small market can be particularly challenging. Repeatedly doctors have called on the state government to consider financial incentives for donors.

Another reform involves advertising for donor gametes. Currently advertising for donation of gametes and embryos in Victoria is strictly regulated under section 40 of the Human Tissue Act 1982, and ministerial approval is required before a person may advertise for a donor. The Minister for Health is, as I understand, unable to delegate approval of advertisements for donation of sperm and embryos. Other jurisdictions such as New South Wales, South Australia and Tasmania do not require ministerial or any other form of approval to advertise for a gamete donor. The current model of ministerial oversight is cumbersome for users but also ill-equipped when it comes to monitoring and guiding advertising activity. In its place the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority could be given powers to develop and publish guidelines on advertising as well as monitor advertising for donated gametes in Victoria and require the removal or amendment of material inconsistent with the guidelines.

Further, as I touched on before, unmoderated online forums and discussion groups connecting donors can sometimes lead to inferior health outcomes. There is also the potential for bullying or other undesirable contact. As such, the Victorian government could facilitate the operation of a community-led moderated online forum in Victoria to allow safe channels of communications between potential donors and recipients of donated gametes or embryos.

As we know, this area is a rapidly advancing field and more couples than ever before have been able to become parents with the assistance of innovative technology. I want to also note that we need to better support and implement seamless processes and procedures for IVF children to contact their biological parent – say, a sperm donor – if their biological parent consents. We also need to ensure that those born via an IVF birth can easily trace their biological family more broadly, including parents, sisters, brothers, cousins and so on, and that we have increasingly better systems in place, particularly for both health reasons and to avoid situations, for instance, as I mentioned before, when one might accidentally conceive a child, for example, with their biological half brother or sister or cousin.

Locally we are also fortunate to have Melbourne IVF and Monash IVF partnered with health services to bring the latest assisted reproductive technology to the Mornington Peninsula and our local community. Mornington Peninsula Obstetrics offer counselling to couples planning a pregnancy as well as investigations and advice for couples having trouble becoming pregnant. The base hospital in Mornington has Monash IVF Mornington onsite, offering a consulting location with doctors who are specialists in fertility and a wonderful maternity service – for the last 80 years – with around 500 babies currently born annually. Their maternity unit is considered one of the finest in the country, and they are proud to have had Medibank Private customers recently award them as the highest rated maternity unit in Australia.

I would also acknowledge, while speaking about IVF, that while the hope is for a pregnancy to reach full term, it is estimated that one in four pregnancies end in miscarriage or stillbirth. October is still recognised worldwide as Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Month, and on 15 October Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance Day promoted greater awareness and support of those whose lives are irrevocably altered by pregnancy loss or infant death. In Victoria there are around 18,500 pregnancy losses reported each year. My wife and I have also experienced this, so we understand what many parents out there are going through. On 7 May National Miscarriage Awareness Day is also held one week prior to Mother’s Day. I mentioned earlier that we have a wonderful local community organisation, MISS, which is the Miscarriage Information Support Service, on the Mornington Peninsula and in the Frankston area, who provide information and resources not just to our area but across Victoria and more generally to support women, partners and families who have lost a baby through miscarriage or stillbirth.

In closing, we have a long and proud history in Victoria of having led the field in IVF research, and we have a great story to tell in this space. I am supportive of any measures that we can take to provide more Victorians with the opportunity to become parents, as becoming a parent is the most beautiful gift that we will ever receive in this lifetime.

Bronwyn HALFPENNY (Thomastown) (18:08): I also rise to speak in support of this motion, a motion that is recognising the government’s support for Victorians starting or growing their families and support for families of children in those very young and critical years. I am very, very proud to stand here as part of the Allan Labor government to talk about this motion and the programs and supports that the Allan Labor government is providing to Victorians and their families.

In this case I would like to first talk about the public fertility services and how proud I am that we are funding this important and compassionate program that continues to build on support for children and families. This program is being administered through the Women’s hospital and Monash Health; however, residents of the Thomastown electorate and indeed beyond amongst the northern suburbs can now use this service at the Northern Hospital, and this program is proving of course very, very popular. Victoria’s public fertility services provide access to comprehensive, world-class fertility treatment, including genetic counselling, fertility preservation and fertility assessment and treatment. The service is available to people of all genders who have been trying to conceive naturally but have been unsuccessful and/or whose situation or health may prevent or impair fertility or safe conception. Northern Health is really proud, they told me, to partner with the Women’s, who are leading the service for those living in Melbourne’s north. The service in Epping began on 7 August this year. There is no waiting list at the moment, and most of all it is a public IVF program, so it is free.

The birth of children, the planning, the aspirations and the dreams of having a family should be a happy and exciting time, but for some people conceiving without assistance is not possible. Often this situation is unexpected. It is unknown until you are planning the family and taking that next step, and you realise that you are unable to naturally conceive. This of course can be devastating.

I think probably nearly everybody in this chamber would have stories to tell or would have spoken of their personal experiences of the requirement to have intervention, support and assistance with fertility. I of course also know a family very close to me. I will not identify them. I do not know whether they would like their names, necessarily, in Hansard; I have not asked them. But they studied, they secured jobs, they started building their house and the next step for them was to start to raise a family. After many years of trying, they finally decided to seek treatment to see what was wrong, and one of the couple was unable. In fact his sperm count was very low. He always jokes about why he was using contraception for all those years – if he had known this earlier. But it is not a funny situation, and they were really very upset. Luckily for them they were working and they were able to pay the many tens of thousands of dollars in order to have fertility treatment, but of course others are not so lucky. That is why I feel really proud that we are providing public IVF services, because it really provides true equality to all people in the very important thing of having children and wanting to have a family. It is something that most – not everybody, and it is not necessary, but most – aspire to: to have children and to grow their family.

The cost of assistive reproductive services for individuals and families can also be a stressful area of experience, making it more challenging when they are going through treatments as well as then having to worry about how they are going to pay for it and how much it costs. Even with Medicare rebates, people can be left out of pocket thousands of dollars. Existing private fertility treatment services also often provide limited access or do not cater for the individual needs of all Victorian families. So the Victorian government is providing up to $120 million to deliver this public IVF service across the state, and it is not just around the treatment and the counselling. There is also further money to be invested in other public fertility services, including public egg and sperm banks.

Then there is even further funding in both the last budget and the current budget to provide a holistic approach to fertility and also to supporting families when they have just had the birth of their baby and in those very first years of life to support those families and those children. When I am talking about those services, I am not just talking about support in hospitals and through the conceiving of a child and carrying of a child. The Allan Labor government is also providing support once the baby is born, because bringing home a baby after giving birth is an enormous change to any family. It is such a special time, but it can also be very overwhelming and challenging. In the electorate of Thomastown, for example, many parents and prospective parents have no family supports whatsoever in Australia. Many have recently migrated to Australia and are calling it home, but they do not have any family there to look after the child and to provide advice. Yes, their parents may be a phone call away, but that is not really what is needed if you are a new parent and struggling to console your child, wondering if it is eating what it should be eating or if there is a rash that they have, what to do about it. These are the things that often families do as well as of course providing that little bit of respite, because we all know that a young baby can be very demanding of your time and of your sleep – or no sleep – and these are the times when you need extra supports.

One example of the early years supports that the Allan Labor government is providing is additional maternal and child health hours, so there is a 24/7 telephone line that families can ring as well as additional contact hours for families with the maternal and child health nurses. I know that particularly when I had my first child, Caelum, they were such an invaluable resource – somewhere to go, somewhere to talk about babies, someone to ask questions and in many cases just give you reassurance that you are doing the right thing, that you sort of know what you are doing and that you are not going to do anything that is going to be of any damage to your first baby.

I think the good thing about motions like this is that often when we talk about various services that government are providing, we do not look at them in a holistic way, and it was sort of good when researching this motion to really bring home how many things the Allan Labor government has done over not many years, really, in order to support and help families with new babies.

There is also additional support for lactation consultants. Again, it is up to parents to decide whether they want to breastfeed their child or not. Some do for a short time, or they try to do it at the start but then it drops off – the number of children being breastfed over time. Lactation consultants of course can help those parents, those mothers that want to breastfeed their children, with any problems. I think we all – again, those that have had children – had those issues, wondering if we were doing it correctly or concerned whether there was enough milk or not enough or too much or whatever. Lactation consultation I know from my own experience was a very, very invaluable support for me.

There are also dads grants – the provision of grants that fathers organisations can apply for and to help them set up. They are sort of programs mostly run by volunteers, but you can always do with a little bit of money to buy certain resources to set yourself up, to hire the hall, to provide tea and coffee – those sorts of things. These grants really are encouraging new dads to get together to talk about issues and are providing peer-to-peer training and support as well as maybe encouraging discussions and talks about healthy family life and promoting bonding, gender-equal parenting and things like that – really invaluable things. I do know of some organisations in the Thomastown electorate that are father support groups, and the people that participate really tell me that they are fantastic.

Baby bundles of course – the list goes on. I just do not have time to continue.

Nicole WERNER (Warrandyte) (18:18): I rise to speak on the motion raised by the Minister for Health, which recognises the importance of supporting growing families, delivering public IVF, establishing Victoria’s first public egg and sperm bank and expanding Victoria’s early parenting centre network. I thank each member for their contribution and those that have bravely shared their experiences today across the time that we have spoken to this motion.

IVF is not just a medical procedure; it is a lifeline that extends hope to countless individuals and couples who yearn to experience the joys of parenthood. Every year it becomes the bridge to a brighter future for those facing fertility challenges that would otherwise leave their dreams of a family unfulfilled. However, the financial aspect of IVF cannot be overlooked. The stark reality is that success is not guaranteed. Often this is necessitating multiple cycles of treatment. After Medicare rebates, out-of-pocket expenses can leave patients with a heavy burden, averaging around $5000 per cycle. The financial strain places immense stress on countless Victorian families and makes the dream of starting a family unattainable for some. Moreover, this financial challenge becomes increasingly daunting as the cost of living continues to rise, stretching household budgets to the limit.

We know that at the moment delivering IVF is not convenient – that it actually gets dropped by those opposite, because IVF is one of the government’s lowest priorities. Let us not forget in early 2022 Victoria was the only state or territory in the country to implement a code brown that suspended surgery and IVF services. It is surprising that those opposite would raise a motion stating that the government supports public IVF when they were the only state government to suspend it. According to the Fertility Society of Australia and New Zealand, the Andrews government’s singular decision to ban IVF may mean some families will not achieve a pregnancy at all. There are families that are broken today because of the decision of those opposite, and I will not stand by and let them pretend that they support IVF when I know that because of their cruel cancellation of IVF services there are pregnancies that never happened and children that were never born.

While you can always wait a bit longer with a lot of public policy decisions – while the airport rail link can wait a few more months or years to be actioned – with a few more delays, which those opposite love, a woman’s fertility often cannot survive those breaks. It is not just the breaks that the Labor government explicitly enacted during it, it is also the massive waitlist that exists in Victoria for public IVF, waitlists that can be as long as a year. We all have women that we know who are struggling with fertility, and for them we know a year is an eternity when it comes to waiting for IVF, and just one month could be the difference between having a child and not.

For a government that is always saying that it should not be your credit card but your Medicare card that determines your ability to get support, that is exactly the situation that exists under the Allan Labor government. I have local families who come to me during this cost-of-living crisis that is being worsened and perpetuated by the failed policies of those opposite who say to me that they have to take on extra jobs to be able to afford IVF, because they know, as we all know, you cannot just take the chance and wait a whole year –that is how long the waitlist can be for IVF treatment – because once that time is gone, you can never get it back.

That is why I was proud as a female candidate for Parliament to run on a platform of backing new and growing Victorian families with $4500 rebates for fertility services. Our party would have made fertility services for Victorian women more affordable, with a rebate of up to $2000 to undertake an initial IVF procedure using private fertility clinics, a rebate of up to $2000 to undertake a subsequent IVF procedure if not successful with the initial procedure, a rebate of up to $500 for pre-IVF fertility testing and up to five days of paid fertility treatment leave for nurses, teachers and other Victorian public service workers. In addition to these essential reforms, we recognise the unique challenges faced by women with serious medical conditions like cancer or severe endometriosis. Therefore our policy extends to the removal of out-of-pocket costs for the collection and initial storage of eggs for these women, potentially saving them up to $7000. By providing this support, we would empower women facing these health challenges to preserve their dream of starting a family without the burden of high expenses, truly futureproofing their choice. It is a step towards acknowledging the deeply personal struggles that individuals go through while undergoing medical treatments and honouring their commitment to parenthood.

This would have meant that our state would have taken its most significant step towards addressing the pressing issue of access to fertility services for Victorian women and families. By providing substantial rebates for fertility services, we aimed to alleviate some of the financial burdens associated with fertility treatments, making it more accessible and affordable for those who needed it. These policies would have relieved the financial stress on families and individuals trying to conceive and helped create a more inclusive and supportive environment for our Victorian community. Additionally, offering up to five days of paid fertility treatment leave for nurses, teachers and other public service workers would have been a critical measure to ensure that those pursuing fertility treatments could do so without compromising their livelihoods. It was our vision to empower Victorian families to make the choice that was right for them, and we were committed to creating a more equitable and compassionate society for all.

In conclusion, while this motion speaks to the importance of supporting growing families and expanding fertility services in Victoria, actions must align with words. The suspension of IVF services in 2022, the year-long waitlist for public IVF and the financial burden on families reveal a stark disconnect between rhetoric and reality. Fertility is time-sensitive, and delays have profound consequences. Families should not have to choose between necessities and fertility treatments. It is crucial to bridge this gap and truly support those seeking parenthood. Let us ensure that this motion is not just a symbolic gesture but a genuine commitment to those accessible fertility services. It is time to turn words into action, providing hope and help to those facing fertility challenges.

Kat THEOPHANOUS (Northcote) (18:25): It is a pleasure to rise today to speak on this very important motion, which is about our government’s support for Victorians starting or growing their families and in those critical early years of their children’s lives. Can I say that the day that we start taking advice from those opposite about health investment will be a very peculiar day indeed.

Starting or growing a family is an enormous life-changing decision. From the moment that decision is made your entire world shifts and is never the same again, because you are no longer just a ‘you’; in a very existential way, whether you have a child or not, you are something beyond yourself. There are many parents in this chamber, and I have to say that while we all appreciate our roles as parliamentarians and those are important, we know that our roles as parents are even more so. As someone who was elected almost at bursting point with my second child and with a one-year-old in tow as well, I have been incredibly heartened by the changes in this institution of the Victorian Parliament in embracing members with young families.

We are soon to mark a major milestone in gender equality with the member elect for Mulgrave the wonderful Eden Foster bringing us to gender parity across the Parliament. The significance of that cannot be overstated. In tangible terms this shift in demographic has led to real improvements and strides towards the way that our Parliament recognises and supports families with children. I note for the benefit of new members who might be here from the 2022 cohort that when I was elected in 2018 to Parliament, the Parliament had no family room to feed or nap a newborn and there was no pram parking to make it easier to get a baby bundled out of the car and into the chamber. These were some of the challenges and the changes that were made early on. I was incredibly grateful for them, and I am heartened that other parents since then have benefited from them too, because I have incredible respect for every single member of this place and working parents across the board who manage that very difficult balance between work and family commitments.

The journey to parenthood is not always straightforward, and indeed it is different for everyone. I believe that our role as legislators and as a government is to give Victorians genuine choices, whether that is the choice to adopt, the choice to terminate or the choice to access IVF. Empowering people with options is what we have an obligation to do, because when the choice to conceive naturally is limited or taken away it is not just disappointing; it is devastating, it is frightening, it can put pressure on relationships, it can leave us in a state of uncertainty and it can erode our self-worth. All too often it also evokes centuries of painful stigma around the worth of women’s bodies as child bearers and that corrosive feeling that so many women relay about not feeling like a woman. Moments of joy, like seeing nephews and nieces or celebrating a friend’s pregnancy, turn into moments of quiet unspoken sadness. In the days before modern medicine those moments could stretch into lifetimes – lifetimes of longing, of self-doubt, of depression. Many of us would have family members for whom that loss and that longing for what could have been never faded. Many of us know people now who are on that difficult journey, except the difference is that now we have the extraordinary option of IVF.

While IVF is no guarantee and the journey of IVF itself can be emotionally and physically gruelling, it is hope, and no person should have that hope taken away from them simply because they cannot afford it. That is why I am incredibly proud of the investment the Allan Labor government is making in public IVF for couples with fertility challenges, single parents, LGBTIQ+ families and those with illness impacting fertility, such as those who have gone through chemotherapy, for instance. IVF can be the difference between being able to experience the joy of parenthood and not, yet too often and for too many these services have not been within financial reach, costing in some cases tens of thousands of dollars. That is why we are making assisted reproductive treatment fairer, more affordable and easier to access for all Victorians through our nation-leading public fertility care program and egg and sperm bank.

I join my other colleagues today in extending my heartfelt congratulations to the parents Erin and Anthony on the birth of their little Felix in October, the first baby to be born through our public IVF program. For those who have seen the picture of Felix, he is a beautiful little boy, and I understand he is doing very well. Already over 1100 Victorians have started their treatment journey out of sites led by the Royal Women’s and Monash Health, and partner sites are up and running in Epping, Mildura, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Geelong and Shepparton, with further sites set to open in Sunshine, Ballarat and Heidelberg in the coming weeks.

Paul Edbrooke interjected.

Kat THEOPHANOUS: Thank you very much. Once fully operational, this $120 million program will support up to 5000 people each year, enabling more Victorians to realise their dream of having a family and saving families up to $10,000.

Earlier today the member for Dandenong spoke with eloquence and heart about her own IVF journey and her appreciation for the sperm donor who had made that birth possible. What we know is that in Victoria the demand for donor gametes has increased substantially, and access through the private system is often incredibly expensive and has long wait times. Our public egg and sperm bank is helping to change things for the many people who rely on the generosity of egg and sperm donors, and we are incredibly proud to see this state-of-the-art laboratory staffed with highly qualified fertility experts open at the Royal Women’s Hospital, the first of its kind in Australia. For those who may be considering becoming a donor, please do. You can give the most generous of gifts – the chance at having a family.

There are many aspects of this motion that I could explore, and there is never enough time to follow all the threads that you want to follow, but I want to acknowledge that growing a family is about so much more than birthing a child. As parents soon realise, the challenges only expand and become more complex once we are thrown in the deep end of actually caring for little humans. Supporting families and children in those early critical years – those days and months – is critical. It is why ever since I was first elected, I have made it a priority to push for more services locally for families in the inner north. As we went about that work in advocating for these services, countless parents in my community came forward to tell me about their experiences, so I have heard stories of social isolation, of postnatal depression, of birth trauma, of insomnia, of incontinence, of struggles with breastfeeding and of family violence – tragically. There is so very much that some parents endure in those early days, and yet, it is those early days – those first 2000 days – that shape and sometimes transform the trajectory of children’s lives. In the whirlwind of that haze and that urgency of being a primary caregiver for the first time, reaching out for help can be so hard. But what is critical is that help is there when you do reach out.

It is why one of my proudest moments as the member for Northcote was being able to tell my community that they will have an early parenting centre (EPC) to service the inner north. These centres are designed to feel like a home away from home. You and your family can come and stay overnight and be in the care of skilled practitioners and get the advice and hands-on skills that you need to help you on your unique parenting journey. Sleep and settling is a common reason to access an EPC, but there is also support for feeding and latching, behavioural issues and perinatal mental health, and these centres also provide tailored support to children with additional needs. The Northcote EPC will of course be part of an expanded network that our government is committed to, where we are upgrading two existing centres and committing to additional new centres right across Victoria. As the Parliamentary Secretary for Women’s Health, I have had the pleasure of visiting some of these centres with my colleagues in Footscray, in Dandenong and in Canterbury, and can I say that the staff at these centres have literally hundreds of years of experience caring for parents and babies. They are the best of the best, and our Labor government is doing the work to ensure that even more of these centres open across our state so that even more children and families can benefit from these programs.

There is so much I have not mentioned, from baby bundles to our booster maternal child health care, but I am very proud of our government’s work and proud to speak on this motion.

Nina TAYLOR (Albert Park) (18:35): I am very pleased to be able to speak on the very important matter of public IVF. I was at an event recently and there were a lot of parents there who had gone through all sorts of battles to be able to just literally carry – well, the mothers of course – the child through to birth, and it just reinforced to me the miracle of conception per se, let alone actually delivering a baby safely and let alone raising a child through all the challenges that life can present. We know even IVF, as wonderfully advanced and skilled as this incredible technique has become, provides no guarantee of being able to deliver or to get pregnant either.

I did also think about a friend in secondary school; I remember she had a serious illness and at that early stage they were having to put eggs aside so that one day she might be able to have children. It was extraordinarily confronting to think that even at that age – she would have been about 16 – she was having to confront those kinds of really important life choices. But at the same time, thank goodness she had capacity there to be able to literally put her eggs in a bank and allow for the vicissitudes of life, the possibility that she might be able to have a child, even though I would anticipate that it is obviously more difficult when you are having to use a fertility support. Nevertheless, it is a miracle of modern medicine that we have this wonderful capacity for couples, singles as well, LGBTIQA+ community families and those with illness – as I was saying with my friend from high school – that might have impacted, impaired or depreciated their capacity to get pregnant to have these pathways now. But the caveat is that there is obviously a significant cost factor.

This is why I am really proud that our government has taken that really bold but important step, and it is consistent when we look at the values that we have, whether it is across education, whether it is in transport or other mechanisms with our schools – it is really that concept of fairness and accessibility across the board. This is why I was a little bit perplexed; I heard the word ‘symbolism’ used by a member of the Liberal opposition when it came to the implementation of public IVF. I thought, what exactly is symbolic when we know once they are fully operational public fertility services will support up to 5000 people each year and provide up to 3375 treatment cycles? Furthermore, we know that over 1100 patients have commenced their treatment journey. That is not symbolic. That is real people. So I think we have to be careful, when we are discussing issues as significant and as important as this, that we be accurate in the chamber and not just try to pointscore for the sake of some social media or whatever else it might be.

So completing that point: 1100 patients have commenced their treatment journey, with many more expected to undergo treatment cycles in coming months. So we can actually see those cycles ahead here and now, and that is really, really exciting – also for the medical staff who are able to provide those opportunities too. I am sure for them it is just as exciting. I do not want to anticipate the way they think, but I imagine if you are working in that very dignified medical profession, being able to help people in our community get pregnant and to deliver the miracle of having children is something truly wonderful. It enables them to be able to complete their role as well. I think it is sort of extending the way that we as a community feel when it comes to collectively wanting to help each other. It is supporting each other, literally, if we bring it down to that level, in terms of being able to deliver children into this world.

There is one thing I want to reflect on when we are talking about how far and wide and the accessibility issue, because I think that may have been in question as well. The public fertility services are designed to provide care to Victorians who currently have limited access to fertility services through private providers, including low-income earners; people living in regional and rural Victoria; people who need donor or surrogacy services, such as LBGBTQI+ and single people; people who need fertility preservation due to medical treatment, such as people with cancer or people undergoing gender reassignment treatment; and people who need testing for monogenic conditions.

That would suggest to me, and I think it is pretty clear, we are being emphatic and up-front about this and completely transparent in terms of the extent to which we are offering and supporting and backing in public IVF accessibility across our state. It is not just in inner-city Melbourne, this is across the whole state, and it is –

A member interjected.

Nina TAYLOR: There we go: Shepparton, for example – just as an example. Because why wouldn’t we want to do that? I would like to think, as a collective here in our government, we do have a genuine care for fellow Victorians and their capacity to be able to have access to important fertility treatments as required, as needed, if they wish to do so. So it is consistent with our values: on the one hand providing affordability when it comes to being able to use IVF services but, secondly, the accessibility across the state. I am just wanting to be really clear about that because – I do not know – I got a sense that somebody might have been trying to blur the waters there. I am just clearing that up so we are very frank and candid about what happens. They are not sort of just trying to diminish it because it is uncomfortable or unpalatable when you have a really good policy and you are actually implementing it.

The other thing I was going to talk about – yes – is the egg and sperm bank. Significantly, the Allan Labor government is also improving access to donor egg and sperm through our public egg and sperm bank. The public egg and sperm bank, an extension to public fertility services based at the Royal Women’s Hospital, was launched on 2 July 2023. Again, it is not symbolic – it is actually being delivered – so this is something to also be really proud of, not in the sense of boasting but just in saying, ‘Hey, this is great.’ When you come into government, these are the kinds of really effective changes you want to make for your community, aren’t they? We are doing it because we actually care. We want to bring joy to fellow Victorians. We know how much it means to so many to be able to be parents, at the end of the day. Just to take away some of the cynicism that can land in the chamber, this is authentic, isn’t it? We genuinely want people to have access to IVF services and – should they need it – a public egg and sperm bank. I think that is also a real positive. I should say: featuring state-of-the-art laboratory facilities and staff with highly qualified fertility experts, the bank is the first of its kind in Australia. I would like to pay due credit to our excellent medical professionals and the incredible work that they do. Again, we can be really proud of them – proud of those working in our wonderful state of Victoria to support people who are genuinely seeking to become parents.

I should say, interestingly, and perhaps not surprisingly, demand for donated eggs, sperm and embryos has grown steadily over the past decade due to the number of people seeking access to assisted reproductive treatment. So opening this bank – what does that mean? It will help support increased access to eggs, sperm and embryos for public fertility care patients. Again, you can see there is consistency here in terms of delivering on the policy, and in particular making sure that accessibility is prioritised. So we are very much genuinely authentic when we are talking about this, because what would be the point of symbolism? For people who are trying to get pregnant, there is nothing worse than just a pipe dream. We actually have to deliver on the reality, and that is exactly what we are doing because we genuinely care. We all have friends and relatives, and there are those in the chamber, who have used IVF services themselves. We know the joy that can be delivered through becoming parents through IVF services.

Paul MERCURIO (Hastings) (18:45): I am absolutely delighted to rise and speak in support of this motion brought to the house by the honourable Minister for Health and Minister for Health Infrastructure. I would like to acknowledge the work being done with this game-changing investment by the Allan Labor government. In the 2021–22 budget $70 million was invested to establish public fertility care services, and in the 2023–24 budget an additional $49.9 million was invested to further expand public fertility services, helping up to 4000 Victorians every year while saving them on average $10,000 each. The public fertility care service model is focused on supporting and improving access for people who currently have limited access to private services.

There will be many different points to bring up about this motion, but there will be a word that is prevalent throughout, and that word is ‘support’ – support from this Labor government for people who are struggling to start a family and desperately want to but cannot due to financial or health reasons, support for people that want to help others start a family through donating their eggs or sperm at Victoria’s first public egg and sperm bank established in July this year, and support for young parents to access free primary health services to help them become better parents by teaching good sleeping habits, helping with child behaviour and also looking out for parents’ health and wellbeing, because as any parent in this chamber would understand, raising a child can be a pretty tough gig at the best of times, especially for first-time parents.

I am father to three daughters. I have my favourite eldest daughter, my favourite middle daughter and my favourite youngest daughter. They are all amazing women in their own right, and they make this world a better place. They have made my life richer for having them, and having them is one of the best things I have ever done, and I have done a few things in my life. But jeez, I have got to say it is not necessarily easy having kids. It is an incredibly steep learning curve, and in my day there was no help. I remember after my wife gave birth – it was a 36-hour labour – I went to the hospital a few days later and picked her and our child up and I took them home. We were in a little two-door car, which was very inappropriate with kids’ baskets and prams, and I remember walking upstairs – two flights of stairs – to my flat that my wife and I lived in. I walked in, closed the door, put the cradle down, looked at my child and went, my life has now changed forever. I had no idea what I was doing. I remember that day so well. I cannot really describe the absolute joy my daughters have brought my wife and I, nor the absolute joy that the sisters have brought each other.

My favourite eldest now has a daughter of her own, and they are planning on having some more. My favourite youngest is married and is planning on having babies, but they have just started a punk rock band and they are getting booked, so they are going to delay that. My favourite middle daughter is not married and would dearly love to have a child. Unfortunately she has a number of severe health issues, including endometriosis, adenomyosis, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. She is in constant pain. She has had a disc replacement in her back and she needs another one. This motion is for her and other women like her. Some years ago she took the decision to collect her eggs and freeze them with the idea of going through IVF later on. Now, at the age of 32, she is contemplating a hysterectomy. She has had to come to terms with the fact that her body just does not seem capable of carrying a child. This, to say the least, is devastating. The bright light that can come from this is that my daughter will donate her eggs so that another family may have the opportunity that she will not. This is the power of this IVF motion.

My favourite middle daughter is just one example of why someone cannot have a baby. There are many other stories. It is not always an easy conversation to have, as a number of those factors are deeply personal and private. Egg and sperm donation can help people who have experienced repeated IVF failure or have had an unfortunate early miscarriage. It helps people that have been affected by cancer or undergone treatments and procedures that affected their fertility. It is helping our LGBTQIA+ community to start families where in the past it was, sadly, extremely difficult for that community to share their love with a child.

These wonderful services are being provided through the Royal Women’s Hospital, Monash Health and other partner health services across the state, making sure that every Victorian, no matter where you live, will have access to public fertility care – and this is a really important point, because I know people who have crossed from one end of the country to another to attend a fertility clinic. This not only adds to the cost of treatment but also the wear and tear on the people travelling. Travelling is tiring, and the last thing you need to do when going through these treatments is to arrive tired, worn out and stressed from the financial burden. Partner health services have already started to deliver fertility services at Northern Health’s Epping hospital and Mildura Base Public Hospital. Additional partner health services sites in Mildura, Epping, Bendigo, Warrnambool, Geelong and Shepparton have already opened their doors. That is right, regional.

We are supporting families through the entire process from IVF to public egg and sperm banks. We have made access easier. Not only are we helping people start their family, but we are also supporting them when they do become parents by establishing early parenting centres across Victoria. Early parenting centres are a free primary health service that provides specialist support for families with children from birth to four years of age, offering differing levels of support for parents and helping to develop strategies that parents can use to make them a better parent for their kids. This is through helping them with sleep and settling – and every parent has had those sleepless nights, but when it continually happens it can have detrimental effects on parents that struggle to cope and indeed negatively affect relationships.

My favourite eldest daughter has a beautiful 20-month-old daughter who unfortunately is not the best sleeper. Whilst my daughter is definitely very sleep deprived, it would be a lot worse if not for the help she was able to get. The importance of this help cannot be overstated, as being sleep deprived can affect all facets of one’s daily life in a negative way. When my daughter and granddaughter leave my house after a visit, my wife and I are really quite anxious about her getting home safely. As they leave the house, they both look like death warmed up and we wait by the phone until she gets home and we get a text saying ‘Home’.

I am very proud to say that earlier this year I was able to join the Minister for Health and the member for Frankston –

Mary-Anne Thomas interjected.

Paul MERCURIO: to look at an early parenting centre – yes, you get a mention – that will be built in my electorate of Hastings. It will be co-located at the Hastings community centre where Peninsula Health has several services and where the awesome Western Port Community Support is based. This just makes sense. To place all these services in the one place reduces travel for people and allows for easier access to a diverse range of health and support services. This is smart and considered thinking and planning with our community’s best interest at heart.

This is incredibly exciting for young families in my community of Hastings. Hastings is becoming a destination for aspiring young families, and having these important services available will not only allow them to have the best start to family life but have the confidence that this government will back them to not just succeed but thrive. Ultimately, creating a family is a right – a right that we all have. We grow up with this idea that we can all have kids. Some people choose not to and that is their right. The fact that we can decide to have a family, to create a loving environment to bring them up in is an incredibly special gift. To feel the love between my daughters and me and my wife and to see the love in their eyes, and to see the love in my granddaughter’s eyes for her mother, father, aunties and yes, her grandparents, and to see how special and unique that is, you can better understand the deep pain that people feel when they cannot create that, when they cannot share that. This motion is for them. This motion is a motion for love.

Starting your own family is a dream that many across Australia have and here in Victoria have. We acknowledge that dream and have made it easier, more affordable, safer and fairer for everyone to achieve. That is what makes Victoria the best state. I happily and lovingly commend this motion to the house.

Belinda WILSON (Narre Warren North) (18:54): What a speech to follow. As a mum of three, listening to the member for Hastings talk about his granddaughter – I must say I did instruct my kids to ensure that does not happen to me for a few more years yet. However, I will say how exciting and how beautiful it was to hear his speech about his daughters and also his grandchildren. I do look forward to that time, but if my children are watching – please, in the future, not quite yet.

Having kids is a real gift, and when I got married a long time ago – 24 years ago – I did not even think of not being able to have kids. I think it was just like, you know, I am going to get married, have kids. I remember going to the GP after not becoming pregnant after three months or something, and he said to me, ‘When you have been practising or trying to have children every second day for six months and nothing’s happened, then come back to me.’ Well, I was mortified, my husband was very excited, and this started the journey of having children. For me that happened quite quickly, but for many people in the world it is a long and very hard process.

It was interesting looking back on the history. I am not that old, but for my mum and those of her vintage, 1978 was when IVF started. Some people in this chamber were born in 1978. I may have been four years old at that point. I think about that journey for my parents, for my mum and her friends, and how they actually did not have this as an option. It was really endearing – and again, incredible speeches – to hear from the member for Dandenong and the member for Laverton about their journeys, and when you listen to those personal journeys, you understand how hard it is for some people.

I think the other thing is that it is expensive. One of the things that I am most excited about with what we are doing with this is that it is going to be accessible for so many people who could not afford it. I know a number of people in my electorate that I have spoken to about this – and it not always the female that cannot have children; it is very often the male, which also is not spoken about enough. I have had a number of conversations, and particularly with one person, without naming names, who spoke to me. He is a new arrival to Australia and a new citizen, and he took me through his personal journey of not being able to have children and the expense of that. His wife only just arrived in Australia a year ago, and they are really looking forward to trying to be part of that program to have children, because they actually could not afford to do it unless it was through our incredible government’s program. So I am very excited to hopefully see them go on that journey, because it is a journey that they would have never, ever been able to afford to go on.

We were talking about sleeplessness with babies, and it was nice to be surrounded by many mums in the chamber, as I am at the moment, as we shared stories of when we walked our children up and down corridors trying to get them to sleep, or when we would just get them to sleep and then we would be tiptoeing out of the room, trying to make sure they stayed asleep. You thought your world was going to end because you did not sleep yourself. Many are nodding their heads in the chamber. Those days were difficult and they were hard, and to be able to have assistance, to have people to call and to have a place to go when you are struggling with sleep or settling your baby or baby issues when you are not sure what the baby is doing and the baby is crying and it will not stop – they are the sorts of things that our incredible government supports. We are very, very lucky to have such a great health minister who looks at these initiatives and puts women’s health and women’s issues at the forefront.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.