Wednesday, 10 September 2025

Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation

Georgie CROZIER (Southern Metropolitan) (18:41): (1949) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Health, and it is in relation to supporting some very significant untreatable childhood diseases and treatments. I recently spoke to Associate Professor Andrew Kornberg about the impact of advanced therapies such as gene, cell and tissue therapies on how we treat some of the most devastating and previously untreatable childhood diseases, some of these rare diseases. These rare diseases affect up to 2 million Australians, and 70 per cent of those are children. One in five paediatric hospital admissions is linked to a genetic condition, and without access to advanced therapies, one-third of children with a rare disease will not live past the age of five. It has very devastating impacts, and we have come a long way with medical innovation and treatments. Nevertheless, there is more that can be done.

The Royal Children’s Hospital is already delivering world-leading care through advanced therapies for conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy, CAR T-cell therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia and recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa. But many other children with rare and life-threatening conditions still have no access to life-saving treatments. These life-saving treatments and care are life saving – they literally need them to survive. Associate Professor Kornberg and his colleagues are leading the charge in this field, but they need support. The Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation is seeking $4.5 million to establish a dedicated centre for advanced therapies, the first of its kind in Victoria. This centre would provide the infrastructure, expert workforce and clinical trial capacity needed to deliver cutting-edge treatments for children who need them. As I said, they need these treatments and care simply to survive.

This is an investment in infrastructure and innovation that also offers hope for many Victorian children and their families during very devastating and difficult times in their lives. The action I seek is for the minister to meet with Associate Professor Andrew Kornberg to discuss how the government can support this vital initiative.