Page 4515 - Week 12 - Wednesday, 31 October 2018
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absolutely make a difference for women to have that option, should they need it. I thank Ms Cheyne very much for giving us all the chance to share some of our stories in the Assembly today, without too much detail. I do not want to put future parents off what is a very beautiful experience once you work it out.
MS FITZHARRIS (Yerrabi—Minister for Health and Wellbeing, Minister for Higher Education, Minister for Medical and Health Research, Minister for Transport and Minister for Vocational Education and Skills) (11.02): I thank Ms Cheyne very much for bringing this motion to the Assembly today on an issue that is important every day and every night but often not discussed in this place. I will make some comments later about the power of this motion, how it came to be in the Assembly and the example that it sets for all of us in talking to our community about issues that really matter to women and their families right across the territory.
As Ms Cheyne has very simply put it, there is a gap and there is a solution. We are really pleased to support Ms Cheyne’s motion today to see this work continue. As others have indicated, the benefits of breastfeeding are well documented. I would like to put on the record the work underway already in ACT Health so that the record can show the work that is already underway there.
As has been recognised, the supply of donor milk to the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children neonatal intensive care unit is from the Mothers’ Milk Bank, which operates from Tweed Heads in northern New South Wales. This provision of donor milk at the Centenary hospital is, though, limited at the moment to situations where babies are born premature or are unwell or where there is not enough expressed milk when feeds are introduced. Of course every effort is made to use the mother’s milk in preference to donor milk, but it is the parent’s decision as to whether the baby will receive donor milk. As much information as possible is provided to assist parents in making decisions about this important issue.
As I mentioned, the government is very pleased to support Ms Cheyne’s motion to investigate the feasibility of establishing an official milk bank in the ACT. As she has outlined, there may be proposals around today that we can look at but there also may be proposals we have not yet envisaged. We will not know unless we do this important work.
As has been mentioned, the Red Cross are developing milk banks across Australia. I am pleased to advise that the ACT will move to obtaining supply from the Red Cross milk bank in 2019, once they get up and running. Representatives from Canberra Health Services are on the New South Wales Health and New South Wales Red Cross working party, and negotiations are already underway. The Red Cross Blood Service has leveraged its wealth of experience and expertise in high quality donor management, therapeutic goods administration, goods manufacturing, practice regulations and donation disease-screening processes, in order to position itself nationally in this important role.
I have previously mentioned that very soon, after quite extensive stakeholder engagement, the government will be unveiling a consultation phase for a new framework for how maternity services are delivered here in the ACT. That community
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