Kim O’KEEFFE (Shepparton) (15:12): Today I rise to make a contribution on the Health Legislation Amendment (Regulatory Reform) Bill 2024. Firstly, it was so wonderful to hear the member for Warrandyte’s announcement that she is expecting a baby boy. There is quite a baby boom happening in the chamber at the moment. We are very much looking forward to news from the member for Euroa and the member for Kew. Obviously, births are coming along very soon.
I will get back onto the bill. I would like to thank the member for Warrandyte for sharing her personal experiences. We will get to some of the IVF and other difficult conception stories along the way, but sharing her story not only with us here in this place but also more broadly helps others that are going through conception challenges. I thank all the speakers on the bill that have shared their own experiences, including some of the men in the chamber. It is really great to have the men included and hear a diverse range of experiences.
The bill will make amendments to regulatory frameworks in seven acts to modernise and streamline compliance and enforcement powers to support a graduated, proportionate and risk-based approach to regulation by the Department of Health to prevent or minimise harm to the health or safety of Victorians. In addition, the bill also seeks to amend the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 to abolish the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority and improve the regulation of assisted reproductive treatment by transferring the regulatory function to the Secretary of the Department of Health and strengthening compliance and enforcement powers. Further, the bill also seeks to transfer the management of the donor conception registers to a new donor conception registrar employed by the Department of Health.
The Department of Health has a diverse range of regulatory responsibilities, including child safety, communicable disease, medicines and poisons, legionella risk management, pest control, radiation safety, food safety, private hospitals, day procedures, non-emergency patient transport and first aid providers, tobacco, e-cigarettes and safe drinking water. Some health regulation schemes have not kept pace with modern best practice regulation design and do not include common midrange compliance and enforcement powers, limiting the ability of the regulator to take graduated, risk-based and proportionate regulatory action to prevent harm. The bill improves compliance and enforcement powers across a number of regulatory schemes. The bill includes powers for the regulator to issue improvement and prohibition notices and will enable the health regulator to choose the right tool at the right time, respond to noncompliance proactively as well as reactively and prevent or minimise the risk of harm to health and safety.
One of the main purposes of the bill is to amend the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act 2008 in relation to abolishing the Victorian Assisted Reproductive Treatment Authority, VARTA, by providing for the employment of a donor conception registrar and transferring certain functions and powers from VARTA to the Secretary of the Department of Health and the donor conception registrar.
VARTA, since its establishment, has been providing independent information and support to Victorians and health professionals regarding fertility, infertility, assisted reproductive treatment and the best interests of children born. In addition VARTA regulates the provision of fertility treatment in Victoria to help people understand what they can do to improve their chances of conceiving and support those involved in donor conception to get the information they need and achieve their preferences. It can be a very complex process, as we know, and over time, with increasing demand for this way of conception, we are sure people will need more support as the need continues to grow.
Working in my business for many years, my clients were predominantly women, and I saw firsthand the struggles and tribulations that many women go through trying to conceive. I can also remember when I conceived my first child. One of my clients was struggling at the time to conceive. She and her husband were having tests and trying to find out why they could not conceive. It was hard to share my joy when I knew what they were going through. Going through IVF can have an enormous effect on a couple and their families, their life, their relationship, their finances and their careers.
I also saw firsthand the process of IVF when a friend’s daughter had turned to IVF to help her conceive. The lead-up to this decision can be such a stressful time, with the couple wanting to start a family but having issues trying to conceive. Most couples tend to think that when they want to start a family it will automatically happen, and it can be such a shock when it does not happen – or not in the timeframe that they were hoping for. It can cause a range of emotions. Correct support and medical advice do play a significant role, and in some cases counselling is needed.
With the couple I knew, they did end up turning to IVF, but it was not successful the first time. It can be heartbreaking for all of the family – her mother being a very close friend of mine. It was also very costly. Fortunately on their second try they did conceive, and now they have a beautiful daughter who recently turned six. We need to ensure everyone has access to IVF should they require it and that it is affordable.
The first Australian IVF baby was born in Victoria in 1980 – Candice Reed, only the third IVF baby born in the world at the time. Assisted reproductive treatment has become an increasingly common way for Victorians to grow their families, so it is important that we as a state have specific regulations for this sector, in particular for donor conception treatment, and especially that we have in place safeguards for children who may be born as a result of treatment as well as for donors, surrogates and those undertaking treatment.
As VARTA currently regulates assisted reproductive treatment in Victoria, to address certain recommendations in the Gorton review, the amendments that the bill make include changes to the functions currently performed by VARTA under the Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act. Further, the management of the donor conception registers will be transferred to a new donor conception registrar under the bill. This will be located within the Department of Health and will be administered separately from the regulatory functions. Counselling before information being accessed from the registers or a contact preference being lodged will transition from mandatory to voluntary, ensuring the rights of individuals to make an informed choice about their needs are respected. Counselling will continue to remain mandatory before consenting to treatment or consenting to be a donor. The Assisted Reproductive Treatment Act will also continue to require that people are provided with the information that they are entitled to from the donor conception registers in a supportive way and that they also have access to resources to help them make informed decisions.
Referring back to the Gorton review, the amendments listed in the bill will seek to reduce the unnecessary regulatory barriers for the movement of donor gametes or embryos that are formed from them into or out of Victoria while maintaining safeguards and existing requirements. As such, a requirement to have pre-approval from the regulator before moving donor eggs or sperm into or out of Victoria will be replaced with the requirement to certify that specific criteria are met, providing additional clarity and reducing delays. A donor conception advisory group will be established that will include experts and people with lived experience to assist with the implementation of these changes by providing ongoing advice and expertise in relation to donor conception. More details need to be provided about this new advisory group in terms of what the membership will look like, the amount of people sitting on the group and other determined details.
Donor conception is an increasingly common method of family formation, and it can present with unique challenges and complexities for those involved. The proposed reforms include plans to deliver funding for an appropriate organisation with suitably qualified and experienced counsellors to deliver quality, culturally safe counselling for those involved in accessing the registers and those who wish to access counselling. The welfare and interests of persons born or to be born as a result of treatment procedures are paramount.
It is acknowledged that assisted reproductive treatment raises issues that are not common to other health services for those accessing treatment, for people conceived through donor treatment procedures and for donor surrogates and that these issues may require specific legal protections.
In addition, the bill makes minor or miscellaneous amendments to a number of acts. The bill seeks to amend the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 to allow for the minister to amend the Victorian Poisons Code to remove, substitute or incorporate amended provisions from the poisons standard relating to the supply or possession of certain scheduled medicines. The bill also corrects an error in the general immunity provision in the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008.
It is critical that health is a priority, and we need to ensure that every Victorian has access to health. On that final note, I really need to stop and remind the chamber that we need to provide perfect health services for all communities. GV Health in my electorate is still waiting for funding for stage 2. Stage 1 was funded. Stage 2 includes an integrated cancer centre, and we know that when people are going through cancer they need to have access close to home. We also have a helipad as part of stage 2. As you can imagine, in the growing region in which I live we do not have a helipad. Having a helipad means that people can have immediate support. Also, at the moment we do not have enough car parking around our hospital, and that includes for our medical staff.
This government needs to stop and ensure that all Victorians – all people within all communities – are supported. This government is not supporting all of our communities when it comes to health, and I urge the government to stop and think about what that means to all Victorians.