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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-08 Daily Xml
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NAEVUS SUPPORT AUSTRALIA

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (15:58): I would first like to acknowledge the people of the eastern part of our country who have gone through significant and horrific events. We have seen 75 per cent of Queensland under water—it is totally amazing—then be hit by a cyclone. They have been truly horrible events for those people, but I have to say that it does bring out the best in people and it also brings out the worst in people. I just want to touch on some of the good.

My office was a drop-off point for the Shoebox of Love, and there were well over 100 boxes brought in by many people from around the electorate. I would certainly like to thank the organisers and also the wonderful people who donated to help fellow Australians in a time of real need. It is great to see the Australian spirit well and truly alive in Mitchell.

I would also like to touch on another great thing that occurred, which is very significant in my life. Back in 2001 my daughter Danielle was born with a very rare congenital disorder. Back in those days, there was really no support group for this condition, which Is melanocytic naevus, but it was congenital. It affects one in 200,000 people in this form.

Back in those days, as I mentioned earlier, there was no support group, and we struggled to find information about what the condition is, what is the prognosis, how will she go through her life, and, in fact, will she continue to have a healthy life. One of the great journeys that we went on was to get in touch and find, through the wonderful world of the web, a group in America, and they indicated to us that there are other people in Australia, which we thought was totally amazing.

Anyway, in 2002 my wife and I set up Naevus Support Australia, a web-based support group for Australians, New Zealanders and those in Asia. We had our first conference in Adelaide in 2004. At that time we had 15 families attend, which was quite amazing. A lot of tears were shed, a lot of hugging, and a lot of relief.

Since then, we have had conferences in Melbourne in 2006, in 2008 we had a conference in Sydney, and in January this year we came back to Adelaide and had our fourth conference. In the conference we had 35 families attending; over 90-odd people attended the conference. Families came from all around Australia to attend the conference, and the conference was for three days. We all stayed at the Marion Caravan Park, which is just outside of my electorate of Mitchell—so we tried to keep as much dough, as close as we could, in the electorate. I have got to say that the caravan park was absolutely sensational.

We had the use of the Flinders Medical Centre auditorium, we used that for a day session with South Australia's leading specialists, dermatologists, social workers and psychologists, which was fantastic for all the participants. We also toured around Adelaide, and we took everybody down to the Port River along the Dolphin Cruise, which was absolutely wonderful as well. Then we went to the Adelaide Zoo to see the new pandas, and everybody enjoyed the experience. We also got the opportunity to have a tour around our great state, which many really enjoyed.

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everybody who supported us at Naevus Support, and I would also like to thank my wife, Michelle, my mother-in-law Marilyn and my father-in-law Geoff and all my family for their assistance in putting the conference together here in Adelaide. I look forward to the next conference in another two years' time to share further experiences with our naevus family.

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