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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, Second Session (53-2)
2015-02-26 Daily Xml
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Refugees

Ms DIGANCE (Elder) (15:31): Thank you, Deputy Speaker.

An honourable member interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Ms DIGANCE: Actually I am not speaking about that today.

Ms Chapman: You will be.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Onto your grievance, and the member is entitled to be heard in silence.

Ms DIGANCE: Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Today I was planning to rise to provide an update to the house on the visionary and innovative Tonsley redevelopment, a unique—

Ms Chapman interjecting:

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Ms DIGANCE: —advanced manufacturing hub with a mix of businesses and education facilities and, in the near future, a significant investment in the variety of housing. However, instead, I wish to share with the house my absolute shock and outrage at the media coverage of the very disturbing and apparently current situation on Nauru. I am not only angry but also embarrassed and saddened. It is a media report that focuses on one young couple from Somalia who have sought solace and compassion from us in Australia.

It is a story of Deka and her husband Omar. Deka is reported to be 36 weeks pregnant and is classified as a high-risk pregnancy. She falls into this category as she has undergone the practice, at I suspect a very young age, in her home country of female genital mutilation. Being assessed as a high-risk pregnancy she and her baby's risk of death from complications of labour and/or delivery are dramatically and knowingly increased.

We are told she has been assessed by the local obstetrician on Nauru as requiring highly specialised care, care that this obstetrician recognises is not available on Nauru. The complications of this high-risk pregnancy are great for both mother and baby. For the mother it could mean obstructed labour, significant tears and lacerations, uterine inertia, uterine rupture, maternal distress, and the worst scenario, maternal death. For the baby, if labour is allowed to advance without special scrutiny, the risks may include excessive moulding of the head, intracranial haemorrhage, hypoxia, foetal distress and the severest outcome, intrauterine death.

In a controlled, highly specialised environment, this very specific situation can be managed through to attain good outcomes for both mother and baby. Authorities apparently claimed that as Deka and her husband were living in the community she was eligible for the same health care as others on Nauru. However, Deka's situation is not straightforward and assessed with great risk. In her vulnerable state and under duress, authorities were apparently pressuring her to choose her place for childbirth. Her options, we are told, were that she could labour and deliver on Nauru, which the obstetrician had already stated was not suitable or, unthinkably, the alternative choice given to her was that she could return to Somalia. Understandably, with these choices before her, Deka became so distressed that it is understood she attempted to take her life. How shameful!

This reported situation is abhorrent and shows a distinct lack of understanding of Deka's human rights, a distinct lack of respect for the life of the mother and also the baby, and the whole family unit, ignorance of the sanctity of life, and arrogance and cold heartedness by our federal Liberal leaders, not to mention total dismissiveness of the obstetrician's expert advice.

I put to us all here today that, if this report is true, this is indeed a very sad, low day in Australia's history—a sad low as we see the federal Liberal government put us on the world map for breaches of human rights and inhumane management of this very sensitive and delicate situation. We see here a small, desperate family seeking refuge from their homeland and a woman who was probably prepubescently mutilated due to tradition, a practice that is itself an infringement of human rights. This should be a happy time for this young couple as they await the arrival of their first born. Midwives and professionals of infant and maternal health care know that women-centred care, modelled and delivered on care that is informed on best evidence with best expertise, is the way to go for women such as her.

Mr Abbott, you purport to be the minister for women. Well, Mr Abbott, let me say that, as a woman, a midwife, a member of parliament, a South Australian and an Australian, you are not my minister. You are not my minister at all. Mr Abbott, you and your government should be ashamed and I condemn your government, if these reports are true, for this callous, inhumane, uncompassionate and unnecessary situation. My prayers and hope for justice for Deka and her family go with them.

Time expired.

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