Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before I get started, I will say that the member for Franklin is quite right about development in schools, and we in the coalition certainly support development in schools around the country.

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What about the Investing in Our Schools Program?

Pat Farmer (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, we put $1.2 billion in through the Investing in Our Schools Program, so we are very supportive of that.

I am here to speak this morning about a person in my electorate named Sarah Hilt. Sarah is a survivor of meningococcal disease and is a quadruple amputee. I would like to give you a bit of an insight into the trauma that Sarah has undergone. Sarah remembers that she felt ill one morning, so she decided to go to bed. She woke up two weeks later to find that she had had both of her hands amputated. She spent the next nine months in hospital.

The disease had rotted her bones to the extent that she had to have her leg amputated as well, but, sadly, this ordeal was far from over. She had capillary and skin damage to 60 per cent of her body. Sarah was also required to constantly have dialysis to filter her blood as her kidneys had suffered dramatically through the ordeal and could no longer function efficiently.

Sarah then had the option of undergoing a kidney transplant that would allow her to go back to study—but she would have to lose her remaining leg. As a result, she has lost both her legs and both her arms and hands from meningococcal. For Sarah, though, this would allow her to return to university and complete her studies—an extraordinary achievement given the circumstances. However, it is Sarah’s positive outlook that resonates with most people, including me. After all that she has gone through she remains optimistic that she can and will achieve whatever she sets out to do. I am positive that she will.

Sarah’s biggest obstacle, however, is access to suitable prosthesis. Many of the better models, which feature myoelectric capabilities, are incredibly costly and are not available under the New South Wales Artificial Limb Scheme, an omission that—given the quality of life that they promote—I believe should be changed. Throughout Sarah’s battle she has been an advocate for people that have suffered through meningococcal. She speaks publicly about her condition and about the trauma that she went through suffering from meningococcal, and she is helping other people through the Sarah Hilt Foundation to be able to get prosthesis when needed, and to be able to get much-needed assistance.

I believe the federal government, together with the state government, should put a lot more money into research on this subject and, certainly, assist all amputees as a result of the policies that we make.