Burns calls for an end to the genetics moratorium

? MR BURNS : To move—That this House:

(1) ?????? notes:

(a) ??????? the field of genetics has great potential to improve medicine and public health through enabling diagnosis, prevention and early treatment of disease;

(b) ?????? that increasingly, genetic information is used in routine patient care to identify individuals at risk for medically actionable conditions, and early knowledge of this risk can allow at-risk individuals to take preventive steps to reduce their risk or, in some cases, avoid developing the associated disease altogether;

(c) ??????? the current ability of the life insurance industry to legally use genetic test results in underwriting can lead to discrimination;

(d) ?????? that insurance discrimination fears can also act as a barrier, by deterring people from having potentially life-saving genetic testing that could match them to tailored interventions and treatments, as well as from participation in genetic research; and

(e) ??????? that numerous other countries have prohibited the use of genetic test results to discriminate against individuals in insurance underwriting;

(2) ?????? acknowledges that:

(a) ??????? in 2018, the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Corporations and Financial Services’ inquiry into the life insurance industry made recommendations relating to the use of genetic test results in life insurance underwriting, including consideration of a moratorium and potentially further legislative action or another form of regulation banning or limiting the use of predictive genetic information by the life insurance industry;

(b) ?????? in 2019, the Financial Services Council introduced a partial moratorium restricting member life insurance companies from requiring applicants to disclose or using applicants’ genetic test results for policies below certain financial limits, which is self-regulation by industry with no government oversight; and

(c) ??????? the Australian Genetics and Life Insurance Moratorium: Monitoring the Effectiveness and Response (A-GLIMMER) Project was funded by the Government from 2020-2023 to investigate effectiveness of the moratorium as a regulatory solution to genetic discrimination in Australian life insurance, and found that discrimination fears continue to deter individuals from having genetic testing, and that the moratorium is inadequate to address and prevent genetic discrimination in life insurance;

(3) ?????? recognises the invaluable work of Dr Jane Tiller, Project lead, Monash University, and the investigator team in preparing the comprehensive A-GLIMMER Project report, as well as the project’s collaborators, patient/consumer and supporter groups, and the many individuals who participated in the research studies completed as part of the project; and

(4) ?????? calls on the Government to consider policy changes to address and prevent genetic discrimination in life insurance and assist patients in receiving lifesaving medical care.