Dr Harley Stanton – Parkinson's Disease activist

Ms BURNET (Clark) - Honourable Speaker, I just want to mark that this week, Sir David Attenborough turned 100. His documentaries and storytelling have highlighted environmental issues and captured the public imagination for decades. His tireless advocacy for our natural world extended to the biodiversity collapse caused by the widespread use of pesticides and herbicides in intensive agricultural practice. I quote:

We are running out of insects, and that is catastrophic. The effects of pesticides and herbicides are not only seen above ground, they leach into soil and groundwater and inevitably enter the human food chain. Some of the health impacts are known, many are not. DDT, banned since 1987, is still detectable at cattle sites across Australia and the links between industrial pesticide use and human disease are only identified after years of exposure and suffering for those involved.

Cluster of increased cancer rates, birth defects or neurological conditions were identified and the most toxic substances regulated or banned. In Tasmania, DDT use was replaced by organic chlorides and organophosphates by fruit and vegetable growers, including apple orchards in the Huon Valley. Thought to be a safer alternative, they have since been strongly linked with conditions including Parkinson's disease, herbicides such as paraquat. [tbc]

Which has been raised a number of times in this place. Now we go to a native of the Huon Valley, Dr Harley Stanton, also celebrated his birthday recently. He grew up at Allens Rivulet, growing up alongside seven siblings on a working apple orchard. Like many other growers at that time, the family used chemicals now linked to Parkinson's disease. One of Harley's brothers developed Parkinson's in mid‑life and Harley was diagnosed in 2019.

This kicked off an advocacy journey for Harley that would lead, last month, to the launch of Australia's first National Parkinson's Action Plan in Canberra. For more than 40 years, Harley lived and worked outside Tasmania, first working in public health, then shifting to advocacy, policy and legislation to reduce tobacco use across Australia, the Pacific and Asia, including working on the WHO tobacco control framework, so we have a lot to thank Harley for.

Back to the national Parkinson's Action Plan: it's the culmination of many years of hard work by a collaborative network of dedicated activists and organisations across the country. With the support of Associate Professor Jane Alty and Professor Tracey Dickson at the Menzies Institute, Harley named the group Wings for Parkinson's. Dr Stanton estimates that he has exchanged 12,000 emails on Parkinson's over the past five years. A delegation from Tasmania including Tracey Dickson, Professor Jane Alty, Professor Michele Callisaya and Mike Whitehouse from Parkinson's Tasmania travelled to Canberra for the national Parkinson's summit. More recently, minister for Health, minister Archer, met Dr Stanton.

The National Parkinson's Action Plan was delivered to the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing in November 2025. It's the first ever national action plan for Parkinson's in Australia, and provides a roadmap for how we can improve diagnosis, care and research and implement prevention. More than 200 years since the condition was described by James Parkinson in 1817, I'd like to quote Harley who, along with others, did so much to get the plan off the ground. He says:

If we plan wisely, tend faithfully and act together, future generations may face a gentler journey with Parkinson's.

I think that that also imbues the spirit of centenarian Sir David Attenborough.