SENATOR THE HON ANNE RUSTON

SHADOW MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE

DEPUTY LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE

SENATOR FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA

TRANSCRIPT

ABC News Radio – Tainted Blood Scandal

Tuesday, 11 August 2026

Topics: Tainted Blood Scandal

E&OE……………………………………

Sarah Dingle: We’re joined now by Senator Anne Ruston, the Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care. Welcome to NewsRadio.

Senator Ruston: Thank you very much.

Sarah Dingle: Senator, you have been meeting with some of the survivors of this tainted blood scandal. What have they told you?

Senator Ruston: Well, I think they’ve just expressed their incredible frustration that, despite the fact that they’ve got an incredibly compelling story about the hugely detrimental impacts on their lives of having received these tainted plasma and blood products, nobody’s really listening to them. And I was, you know, very taken by the information they provided. There’s a lot of new information that’s been uncovered, but so far they just seem to have failed to get anybody to listen to them and take them seriously. So, yeah, we were delighted to see the ABC last night run a very comprehensive story about what these people have been living through for 30 years.

Sarah Dingle: And we had one of those advocates, Tristan Stanley, on the programme yesterday. He has obviously been calling for attention to be paid to this matter for some time. We know that advocates and survivors want an apology, and they want compensation. There have been a number of piecemeal compensation schemes, and this is something I’ve been trying to understand. What is missing in terms of financial compensation for the transmission of hepatitis C and HIV through contaminated blood in Australia?

Senator Ruston: Well, the compensation schemes that you refer to, which have been piecemeal, have been state-based schemes. Some states put them in place; other states didn’t. But in the case of somebody like Tristan, who received a contaminated plasma product because of his haemophilia, it was a blood-clotting product that couldn’t be traced to a particular batch or item number. That was because they were sometimes mixing thousands of donations, and only one of those donations needed to be tainted for the entire product, which they refer to as factor VIII, to be tainted. And because Tristan and his fellow haemophiliacs could not identify the exact donation that caused their infection, they were excluded from these state-based schemes. So, what they’re saying is that it makes no difference to the outcome whether it was an individual product or a mixed product. The outcome for these people who have survived its impact is the same, and they’re asking for their circumstances to be considered just as seriously as those of others who have been lucky enough to receive some compensation.

Sarah Dingle: Now, what about an apology? An apology costs nothing. We know that, overseas, there has been a national apology this year to victims in the UK of a similar contaminated blood scandal, in no less than St Paul’s Cathedral. What do you think the Australian Parliament needs to do? And have you asked for a chat about a national apology to these people?

Senator Ruston: Well, certainly, you’re absolutely right about an apology. In speaking to Tristan, Neil and a number of other survivors who’ve come to see me, I think an apology would mean that they’d been listened to and that what happened to them had been acknowledged. Being believed, I think, is the most important thing. You know, with this government, “sorry” seems to be the hardest word to say. But in the case of the minister, I have written to him, as have Tristan and other survivors of these infections. And until today, after we issued a release following your programme, the minister had actually refused even to engage with Tristan. So, hopefully, this is the start of a process through which these people can receive the recognition that I think they deserve for the harm that’s been done to them. But until today, the minister had refused to engage at any level, apart from writing me a letter that didn’t really answer the questions I was asking.

Sarah Dingle: Well, we did reach out to Minister Mark Butler’s team. We were given this statement from a government spokesperson: “The government recognises the profound and lasting impact that historically contaminated blood products have had on affected Australians and their families.” The spokesperson says the Minister for Health will meet with advocates to discuss the very difficult personal stories that have been brought to light in recent days. So, there will be a meeting forthcoming with those advocates. Do you find that encouraging?

Senator Ruston: Well, of course, I’m absolutely delighted that these people will at last be able to speak to the minister, who has the power to actually do something in response to their requests. But, you know, if the minister can write to these people and say that he recognises the impact of what’s happened to them, how come he hasn’t been able to recognise that impact over the months, if not years, during which Tristan and his fellow travellers have been calling on him to listen to them? Did it have to take the ABC’s airing of a really confronting programme? Did it have to take the Opposition actually calling the government out before the minister was prepared even to meet with these people? So, I obviously welcome the fact that the minister has done a backflip and agreed to meet Tristan. I now hope that he will take serious action in response to what Tristan and his fellow survivors tell him.

Sarah Dingle: We’ll have to wait and see. But just briefly, Senator—a yes or no, if you don’t mind—would you move a parliamentary motion calling for a national apology to these people?

Senator Ruston: I’m more than happy to use the legislative and parliamentary options available to me to make sure these people are told that Australia believes them and recognises the damage and harm that have been done to them. I’m happy to look at any of the options available through the parliamentary process to do that.

Sarah Dingle: Senator Anne Ruston, thank you for joining us here on ABC NewsRadio.

Senator Ruston: My pleasure.

ENDS