It was difficult to do, but my family and I felt it was an important contribution to the public discussion-particularly to help other affected families know that they are not alone in their grief.

Had our son Timothy survived, the second of July this year would have been his 36th birthday.

Thirty-six years after his birth and death, not a day goes by when my husband and I don't think about him.

Following Timothy's death, a number of people told me and my husband to try and forget about it and just "get on with our lives".

I am glad we rejected that advice.

I am also glad that we refused to give up Timothy immediately, and insisted on holding him and saying a proper goodbye.

We still talk about our memories of our beautiful son and how his death has affected us; we still commemorate his birthday every year; and we still talk about how lucky and proud we are to be the parents of another two wonderful and accomplished now-adult children.

The reality of losing a child is that you never stop grieving, but talking about it helps you through the grieving process-to experience the grief without necessarily being consumed by it.

The report of a recent Senate inquiry I participated in discussed the need to break the 'culture of silence' around stillbirth.

Simple programs such as a public awareness campaign about the risk factors for stillbirth, reinforced through antenatal classes, and encouraging mothers to monitor foetal movements, can make a huge contribution to reducing the rate of stillbirth and saving babies' lives.

We know this, because we have seen the success achieved by other countries such as the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Norway and the Netherlands.

Treating stillbirth as a public health issue, and raising national awareness of it, is not only important for saving lives but also for helping reassure families affected that they are not alone in their grief.

The reality is that we cannot prevent every stillbirth, and our response to this national tragedy needs to also focus on supporting bereaved families in their recovery.

Two recent events have prompted me to revisit this issue.

One is that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released a report on stillbirth and neonatal deaths.

The report finds that, despite improvement in the stillbirth rate for babies born in the third trimester, the overall rate still remains shockingly high.

Australia loses 2,200 babies to stillbirth each year-around six per day.

Stillbirth remains the leading cause of infant death in Australia-it is 30 times the incidence of SIDS and almost double the national road toll (for people of all ages).

I find it difficult to comprehend the scale of this tragedy as well as the totality of pain and grief that must be felt by families across Australia.

The other recent event is the government's announcement that they have agreed, or agreed in principle, to all the recommendations of the Senate Select Committee on Stillbirth Research and Education's inquiry report.

The Labor initiated and chaired committee was the first national investigation and report on the impact of stillbirth on Australian families and the Australian economy.

I was proud to work with colleagues from across the Parliament-Government, Opposition and Greens-on delivering a report that provides a useful template for government action on stillbirth.

I welcome the government's announcement, as well as their commitment of an extra $52.4 million in funding for perinatal services.

It is typical in politics for oppositions to criticise governments, and vice versa, but I give credit where credit is due-Health Minister Greg Hunt has demonstrated that, like Labor, he and the Morrison Government are serious about tackling this important public health issue.

Labor remains committed to working with the government to prevent these tragic deaths in the future and we offer our support in developing a National Stillbirth Action Plan.

I am hopeful and confident that the government will accept our support, as this issue is far too important not to be addressed in a bipartisan way.