I want to talk about something that has been on my mind for a while, and that is the state of AED availability in Australia, particularly in schools and community settings.

Every year, around 30,000 Australians experience sudden cardiac arrest outside of hospital. Survival rates drop by roughly 10 per cent for every minute without defibrillation. We know this. The research is not new. And yet the conversation about AED access in schools, workplaces, and community spaces still moves far too slowly in most states and territories.

Tasmania is a good example. There is no current legislation mandating AEDs in Tasmanian schools, unlike South Australia, which required all schools to have at least one AED on site by January 2025, and Western Australia, which mandated AEDs in all public schools by June 2024. Tasmania has a Community Defibrillator Fund and a GoodSAM registration programme, both of which are genuinely useful, but the gap between what is available and what is actually deployed in schools remains significant.

That is part of why I am so excited to be stocking the Primedic HeartSave myPAD. I have spent a long time looking at what is available in Australia and I genuinely believe this is the best compact AED on the market right now. The 8-year warranty is the longest of any unit we have reviewed. At 1.1 kg and 150 x 150 mm, it is small enough to fit in a glove box, a school bag room, or a wall cabinet without dominating the space. The IP66 rating means it handles dust and water properly, not just the IP21 dripping-water standard that some popular units are still shipping with. And the IoT connectivity means schools and organisations can monitor AED readiness remotely, which removes one of the biggest compliance headaches.

We have done a full market comparison below. I will let the numbers speak for themselves.

Stay safe out there. Theo.