A landmark report into stillbirth in Australia has found that, unlike comparable countries around the world, Australia’s stillbirth rate has not changed in more than 20 years, and the rate among Aboriginal mothers is twice as high.

There were emotional scenes in parliament on Tuesday night as Labor senator Malarndirri McCarthy tabled the report in a wooden coolamon, traditionally used in Indigenous families for carrying babies.

Other members of the Senate committee, the Liberal senator Jim Molan and Labor senator Kristina Keneally, both held back tears as they spoke of how stillbirth had affected their families, and Keneally carefully read aloud the names of every baby stillborn to parents who had given public evidence to the inquiry, concluding with her own daughter, Caroline.

“I grew angry doing this work,” Keneally said.

“My anger came from frustration, because there are simple steps to take to prevent stillbirth.

“I didn’t grow angry in a partisan way. The anger I felt was … just grief, that babies had died in this country when we could have saved them.

“It’s a particular sadness, a singular grief.”

The committee received 268 submissions and held six public hearings across the country, including one in Katherine, where it was revealed that up until three months ago, there were six babies left unclaimed in the morgue at Katherine hospital.

Two of the babies had been there since 2013, Katherine hospital staff told the inquiry. Three babies were buried this year, but there are three babies still in the morgue.

All six babies were stillborn at the hospital between 2013 and 2017.

The report found that stillbirth affected more than 2,000 Australian families every year.

As well as recommending further research, improved data collection and better clinical support for families, the committee said “protection and support for employees who have experienced stillbirth is a priority across Australia’s jurisdictions”.

It urged the federal, state and territory governments to review employment laws and policies with a “stillbirth lens” and make necessary changes to ensure that appropriate protection and supports are in place.

In response to the report, the federal health minister, Greg Hunt, announced a national roundtable to address the rate of stillbirth in Australia, and $7.2m for medical research and education programs.

The University of Melbourne will receive $1.2m for research to minimise preventable stillbirth through the use of biomarkers and ultrasound in late pregnancy.

It is estimated that one in 137 women will have a stillbirth, with the cause unknown in more than 40% of cases.