Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Longman for his question. He and many members on both sides of the House do take a great interest in what we can do to assist those, particularly children, with type 1 diabetes. It is a good day to ask this question because tomorrow is World Diabetes Day. I know that tonight many people will be going to the Diabetes Australia gala dinner to mark this day, particularly the parliamentary support group, the member for Pearce, the member for Moore, the member for Isaacs and the member for Lyons—the executive members amongst this House. I know many people will be attending and I trust that it will be a great celebration.

The member for Longman has a particular reason for asking this question. Cabinet ministers would recall that in March we held a community cabinet meeting in the member for Longman’s seat in Narangba. A very brave young boy insisted on keeping his hand up for, I think, almost all of the community cabinet to have a chance to ask the Prime Minister a question about what action we could take in helping children with type 1 diabetes. He asked the Prime Minister if the government would consider subsidising insulin pumps for children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We assured the family at the time that we were considering the matter of subsiding insulin pumps for children diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

I am very pleased, as members of this House would know, that we were able to fund a subsidisation program in our first budget. This commitment commenced on 1 November and means that eligible families will receive a subsidy of between $500 and $2½ thousand to assist with the cost of insulin pumps. Two weeks ago I was pleased to be joined by the CEO of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Mike Wilson, and the President of Diabetes Australia, Dr Gary Deed, to announce that the program was now open for applications. The program will administered by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

On that morning we also heard from a young youth ambassador, Hannah Frank, of the changes to her life since she has been able to use an insulin pump. I would like to read to the House part of the speech that Hannah gave. I remind you that these are the words of a nine-year-old girl. She said:

I know lots of things I hope my friends never need to know. I know how to prick my finger and test my blood sugar levels. I know to eat lollies if my blood sugar level is too low. If I don’t I will probably go unconscious and be rushed to hospital. I know it makes me sad when the kids at school wish that they had diabetes so they could eat lollies too. I would be happy to never eat a lolly again if I could just not have type I diabetes. My pump has made a difference to our whole family. Our life doesn’t have to be planned around injections and I have more freedom like my friends. I can also sleep at my best friend Meg’s house, which is the best part of having a pump.

So this is a very real program that will make a very real difference to many hundreds of families across the country. We are pleased that it is being supported by all members of this House. I would like to thank, as I did at the beginning, those opposite who have been so supportive of this measure. The insulin pump does assist in keeping glucose at a more stable level and assists in the reduction of complications later in life. Research indicates that the insulin pump therapy improves the quality of life of people living with type 1 diabetes while, of course, we continue on our search to find a cure. I remind the House that, whilst we need to always redouble our efforts in trying to reduce the incidence of type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes as yet is not preventable and we in this House need to do all we can to assist those with type 1 diabetes, and this measure is an important step.

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