Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

Can I thank the member for Leichhardt for his motion and recognise his lifelong commitment to the eradication of TB and the search for a workable vaccine. On Saturday, the world recognised TB Day—it was the UN-recognised World Tuberculosis Day. TB is often thought of as a 19th century disease, particularly in modern-day Australia—something we got rid of decades ago that doesn't afflict many Australians anymore and is something that still plagues the developing world. But, while Australia has largely won the battle against TB, the broader battle throughout the world continues.

TB is the world's leading cause of death of all infectious diseases. In one year alone, TB will kill approximately 1.7 million people throughout the world. That's almost the equivalent of the population of Perth dying each year from what is a preventable and curable disease. It's sad to think that more than 75 million people will needlessly die from tuberculosis over the course of the next 35 years, and to go with that human cost there's a financial burden as well. It's estimated that $15 trillion will be spent globally on TB care in the next 35 years, unless we find a workable vaccine and coordinate with an international response.

There are also an estimated four million cases of those who are sick with TB but go either undiagnosed or unreported through the health system. TB's also, as we've heard, the leading killer of people living with HIV, being responsible for one in three HIV-related deaths, and it's among the top three causes of death for women of reproductive age.

The Asia-Pacific region, unfortunately, is the epicentre of the public health crisis when it comes to TB. More than 60 per cent of the world's TB cases are located in our region. Drug-resistant TB remains a major issue for several of our neighbours, particularly Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. PNG alone accounts for 60 per cent of our region's drug-resistant TB cases. There are more than 30,000 cases, including 2,000 drug-resistant cases, in PNG today. When I was the Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs I travelled extensively throughout Papua New Guinea, talking to people working in this area and seeing firsthand the great work that Australian aid dollars are doing in trying to prevent TB and treat PNG citizens who are afflicted with tuberculosis. But unfortunately this scourge continues in that developing neighbourhood today, and it's a great shame that we haven't been able to make more significant progress in some of the countries in our neighbourhood, particularly in PNG and Indonesia, with respect to TB.

Australia's bilateral investment in TB has already helped many patients in our region and in our community. However, Australia's funding for PNG still needs to increase in order to address the drug-resistant TB epidemic. The global response to TB has been hampered by the use of old drugs and diagnostics. This makes it challenging to accurately diagnose and treat TB. Current estimates point to a US$1.2 billion gap in financing for TB research and development. New tools and targeted funding will help make a huge impact on the goal to end TB. When you look at the advances that have been made in medical science and research over the course of the last few decades, it is remarkable, given the number of people who are infected with TB each year, the number of people that die from TB each year and the fact that it is preventable, that we haven't been able to find a workable vaccine that can do more to inoculate larger proportions of the world's population against this insidious disease.

A lot of work is going into research and development for a workable vaccine at the moment, but unfortunately we haven't been able to come up with something that is practical and workable. The member for Leichhardt's also pointed out that when someone contracts TB the treatment regime and regimen in terms of the number of tablets that people have historically had to take is quite remarkable and often outrageous, and it impinges on that person's quality of life for many years. One of the major drivers of TB today is that treatments are so tough. To cure standard TB, patients have to take 4,000 pills over the course of six months, and people with drug-resistant TB suffer 18 months of treatment—a total of 14,000 pills in a six-month period and in some cases daily injections. As the member for Leichhardt's mentioned, advances are being made, and that is bringing down the number of pills that people have to take, But for many in the developing world the cost of those medicines is prohibitive, and they're still on these very arduous and burdensome treatment regimens. And when you're talking about developing nations, where access to potable water, to sewage, to electricity and to transport can be a challenge for many, taking 4,000 pills over the course of six months is in itself a challenge. And people forget. They don't take the treatments and they relapse, or they think they've cured themselves of the illness and they pass it on to others. In addition, the emergence of drug-resistant strains of TB means even longer treatment times, much higher costs to treat and even more troubling side effects.

It's clear that we need new drugs, diagnostics and vaccines, and Australia has made significant investments in research and development to help turn the tide to fight TB. Australia can be proud of our global health research and development investment. It benefits both our region and its growing prosperity and Australia's own health security. Our investment in the product development partnership TB Alliance has also led to shorter treatment duration for drug-resistant TB. But we still need to seek to do better to target the overall TB investment and leverage if thorough policy is going to result at a national and international level.

For the first time, the United Nations will host a high-level meeting on TB in September in New York. This meeting is the most significant of its kind to be held on TB. It will result in a political declaration on TB endorsed by the heads of state, which will then form the basis of a global TB response. This meeting will also provide Australia with an opportunity to highlight the success of our regional investment and efforts to combat tuberculosis.

This motion, which I'm proud to speak on, calls on the government to do more in terms of investments in research and development, in innovation, for the cure for this disease and for a workable vaccine, but it also calls on the government to participate in this meeting that will occur in New York through the UN later in the year. This will be a very, very important meeting and an opportunity for Australia and the world to show leadership on this issue that afflicts so many in our region. As we pointed out earlier, TB is preventable, and it is curable with the right investment, the right diagnostics and the right vaccines and drugs becoming available.

We also need to work even harder to support the development of new tools and strategies to combat and ultimately end the scourge of tuberculosis and make sure that it does become—as we all imagine it is and perceive that it is—a 19th century illness. We need to make sure that we work together as a global community to properly fund the research and development of a workable vaccine, a cure, and to finally eradicate tuberculosis.

I also wish to thank those very, very dedicated people who've worked in this industry around infectious disease and its spread for many, many years—in particular, the Global TB Caucus, which I, the member for Leichhardt, and others in this parliament are very proud to be part of; RESULTS Australia and the work that they do; and of course the Stop TB Partnership, which does wonderful work in this area. I commend this motion to the parliament.

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