Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for Grey's motion about diabetes. This is such an important area. It affects so many millions of Australians. I want to start my remarks by commenting on the fact that the Australian of the Year this year is Dr James Muecke AM. James has decided to make prevention of diabetes one of his main topics because it is such an important area with regard to his background. He is an ophthalmologist by training, and he cares deeply about saving vision. We know that diabetes is the one of the leading causes of blindness, so it is wonderful to hear that the Australian of the Year this year, Dr James Muecke, is championing the issue of how we can prevent diabetes and save people's sight. I worked with James many years ago. I worked with him in Kenya 30 years ago, in Tumutumu. It is great to see him being elevated to this position of Australian of the Year. He is a very dedicated and passionate medical researcher and clinician, and he has really brought a great deal of passion to this area. Unfortunately for James, in the period of the pandemic it has been more difficult for him to amplify his message, so I'm delighted to stand here with the other members in this chamber to amplify what is a very, very important issue. That the issue of diabetes.

The public can sometimes conflate the issues of diabetes into one. But effectively diabetes is three conditions in one. The first is type 1 diabetes; the second is type 2 diabetes; and the third is gestational diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is in my field of paediatrics. It occurs in young children. We don't know why type 1 diabetes occurs. Basically, something attacks the pancreas and the pancreas can no longer produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes is a very frightening condition. It has a sudden onset, where children will start to drink masses of water and urinate very, very frequently. We're talking about three or four litres of water in a day, and going to the loo in enormous amounts. They can become quite distressed and lose their sense about themselves. It becomes an emergency. They can become so sick that they are rushed to hospital.

So type 1 diabetes can be a terrible emergency, resulting in ketosis and quite significant risk to the child. In fact, one of my staff members has a child with type 1 diabetes, and we see every day in our office how she has to live with juggling being a professional woman and having a family at home including a child with type 1 diabetes. To normalise his life he has to take insulin every day. There are periods where he becomes sick and his insulin requirements change, and that has a great impact on her ability to juggle the work-life balance. Sue Leidler is a wonderful supporter of mine, and I would like to name and honour her because she is someone living the life of having a child with diabetes. It is a difficult life for her, but she does it lovingly and supportingly for her son so that he can have a life that is not the life of a child who has diabetes, but a child who has a wonderful, fulfilled life.

Type 2 diabetes is a completely different kettle of fish. It is later in onset, where over a long period of time people become resistant to insulin because they develop antibodies. We know that there are lifestyle factors that contribute to the rise of type 2 diabetes. It is rising in prevalence because of problems such as obesity, high-sugar diets and poor exercise. Managing diabetes type 2 is something that we can all do to change our lives. Lower your sugar intake and make sure that you try to keep healthy and fit. Keeping your weight down is a great way to manage type 2 diabetes, and if you develop type 2 diabetes losing weight is one of the first steps to managing that.

At the political level it has been incredibly important to have the Australian National Diabetes Strategy, which was released in 2015 and is due for an update. I would encourage our government to make sure we include in this refresh the prevention strategy. I know that is in the works. Because of course prevention is better than cure. As a paediatrician I know that, but the taxpayer also knows that. If we prevent diabetes, we don't have to deal with the economic and health burden that diabetes creates in our community. It is very, very important that instead of having the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff, where patients fall down and the medical system is at the bottom of the cliff, we put it at the top of the cliff and prevent people going off in the cliff in the first instance. So I really commend the fact that the government is refreshing its diabetes strategy and that that is going to help our Indigenous population as well.

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