Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Grey for his motion. I would also like to thank the member for Moreton and the member from Higgins for their contributions, and also the other speakers on this motion. Like the member for Higgins, I have had a long career caring for children with type 1 diabetes and, unfortunately in this day and age, also children with type 2 diabetes. We don't know why this is occurring, but the incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing, and the incidence of type 2 diabetes is increasing exponentially, particularly in children and adolescents. The reasons for this are not really 100 per cent clear. We know that lifestyle has a big part to play, but there are other contributing factors. When I started in paediatric practice 40 years ago it was very rare to see a child with type 2 diabetes, but now, unfortunately, it is very, very common. I think there are many contributing factors. We've spoken about lifestyle, but also some of the foods that we have available now, some of the processed foods, contain compounds that are artificial that were never available years ago. Very interestingly, I recently had the opportunity to view some family moving pictures that were taken in the 1950s and 1960s by my father. It was very obvious that there was no obesity then. Everyone was thin. We had access to a very good diet. We certainly could afford as much food as we wanted, but, in those pictures, everyone was thin. If you took the same picture of my family today, you would be shocked by the difference. The reasons for that are not completely clear. There are, as I said, contributing factors with processed food, our lack of exercise et cetera, but there are other things at play as well.

In adults, one of my particular concerns has been the very common prescription of antidepressants, all of which can cause increased appetite and obesity, and I think this is a major concern that has not been explored. We certainly need to be looking further at why we are seeing the increased incidence of type 2 diabetes but also as to why we are seeing the increasing incidence of type 1 diabetes. It was quite rare when I started in practice in Campbelltown in 1983 to see a young child with diabetes, but, increasingly, it is common to see a child presenting, as the member for Higgins has explained, in extremists with type 1 diabetic ketoacidosis, which can be a life-threatening condition. It's now increasingly common. We don't know why. It's very important that we do really have a national diabetes program for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes that looks at the causes—not just the treatments. And it's not just lifestyle; there are other factors at play that we do not understand, and it's vitally important for the Australian population that we do find out why, because, once we do that, we can look at how we can prevent it. It is a real national tragedy. Both type 1 and type 2 diabetes can lead to side effects, and we're seeing increasingly young children with obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

There are 1.3 million Australians, as has already been mentioned, who are registered with the National Diabetes Services Scheme, and more people are registering every day. The national diabetes service has been a great addition to our fight against diabetes. And the government has acted, but they've missed the mark. Their commitment falls well short of supporting all Australians with type 1 diabetes and many Australians with type 2 diabetes requiring significant doses of insulin. We should get the government to say they're going to have a comprehensive program that covers every person in Australia with type 1 diabetes. This will be not only lifesaving; it will be money-saving for our health system, because type 1 diabetes, particularly the complications of type 1 diabetes, put an incredible strain on our health service.

I would like to congratulate Dr James Muecke AM for his Order of Australia and the work that he does to prevent eye complications from diabetes, but this is very expensive. It's far better to prevent rather than treat. I would like to say that diabetes is an incredibly serious condition. It's a blight on Australian society. We need to do much, much more.

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