Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Over 120,000 Australians currently live with type 1 diabetes, a condition which requires careful lifelong management, cannot be prevented, has no known cure and can be fatal. Type 1diabetes is an autoimmune condition causing the pancreas to create very little or no insulin at all. Formerly known as juvenile diabetes, the majority of people with the condition are diagnosed before they reach the age of 19. With such a high proportion of those impacted at such a young age, there is a clear and significant burden on these individuals and their families with children affected by type 1 diabetes. In response, these families undertake incredible efforts to support their loved ones.

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, or JDRF Australia, is one organisation that provides families with the necessary tools to support and care for people living with type 1 diabetes—and I am wearing my very best JDRF blue jacket here today. Formed by a small group of families in 1982, JDRF Australia is a not-for-profit organisation with a mission to accelerate life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat type 1 diabetes and its complications through a variety of fundraising efforts. They collaborate with academic institutions, policymakers and corporate and industry partners to develop and deliver a pipeline of innovative therapies for people living with type 1 diabetes. To date, JDRF Australia has raised $152 million, which has been invested in type 1 diabetes research across the country. This is an incredible effort.

I recently met with local Boothby residents Andrew Supple and his son Hayden, along with Kylie Greenfield and her son Ethan to catch up on the valuable work that JDRF Australia does. Ethan and Hayden both have type 1 diabetes and, since their respective diagnoses, the two families have become fierce advocates for all those living with the condition. Both families are regular visitors to my office, letting me know what life is like for members of our community living with type 1 diabetes and what policy changes they would like to see in this area.

Becoming ambassadors for JDRF Australia, the Supples and the Greenfields have been assisting in fundraising drives and advocating for new and emerging treatments for Australians with type 1 diabetes. The JDRF One Walk Step Challenge forms just one part of their many fundraising efforts. This year, the challenge began on 1 October and it runs for the entire month. Participants are challenged to walk 120,000 steps, raising awareness for each of the 120,000 Australians diagnosed with the condition and raising funds for research into type 1 diabetes prevention, improved treatments and working towards a cure. Kylie Greenfield is one of the many participants in this challenge, walking for her son Ethan, and, as at this morning, Kylie had already reached 144,000 steps. So she is absolutely overachieving. Rose Supple is walking for her son Hayden Supple. Rose is fast approaching her target steps and has already smashed her fundraising target of $500. JDRF Australia also plays an important role by providing a range of support services to parents and families who may have a child newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

The federal government has long recognised the importance of type 1 diabetes research and the need to support sufferers and their families. In 2016, we initially committed $54 million to subsidise continuous glucose monitoring and $35 million to diabetes research. Our investment in CGM now totals more than $300 million, and in 2019 we committed a further $56 million of funding towards research. Of this, our government has allocated $31 million worth of funding to JDRF to support its type 1 diabetes clinical research network. In 2018-19, the government also provided $690,000 for JDRF to administer the Insulin Pump Program. This program provides fully subsidised insulin pumps and subsidised insulin pump consumables for financially disadvantaged families who have children aged 18 years and under with type 1 diabetes. In the 2018-19 budget, additional funding of $6.2 million was provided so that 280 children with type 1 diabetes can access fully subsidised insulin pumps each year.

The Supples and Greenfields have raised with me the potential for other new, improved technologies. We know that there is always more to do. I will keep working with them to do whatever we can to support all families with type 1 diabetes in our communities.

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