Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Around 120,000 Australians live with type 1 diabetes. For every moment of every day of their lives, these people, from infants to adults, live a much more difficult life than most other people, constantly having to make choices about food as well as having regular health checks, insulin injections, associated health conditions, social exclusion and so on. Diabetes is a life-limiting condition that burdens the people affected and their family members. Their likelihood of developing other serious medical conditions, including eye problems, kidney damage, cardiovascular disease, loss of limbs, damage to their nervous system and so on, is many times higher than for most other Australians. Worst of all, they have a shorter life expectancy than others, by some 12 years.

For these people and their families, their hope lies in medical research—research that has already made a difference to giving them a better quality of life. This research is being critically supported by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's type 1 diabetes clinical research network, with around 250 researchers across Australia in 65 institutes. The ongoing work of the clinical research network is vital to ultimately curing this debilitating and life-threatening disease and, in the interim, improving the quality of life for all of those impacted by diabetes. Research, however, is dependent on funding. The total yearly cost of people living with type 1 diabetes is estimated to be about $570 million. It therefore makes sense for governments to increase the research funding that is currently available.

In my electorate of Makin there are over 700 people with type 1 diabetes. One of those people is young Julian McLeod, who is a national advocate for JDRF. Julian was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes before he was two years old. Julian and his family—dad, Damien, mum, Angela, and siblings, Felicity, Gabriel and Elliot—know what it's like to live every moment of his life with diabetes. They also know that research holds the key to a better life, and they have all enrolled in the ENDIA research program. Two years ago, Julian came to Canberra with his dad to the JDRF's Kids in the House event. I have been so inspired by his courage and positive attitude to life. But we could and should be doing more for Julian and every one of the other 120,000 Australians with type 1 diabetes. The government should consider raising the carers allowance for young people from 16 years of age to at least 18 years of age. At 18, these young people are still very likely to be in their families' care. Ketone strips, which cost around $14 for 10 strips, should be subsidised just as blood glucose test strips are. When your blood sugar level rises above around 15 parts, it's important to have the ketone test. It's just as important as the blood glucose test, and yet those strips aren't made available. In Julian's case, he's also now under a mental health support program—and I suspect most other kids are—which has helped him immensely. There's an ongoing list of other support measures that these young people need that are not subsidised or, if they are, aren't subsidised sufficiently. Again, the needs are there, and governments should be doing much more.

I note that 14 November is World Diabetes Day. It's a day when we focus on diabetes around the world and the people who provide support. The focus of this year's World Diabetes Day is the nurses in our society. In fact, more than half of the medical workforce around the world is comprised of nurses. They are the people who, in most cases, are the direct connection between families and the care that the patients need. They are the ones who most patients, including diabetes patients, often have the greatest interaction with. I say to those nurses: thank you for all you are doing, each and every day, to not only support people who need all kinds of health support but, in particular, support those who are trying to manage diabetes. It's an illness that affects so many people each and every day of their lives, as I said. People can live with diabetes so much better if they know that they have that kind of support there for them when they need it and have people with them who have the expertise, and many of the nurses do, to give them the guidance and care that they need as they live through this terrible illness.

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