John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Boothby for bringing forward this important debate. I spend a lot of time here talking about preventable disease and about how getting out and keeping active helps people be healthier and connected, leading to longer, happier lives. Type 2 diabetes is exactly one of those conditions which is eminently preventable by a healthy lifestyle. But type 1, which we are talking about today, is not. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that destroys the body's ability to process sugar by attacking the beta cells in the pancreas that produce the hormone insulin. While we don't know why people get type 1 diabetes, once it is diagnosed in young people it is with them for life. There is no cure. But there are treatments. Some are tried and true; some are new and cutting edge. The best known of all is coming up for a significant birthday. Next year will be 100 years since insulin was discovered as a treatment for diabetes. It was first developed by Frederick Banting and Charles Best, who took insulin from a dog's pancreas and treated a diabetic dog with it, keeping the dog alive until their limited supply of insulin ran out. From there, a purer form of insulin was developed from the pancreas of a cow. In 1922, a 14-year-old Canadian boy named Leonard Thompson became the first person to receive an injection of insulin, which rapidly saved him from a certain and imminent death. This led to the 1923 Nobel Prize for developers and, soon after, one of our local Bennelong companies, Eli Lilly, started making insulin. Later, in the early eighties, they also developed a biosynthetic human insulin.

Bennelong is Australia's capital of innovation. Local Bennelong firms, like Sanofi, have continued in this tradition, with continuing investment and innovation in medicines to help overcome type 1 diabetes. Their efforts are giving hope to thousands around Australia. They have been joined in this effort by the Australian government, which continues to fund initiatives to make life better for those with diabetes. Continuous glucose monitoring, or CGM, is one such area. The government has invested more than $300 million to ensure over 58,000 people have free access to continuous monitoring. CGM replaces the arduous finger pricking and provides reports on their condition, even when sleeping. I'm pleased to say, from 1 March, the FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitoring system has been added to the range of products subsidised by the CGM initiative. I am even more pleased to say that this is made by Abbott, another company based in Bennelong. Further benefits are added with an insulin pump which automatically provides insulin to the body as needed. This is subsidised to the tune of some $6.2 million, and locally based Medtronic are one of the companies that makes them. I have mentioned a lot of local companies. They are helping to make life better for those with type 1 diabetes, but more important than local business are the local residents they do this for.

Maddie Minard, an 11-year-old who is in year 5 at St Gerard's primary school, has lived with type 1 diabetes, a chronic illness, through no fault of her own for six years. Maddie uses an insulin pump and the government funded CGM program and other technologies have changed the way Maddie manages her diabetes. Kids like Maddie need to be constantly monitored. No two days are the same, and her type 1 diabetes can have devastating complications if not managed correctly. Ultimately, Maddie's mum, Catherine, looks forward to the day that her daughter used to have type 1 diabetes. Maddie and her mum have become dedicated JDRF advocates and fundraisers, and this year they are participating in the JDRF One Walk Virtual Step Challenge. I started this speech noting that people with type 1 diabetes can't prevent it through exercise, but through this challenge we can all exercise to support JDRF's wonderful mission: treat, prevent and ultimately cure type 1 diabetes. Maddie and her mum have completed 80,000 steps so far, raising $784 and hope to reach their personal goal of $1,000. It's inspiring to see businesses, individuals and the community coming together to help people like Maddie. I wish Maddie all the best with her campaign, and I look forward to meeting with her once she has completed her step challenge. Thank you, everyone, for pulling together for this important issue.

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