Zoe Daniel (Goldstein, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I have had mothers from Goldstein on the phone and in my office asking me to do something before their children die. Today I rise in this House to tell the story of these parents and their children. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic the Monash Medical Centre, for example, has seen demand for eating disorder treatment increase by 85 per cent, with no additional full-time staff to cater for this increase. Jacinta Coleman, the head of adolescent medicine at Monash, said, 'I have never, in my life, seen anything like it.'

In Goldstein, when Jo's 15-year-old daughter was diagnosed with anorexia in 2021 her family was told that this would be the most horrific journey they would go on. Jo told me, 'It's soul-destroying to watch your child be possessed by this illness, their body and mind fade away in front of you.'

It's hard to hold onto hope when the system is so poorly equipped to treat this epidemic. Specialists ED wards urgently stabilise and renourish sufferers. They are not geared to equip patients or families with support on how to treat and support the patient when discharged, which leads to a revolving door of admissions, often lasting years. The stress on families is relentless.

Eleven-year-old Esther suddenly developed anorexia this year. She has had 17 hospital admissions at Monash Children's Hospital over the past nine months—17. The unit is only for acute medical stabilisation, so Esther arrives close to death each time, otherwise she is turned away. She is then force-fed and tube-fed if she can't consume a meal before a timer rings. Her family has lost count of how many times she has been held down and 'tubed'. Can you imagine the cumulative impact of this? Esther is now so scared of food that she is entirely unable to eat at home.

Sixteen-year-old Izzy has had anorexia for four years. She says her illness has taken away almost all of the good things in her life—her sport, her friends and her school. When she goes back to hospital it's like a walk of shame. 'We're treated like criminals,' she told me. These are stories of heartbreak, and families are at breaking point.

Around one million, or four per cent of Australians, have an eating disorder, but eating disorders, when combined with disordered eating, are estimated to affect 16.3 per cent of the population. Those most at risk are adolescents 12 to 17 years of age, but they're getting younger. In south-east Melbourne the Alfred Child and Youth Mental Health Service, the Australian Research Council and Monash hospital, as well as private clinics, estimate prevalence at being almost one in nine adolescents. Some estimate that in my bayside electorate it could be as high as one in seven and heading towards one in five. I hear stories of girls not eating their school lunch and adolescents sneering at their peers for eating bread. They're competing on social platforms like TikTok on who can consume the lowest number of calories within a day or a week.

When I held an eating disorder round table in my electorate with families and experts to try to work out the best way forward, the group was extremely critical of the current landscape. We were told that GPs are inadequately trained to treat the illness or whom to refer the patient to. Precious time was wasted waiting for appointments with specialists, with no transparency around availability of services or expertise. The round table agreed that a circuit breaker is needed to stop the repeat hospital admissions and stress. The favoured approach is hub and spoke, a one-stop shop where all clinicians are located, including recovery coaches, with a three-week residential program where the mental and physical aspects of the disorder are treated concurrently. Step-down day patient care would follow, along with at-home eating disorder support to assist with refeeding. Specialists told us this variation to the standard model of care would save lives.

I've spoken to the Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, about the urgent need for a new model of care, and I've met with the federal minister, Mark Butler. Both agree that the current landscape is failing Australian families, but they haven't committed to a new approach. The previous federal government allocated funding to the states to build eating disorder residential centres, but the status of the centre in Victoria and others is unclear. We can't keep going around in circles. Mothers in Goldstein are pleading with me to do something before their children die of starvation. As Jess said to me recently about her daughter, 'Zoe, I'm not sure she will last until the New Year, let alone longer.' We must act.

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