Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge and recognise the member for Goldstein for her advocacy and for putting eating disorders forward as a matter of public importance today. I want to thank, individually, the many members of parliament who have raised this important issue with Minister Butler and me. I notice the former minister is in the chamber now, and I want to acknowledge his efforts and contribution to progressing this cause, as well as those of the member for Wentworth, the member for Fisher, the member for Macarthur and the member for Higgins and others.

Our government is taking a collaborative approach to mental health and suicide prevention. We intend to work closely with all members and senators who are committed to seeing the change that we all want to realise. This issue is beyond one term of parliament, beyond one level of government, beyond one individual and beyond one policy. Today, I reaffirm my commitment to work with genuine collaboration in a multipartisan effort to be able to improve the lives of those living with eating disorders and those who love them. I did have a chance to meet with the member for Fisher, where he shared his own personal experience. Before I go on, I want to acknowledge all of those in the chamber and all of those who are listening who have a lived or living experience of eating disorders.

Since becoming the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention, I have listened widely to better understand the lived and living experience of people with eating disorders and of those who love them; the current treatment access, options and availability; the research; and the best evidence. I've met with the National Eating Disorders Collaboration, the InsideOut Institute, Dietitians Australia and the Butterfly Foundation, and I've had the chance to present to the Australia & New Zealand Academy for Eating Disorders.

As many of us in this chamber know, eating disorders are serious, complex and often misunderstood. Our government is determined to improve outcomes for people living with eating disorders and those who love and support them. We're working to provide early, effective, evidence based treatment options, helping to reduce stigma and supporting highly trained healthcare professionals to reduce the number of people affected by eating disorders. We know that, together, we all must do more.

Historically, eating disorders have received the lowest research dollar spend of any mental health condition. Sadly, people with lived experience continue to say that access to care and support is patchy, inconsistent, difficult to navigate, often not evidence based and, at worst, harmful. Eating disorders are biological, psychological and sociocultural, and risk factors include low self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and weight loss behaviours. While this makes recovery difficult, full recovery is possible with timely and appropriate care.

Recently, I joined the state minister, Bronnie Taylor, at the launch of the InsideOut Institute at the Charles Perkins Centre in Sydney. There we met with someone with lived experience, who spoke about their recovery, what their life is like now and what they expected their life to be. This should be the experience rather than the exception for everyone with eating disorders.

It is important that we have a full understanding of what eating disorders are and who they impact. While it's true that the highest period of risk for eating disorders is for 12- to 25-year-olds and that the group most at risk is young women, eating disorders can affect anyone, no matter their size, shape, age, ability, gender identity, sexuality, cultural or ethnic background, economic status or profession.

As I said, eating disorders are some of the most misunderstood mental health conditions. Eating disorders present both in men and in women from all walks of life and from all parts of Australia, in the young and the old. Despite assumptions to the contrary, males make up approximately 25 per cent of people with anorexia nervosa or bulimia and 40 per cent of people with binge eating disorders.

We also know that certain activities such as sports, including rowing and gymnastics, and occupations such as the performing arts leave people at greater risk of developing an eating disorder. Yesterday I spoke to a medical research scientist from Victoria whose daughter is a dancer. She was very concerned about the environment that she is training and working in and her future workplace.

Too often, eating disorders are not treated with the seriousness that they require. They're often incorrectly mischaracterised as a phase, a behaviour or a lifestyle choice. Eating disorders are more prevalent amongst people who have other forms of physical or mental illness or who are in a period of distress or increased stress. Many people experiencing eating disorders also have experienced or lived with depression or anxiety, with rates for anorexia 32 times higher than the general population. Eating disorders have one of the highest mortality rates of any mental health condition, with almost 450 people with anorexia nervosa and 200 people with bulimia nervosa estimated to die each year in Australia. They are most lethal of any mental health conditions.

Additionally, untreated eating disorders leave people at greater risk of other health issues, including suicidal ideation and completed suicide. I met with a mother last week who was recently bereaved by suicide and who, as with many of the parents that you have spoken to, is increasingly distressed about the lack of access to care and support and the lack of timely intervention. This person had increasing concerns about what that meant for them and their daughter, for her friends and for people in communities across Australia.

We know that around a million Australians have an eating disorder and around 70 per cent of people with an eating disorder will not receive treatment. Even fewer receive evidence based treatment or support. In Australia today there are estimated to be 25,000 people living with anorexia nervosa, 100,000 people living with bulimia nervosa, 500,000 people living with binge eating disorder and 350,000 living with other forms of eating disorders. Eating disorders have been pointed out as being on the rise. The Butterfly Foundation, well known to many people in the chamber, are a national charity for all Australians impacted by eating disorders and body image issues and for their families and friends. They reported a 68 per cent increase in calls to the national helpline in 2020-21 compared to 2018-19. The Royal Children's Hospital in Melbourne had a 63 per cent increase in presentations to the eating disorders service in 2020 compared to 2017 and 2019.

As a young person in my first year at the University of Sydney, a very good friend of mine—an athlete, an academic, an incredibly capable young woman—was diagnosed with an eating disorder. I visited her in the clinic at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. Her family were far away, on the border near Queensland. I was also able, on her first gate leave, to take her into Newtown for a meal. The impact that her eating disorder has had across her life is of the same severity that we see has impacted so many individuals and families. I reaffirm my commitment to the member for Fisher, and to all those members who care and want to do something about it, that we will work together with you. This is a genuine collaboration. This is something that, as individuals, as a parliament and as a society we must do better on. As I mentioned at the beginning, this is beyond a level of government and a term of parliament; this is something we all must work together on to be able to advance and make progress. This is something that I know that we are all committed to do. What does make me hopeful and the reason I am optimistic is the discussion we are having in the House today, and the number of individual members that have raised this with me, and with Minister Butler, who care, who know that it matters and who are determined to do something about it.

I've met with the member for Fisher and others about this, and I had the pleasure of opening the InsideOut Institute, which had $13 million of Commonwealth funding. This is at the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney, and it will help us understand the evidence base and grow the understanding so that evidence-based interventions are translated into practice. It's something I know we are all determined to see. At another time the director of the institute, Associate Professor Sarah Maguire, said it 'aims to transform how we support, treat, and even cure people with eating disorders'. The government has committed $20 million for community based eating-disorder support, and this project has been facilitated through the National Eating Disorders Collaboration. I met with Dr Beth Shelton, the National Director of NEDC, who emphasised how crucial this funding is to assist people who are developing eating disorders in the first six to 12 months—before they end up in the hospital system, which is what we all want to avoid.

I thank the member for Goldstein for raising this Matter of Public Importance today. I echo the sentiment of the Minister for health—thank you for your advocacy. To all those members determined to see the change, we will work with you to make this happen. (Time expired)

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