Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy Affordability) Share this | Hansard source

There'll be 106 young people with type 1 diabetes in parliament tomorrow for JDRF Kids in the House—and here today. That's 106 young people and their families who have a harrowing story of being everyday kids one day and on a roller-coaster that never ends the next. That is the story of type 1 diabetes. Every family that will be here tomorrow wishes medical research had progressed enough so that their child did not end up in hospital on diagnosis and that it could be prevented.

On diagnosis, my son Byron was rushed to hospital with blood like syrup, as we were told, and blood sugars above 40. He had been training and studying hard, which made us think it was just fatigue. Hindsight tells us differently. There were so many factors that led us there, and every family has many factors going on in their lives that lead to their own dramatic story. There are 1,161 dramatic stories in Lindsay.

More than that, we wish for a cure. The great Swans athlete Patty McCartin said to me right here in parliament last week that type 1 is the most 'unknown known' disease in the world. So many people still don't know what type 1 is, and many of the young people who are coming into this House have probably met someone who has asked them, 'Do you have too much sugar?' Or perhaps they have said to them, 'You don't look like someone who has diabetes.' They probably also didn't want everyone to know they had type 1 at first, because of the stigma. Then, somewhere along the way, that feeling of wanting to hide type 1 changed, and they become type 1 advocates, and now they want the whole country to know—and we're listening.

We listened during the House of Representatives Health Committee inquiry into diabetes—Dr Freelander is here in the chamber—where we made a number of recommendations related to type 1. We recommended that subsidised access to continuous glucose monitors be further expanded and, in the first instance, all access limitations, including age, in relation to patients with type 1 diabetes be removed. We recommended that the government explore expanding subsidised access to insulin pumps for all Australians with type 1 diabetes, as well as increased funding for type 1 diabetes research and clinical trials, and an increase in diabetes educators; there was only one looking after adults in Nepean Hospital when Byron was diagnosed. And we made a recommendation around better mental health support for people with type 1 and also recommended that the government undertake a review of the price and choice of insulin pumps in Australia.

I'm so proud that we ensured that type 1 was heavily on the agenda and made those recommendations. Lindsay's very own JDRF advocate, Emily Klimek, who's here today, was the very first witness who gave evidence at the inquiry. She said:

I am speaking on behalf of the 130,000 with type 1 and also the eight more that will be diagnosed tomorrow. I think T1D is very misunderstood, and it absolutely sucks having it.

Emily is one of the advocates here in parliament this week, and I couldn't be prouder as her local MP. It is Emily's advocacy—along with that of her mum, Julie—for choice in pumps that was really important as we went through the diabetes inquiry. Kids with type 1 shouldn't be forced onto only one type of device. Everyone's body is different, everyone's needs is different, and choice is paramount for the successful management of type 1 and keeping blood sugars under control. Access to technology—the right technology for the individual—is the difference between a long and healthy life and one that might be filled with complications. It can be the difference between life and death because, as we know with type 1, the high blood sugars can give you long-term complications and the lows can kill you.

But this week, we are not going to be down. This week is about reminding all the Kids in the House that they can do anything. I'm super proud that my son, Byron, who was diagnosed two years ago, has since represented Australian judo. He has changed the International Judo Federation rules—when the rules said you couldn't wear a device on the mat—so that kids all across the world with type 1 can now step onto a judo mat with a CGM or a pump. Tomorrow, he will also be in the House, giving presentations to families and reminding the kids that they can do and be anything they want. They can quite literally climb Mount Everest. I wish you all the luck over the next couple of days.

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