Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm a cranky, old paediatrician, and I have seen many kids with diabetes in my time, but I just want to tell you all—and Byron, as well—just how important your advocacy is. I've seen dramatic changes in diabetes management in the half a century that I have been working as a doctor and as a paediatrician, in particular. My very good friend, Helen Woodhead, who is a paediatric endocrinologist and a diabetic herself, has really changed the face of paediatric diabetes in Australia. The advocacy that you are giving us is remarkable. Everyone knows the blue T-shirts; everyone knows the JDRF, and you're changing the narrative.

We know from our diabetes inquiry that the best practice these days is a closed-loop, artificial pancreas type system with better control, fewer side effects and fewer complications. We are aiming to get this for everyone who is eligible, but it takes time, effort, money and commitment from government—and our government is committed to this. But we need to make sure that that treatment is available not just in the inner cities but all around Australia, in rural and regional areas and remote areas as well. We need better Indigenous trained health workers who can manage type 1 diabetes in their communities.

What you are doing is spreading your message all around the country, and it is just so important. We've seen how important not just education but resources are. We need diabetes educators in all areas, not just in the major teaching hospitals. We need people to be able to access diabetes educators and podiatrists and ophthalmologists and a whole range of people who can help manage their diabetes.

There are some really exciting things happening in type 1 diabetes with prevention and treatment before diagnosis. We know that diagnosis can sometimes be difficult—some people struggle to get a diagnosis. Our GPs, our health professionals, need to be better trained in diabetes, and our government is committed to this, to making sure that people can get early diagnosis—in fact, diagnosis or potential diagnosis before presentation with symptoms. This is very important. We know there are some really exciting things happening with the genetics of diabetes, and we hope one day there will be a world where people with diabetes will not have to inject themselves, where they will have lives without the need for devices et cetera.

I think that will come. I've seen such dramatic changes in my time as a paediatrician, from the use of multiple injections a day of beef and pork insulin to human insulin and the closed-loop system. It is making a dramatic difference. We now know that people with diabetes can do the things that everyone else can do. We've seen first-grade footballers, cricketers and people like Byron competing at the highest level with type 1 diabetes. The use of a closed-loop system has been dramatic. As I've said, there are other rapid advances happening in the immunology and genetics of diabetes, and our government is committed to making sure that these advances are available to all Australians.

I also have particular interest in countries around us—our near neighbours in the South Pacific. We need to make sure they have the resources to manage diabetes as well. Last year, on our trip to New Guinea, we saw there were difficulties in getting access to treatment for type 1 diabetes—in the highlands of New Guinea, in particular—and we must make sure that our Pacific neighbours have the potential to treat type 1 diabetes like we have been doing.

The Australian government is also looking at how we can deliver long-term management for people in rural areas so that they don't have to travel to different level 3 centres for management of their diabetes. We are looking at improved research into diabetes and longer research programs, lasting years rather than one or two years. This is very important if we are going to look to the future with forward-facing management for type 1 diabetes. JDRF has been very important in getting that message around the parliament and to people who can influence government policy.

I'm very proud of our diabetes report that we completed last year with the help of the member for Lindsay, the member for Kooyong and many other of our parliamentarians. We hope that this will help provide solutions for the future. Thank you for everything that you do. You are making a huge difference in our parliament for people with type 1 diabetes and for those in the future. I thank you so much for your efforts and I'm really looking forward to hearing your stories tomorrow about type 1 diabetes and your progress. Thank you.

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