Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

I ask leave of the chamber to speak again on this.

Leave granted.

We have to take action to prevent increasing intergenerational morbidity associated with diabetes. It is not overstating the case to say that the potential impact of this issue in the decades to come on population health but also on our economy is terrifying. We do not plan well enough for long-term, large-scale healthcare provision in this country. The lack of availability of bariatric surgery outside the private hospital system is a case in point.

It was a privilege to be a member of the parliamentary committee which investigated diabetes in Australia, but our efforts will be wasted if the government does not act on the committee's findings. Far too many government committee reports gather dust on shelves. It's not just a waste of the committee's time, effort and money. It's not just an insult to the hundreds of people who gave their time and the benefit of their experience in the undertaking of this committee. It's also the opportunity cost of not taking action on what is an emerging public health emergency in this country.

We need to take action in the simplest and most fundamental of ways. We need to improve regulation of the food and drinks industry in this country and we need to improve the provision of health care for complex and chronic diseases. If we do not, we will all bear the cost and the loss associated with the plague that the emerging diabetes epidemic represents.

Debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:05 to 16: 37

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