Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) promises to remember all children with type 1 diabetes; and

(2) notes that 100 young Australians with type 1 diabetes will be in Parliament House on 29 November 2012 as part of Kids in the House.

This week the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation will be bringing in 100 young Australians living with type 1 diabetes to Parliament House to meet with federal members of parliament and to raise awareness and gain support for young people with type 1 diabetes. Dane Boyd, from Shortland electorate, will be one of those young people. Dane and his mother, Kim, walked with me on 18 November in the JDRF Walk to Cure from Warners Bay to Speers Point in Lake Macquarie.

The 100 young people living with juvenile diabetes will also be accompanied by their families, leading diabetes scientists and high-profile individuals that have been affected by type 1 diabetes to hear personal accounts of their experiences of living with type 1 diabetes and of how it affects all elements of their lives such as school, hobbies and at home. Type 1 diabetes is very common. In fact, one of my staff, Mark, has a grandchild who has type 1 diabetes and has experienced many difficulties over a long period of time. Talking to him has shown me the challenges that those young people face.

The Kids in the House event will be widely supported by all members of parliament because it transcends our political philosophies. We all know that these children need our help and support. Type 1 diabetes—or juvenile diabetes, as it is often called—is a lifelong autoimmune disease. It strikes both children and adults, but it is most common in children and it is usually diagnosed before the age of 15. It is the most common chronic disease in children. Approximately 1,825 Australians are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year. That shows just how significant it is. The incidence is increasing by 3.2 per cent per year. The disease is not fully understood, but there is cutting-edge research and each day we hope there will be a cure found for this disease. The body's immune system mistakenly attacks and destroys the insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, removing a person's ability to produce insulin.

People with type 1 diabetes take multiple insulin injections daily and test their blood sugar level by pricking their finger for blood four or more times a day. The insulin pump has been quite a breakthrough that has helped a number of young people. Mark's granddaughter is one of the young people who has recently had an insulin pump installed and has benefited enormously from that. The destructive disease is not caused by lifestyle or diet. That is a misconception a number of people have. It cannot be prevented and there is no cure. Ninety-five per cent of all children under the age of 18 with diabetes will have type 1 diabetes. Insulin allows a person to stay alive; it does not cure it. Australia has one of the highest rates of type 1 diabetes in the world. Over 122,000 Australians live with this difficult disease, which represents about 10 to 15 per cent of all people with diabetes. The number of people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes has increased by an enormous 37 per cent in the last decade. The majority are children and young adults.

This motion is important. This motion gives members of both sides of the House the opportunity to show their support for the children who will be visiting parliament this week. I pledge my support for all children suffering with type 1 diabetes and guarantee that I will do all within my power to support and assist them. (Time expired)

Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Shortland for bringing this very important motion forward. On Thursday, as she said, 100 young Australians from across the country will come to Parliament House with one request: 'Promise to remember me.' These young Australians are but a handful of more than 120,000 people, mostly young people, already diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, for which there is no known cure and we do not know the cause. Diabetes is a debilitating illness that can impair a person's quality of life. It requires a lifetime of complex intervention. It is a major cause of limb amputation, blindness and renal failure, amongst other things. People with diabetes have a much increased risk of developing heart disease and other vascular diseases. So it is a very serious illness.

Whilst we do not know the cause of juvenile diabetes we do know at least two critical points. We know that insulin is not a cure. We are very grateful to Frederick Banting for having found insulin, because without it people would simply die, but it is not a cure. There is a flame in Canada which burns brightly. It will continue to burn until the next step is taken—that is, a cure is found for diabetes—and then the light will be extinguished. The other critical point is that diabetes disproportionately affects Australians. Worryingly, Australia is ranked seventh highest in the world for the number of people with type 1 diabetes, when our total population is not even in the top 50 countries. The number of newly diagnosed cases also continues to rise each year.

If we in this place are serious about our promise to remember—I know that many members over the years have ben deeply moved by the presentations of young people who have come to put their case to this parliament—the action that we really need to take speedily is to ensure that there is a consistent, coherent approach to research for a cure for diabetes. We have some of the best researchers in the world, and they are working very hard to collaborate with other leading researchers in diabetes not just across Australia but also globally, so that the money we put into research is well used. Our chances of success are enhanced by these national and international collaborations.

We do not know when the day will come that a cure will be found but we know that it will never come unless the first steps are taken along that journey. The opportunity is with us now, today, this year. Kids in the House are asking that the government commit to $35 million in funding for a clinical research network to test potential breakthroughs—and there have been some amazing breakthroughs. I do not have time to go into those, unfortunately, at this point of time, but I would just like to say that along with research we need to ensure that our young people have access to best-practice medicine. One of the programs that we tried to get implemented—it is still not working as efficiently as it might—is an insulin pump and continuous glucose sensors.

I had a very sad letter from a constituent who is now deceased. She wrote this letter to me and never got to post it because, as a result of a hypoglycaemic episode and her inability to afford continuous glucose sensors after her endocrinologist suggested it would be life-saving for her, she passed away. She became unconscious in her bed, having worked a night shift. This young woman was not wearing a continuous glucose sensor. She was unable to be revived and passed away. It is a sad fact that there are many Australians for whom that is the reality, including very young children. So I ask members of the parliament to support a move to make sure these devices are available. (Time expired)

Michelle Rowland (Greenway, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the motion of the member for Shortland, and commend her for bringing it to the attention of this place. Type 1 diabetes is a life-long autoimmune disease, that usually occurs in childhood but can be diagnosed at any age, affecting over 122,000 people in Australia alone. Type 1 diabetes is caused by the immune system mistakenly turning on itself, destroying beta cells within the pancreas and removing the body's ability to produce insulin.

I represent an electorate in Western Sydney, an area which has the highest prevalence of diabetes in New South Wales, with seven out of the state's 10 hotspots for diabetes. In fact, between 2005 and 2010 the rate of diabetes in Western Sydney has more than doubled. There is therefore a special obligation on me to support this motion and to highlight the importance of diabetes awareness, including understanding the differences between the various forms of the disease.

In my electorate of Greenway, 6,877 people are living with type 1 diabetes. I have had the privilege of meeting with a number of these constituents and listening to their stories, and I bring them to the attention of the House today. I recently sat down with my constituents, Claudia Jane Wood and her mum Jo, to talk about the type 1 diabetes that Claudia Jane suffers and the Promise to Remember Me campaign. What a brave and positive young woman. I could not even contemplate—and I am sure that many of us here could not either—having such a disease and living with it so positively. I was so impressed by her outlook on life, on living it to the full, as well as the support of her family. She self-medicates, but that has not stopped her from going on beach holidays and remaining an active sportswoman.

As a Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation advocate, Ms Wood is working to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications through the support of research. I look forward to joining Ms Wood and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation this Thursday for the Kids in the House event in the Great Hall, and I encourage all members to visit.

I also acknowledge my constituents Kenneth Shepherd and Sarah Pyke for their work as members of the Australian Diabetes Council. Both Mr Shepherd and Miss Pyke have highlighted to me the challenges faced by people with diabetes, including the need for access to essential services. Miss Pyke is insulin dependant and required four injections every day. Both Mr Shepherd and Miss Pyke have conveyed to me that access to health professionals and good management of diabetes can prevent complications and help people with diabetes to live long and healthy lives. And there are scores of other constituents who have contacted me in recent weeks who have brought their own stories of type 1 diabetes to my attention. Although time does not permit me to name you all individually today, I acknowledge each of you and your commitment and advocacy.

Since 2010 I have fought to improve health services in my electorate, and I am very proud of the investment that we have been able to make, including more hospital beds and investments in elective surgery at Blacktown Hospital, $17.6 million for the Blacktown Clinical School, $15 million for the Blacktown GP superclinic, more GP registrations, massive investment in primary care infrastructure and the Healthy Communities Initiative. But these are, of course, in response to huge regional challenges that we face in Western Sydney. So we need to respond now, and we need to keep it up.

I also note that the Commonwealth government funds the Australian Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network, the CRN, which helps to facilitate faster progress towards curing, treating and preventing type 1 diabetes. Through clinical trials, successful type 1 diabetes research can be turned into new, accessible therapies and treatments for people suffering from type 1 diabetes.

In closing, I again thank my constituents for bringing this important issue to my attention, and I acknowledge the member for Shortland for bringing this important motion to the House. As the tagline goes, I 'promise to remember' all people suffering from type 1 diabetes and to continue fighting for better health services for people in my electorate, including research into type 1 diabetes, to stamp out this cruel disease once and for all.

Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too would like to thank the member for Shortland for bringing this motion to the House. One of the privileges of our role as parliamentarians is the opportunity to meet with and listen to the stories of a wide variety of people in our electorates. It was in this way that I first came to hear the personal story of somebody in my electorate with type 1 diabetes. I will never forget that meeting or hearing the story of young Josie Hingst, a grade 6 student at St Joseph's Tobruk Memorial School in Beenleigh. This bright-eyed, smiley, confident young lady is the last person you would suspect of being unwell. Josie invited me to her school to listen to her presentation in front of her classmates about living with type 1 diabetes, a condition she has had since she was five years old. This young lady could most certainly have a future in politics, as she gave a flawless, entertaining and, at times, humorous presentation on the misconceptions and realities surrounding living life with type 1 diabetes. For starters, Josie shared with her classmates the fact that diet has absolutely nothing to do with getting type 1 diabetes and she said it made her very angry for people to assume she has the disease because of some form of self-neglect. There are a lot of people who do not understand the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease—it just happens. The pancreas stops making insulin, which we need because without it the cells in our body cannot break down the sugar from our food into energy. This means the body cannot do what it needs to do to stay alive.

Josie is a passionate ambassador for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's 'Promise to Remember Me' campaign and is one of two young ambassadors whom I have had the pleasure of getting to know in the electorate of Forde. The other is Caitlin Watt, a young lady who also suffers type 1 diabetes. She is a grade 11 student at Trinity College in Beenleigh. She was diagnosed when she was 22 months old and has been living with the condition ever since. At seven years of age, Caitlin said she had to worry about where to do her finger pricks at school and what was going to happen if she had a 'hypo attack' in class. Most seven-year-olds only have to worry about making friends and their plans for the weekends. It is just so different for young people who suffer from this disease.

To give you an idea of what it is like for these two young ladies, Caitlin has had over 22½ thousand insulin injections and has pricked her fingers to check for blood sugar levels over one million times. Josie used to have at least 1,500 needles a year before moving to a 24/7 insulin pump. It is not easy to monitor insulin and blood glucose levels, either. They have to measure the exact amount of carbohydrates they consume to ensure the right dosage of insulin to avoid having a hypoglycaemic attack.

For these bright young ladies, all they want is a lifestyle that is free from the daily regime of needles, cleaning out cannulas and getting run down, a freedom that the rest of us take for granted. Not even on their birthdays or for Christmas do they get to take a day off from the hourly checks and insulin balancing acts. It also puts an awful lot of pressure on the parents and families, as they learn how to look after their children all over again. It is never easy to have a sick child, and I would like to thank the parents with children in the same position as Josie and Caitlin for helping their children with this burden to ensure they are able to live as normal lives as possible.

As other speakers have mentioned, this week children living with type 1 diabetes will attend Parliament House as part of the annual Kids in the House awareness program for type 1 diabetes. Josie, along with 100 other children from around Australia, will be taking part. I hope they all have a wonderful experience at Parliament House later in the week and that we as parliamentarians get out and support these children and the juvenile diabetes campaign. (Time expired)

Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to thank the member for Shortland for bringing this motion to the House and acknowledge the contributions by the members for Pearce, Greenway and Forde. It is nice to be having a bipartisan debate about a very important issue. We have heard all the members talk about their electorates and the people they have met. The member for Forde said it is a member of parliament's duty to get a window into the lives of other people. We do that around our electorate. We often come across situations that really strike at and call on your empathy. That is certainly true of juvenile diabetes.

There is no doubt that this is a very grave and serious illness. You would not wish it on anybody. The idea that a child could die in their sleep without warning is terrifying, particularly for parents. That is the terrifying reality for some people. It is something that we should be cognisant of when we are discussing this issue. It is a terrible disease. It is just lucky that the 123,000 Australians who suffer from it have such great advocates. Those advocates are often at the national level. They work in electorates around the country. The people who have come to see me most often are people like Karen Aswell and Jasmin Smith, who just graduated the other day from Trinity College and has her licence. She is looking to see what she will do in the world. That is a wonderful time in a young person's life. She is a tremendous advocate. I think that she is coming up for the Kids in the House event.

The other people who have been to see me are Marsanne Kerr and her daughter Imogen Kerr, who is a very active advocate; a very active emailer. Her mother, Marsanne, is famous in my electorate. The Barossa Herald, which is a very good paper, reported that she had taken to the skies and been part of a group of about 50 people from South Australia who skydived to raise money for and awareness of this issue. The jumpers were called 'Imogen's Heroes'. It was a big crowd—50 people, like I said—jumping from a height of 14,000 feet. Marsanne managed to do two somersaults in mid-air before sailing down to the ground with her instructor. That event raised $30,000. That is part of a massive fundraising effort.

It is a worldwide effort. This is not something that is suffered by just Australian families or Australian children. If you Google JDRF and particularly Kids in the House, some of the first links that come up are about an event that is being held with the Canadian parliament. This is a worldwide advocacy effort to help children and adults who have this rather terrible affliction. The money raised will fund clinical trials and fund things like insulin pumps and other things that help manage this illness and allow people—hopefully—to lead normal lives even with the disease. We hope in the longer term to find a cure.

Obviously, everybody in this House will be furiously lobbied towards the end of the week. We can only hope that there is a bipartisan consensus to keep up the fight against juvenile diabetes, to keep the research going, to keep the clinical trials going and to keep our focus on the 123,000 Australians who suffer from this disease.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to add my voice to this campaign to raise public awareness of children suffering from diabetes. Type 1 juvenile diabetes is a serious condition that impacts nearly 125,000 Australians, and many more around the world. One of my own part-time staff members has diabetes and I have seen firsthand the impact that this has on his life.

Juvenile diabetes occurs more frequently than cancer, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy and yet it is a condition that is little understood by the community and has significant stigma attached to it. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition caused when the immune system destroys beta cells within the pancreas and inhibits the body's ability to produce insulin. Type 1 diabetes is a condition that can be managed, albeit with difficulty. This is a fickle condition that requires close monitoring to ensure that the sufferer maintains the fine balance between hyperglycaemia and hypoglycaemia. As we slowly gain more understanding of types 1 and 2 diabetes and their causes, it is important that our approach to managing these conditions changes to reflect our growing knowledge.

The challenge that we face at this point is that our learning through research is not informing our management of the condition. It is becoming increasingly clear that lifestyle factors make a significant contribution to the development and management of juvenile diabetes. With this knowledge, it is vital that we take steps towards creating better understanding in the general community about diet and the wide-reaching impact on the health of all Australians, including those with juvenile diabetes. There is no doubt that we need better education and the availability of more information to parents of children with juvenile diabetes. The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is working hard to understand type 1 diabetes and to find a cure, but there is much more that we, as policy makers and legislators, can do to support the community. As I have said before in the parliament, cultural change is best achieved through education and understanding. It is important that there is a discussion in the public sphere about the nature of juvenile diabetes.

Every win that we have had in the war against juvenile diabetes has been achieved through the activities of volunteers. Over the last four decades we have seen breakthroughs in islet transplantation, beta cell regeneration, preventative vaccine development and reduction of complications. But despite these advancements we have seen little change in the way that this disease is managed in the community.

I would like to share with the House two quotes, the first from Mary Tyler Moore, the actress. She said diabetes changes everything about a person's life:

And to add to the day-in, day-out hassles of living with diabetes—the balancing of diet, exercise, and insulin, the shots, the terrible episodes of low blood sugar, the weird feelings of high blood sugar—is the knowledge that even if you do all you can to be as normal as possible, you're not, you're different, and you face the uncertainty of an adulthood visited upon by early blindness, kidney failure, amputation, heart attack or stroke.

Michael Wooldridge adds international context to the debate as well:

Juvenile diabetes is an insidious and elusive disease that affects some 100,000 young Australians who have to inject insulin several times a day and balance this exercise and … avoid life threatening hypoglycaemia.

Our community approach needs to catch up with the research available, and one way to do this is through advocacy. I am impressed with the commitment that young people with diabetes have in increasing public awareness of this condition. I have met with many youth ambassadors and seen their efforts in sharing the challenges that they face with juvenile diabetes. This week 100 young people from across the country are visiting parliament to meet with parliamentarians and to share their stories and personal challenges surrounding this disease. I am anticipating an engagement with the young ambassadors that will enlighten even my own understanding of the issue and the challenges in a far better way than I currently have. It is through the telling of stories and the sharing of those experiences that we gain an understanding of the breadth of impact that it has on an individual's life, the challenges they face, and the way in which they rise to those challenges and become engaged within the community in which they live. I am happy to support the motion put forward by the member for Shortland.

Laura Smyth (La Trobe, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to contribute to this debate and commend the member for Shortland for bringing the matter to the House and also commend each of the other participants in the debate so far. I am extremely pleased that the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation is in the parliament this week, together with so many young people facing juvenile diabetes and their families. This includes, from my own electorate, my constituents Jo and Lavinia Martin.

Jo and Lavinia came to see me earlier this year to tell me their story. Lavinia has experienced juvenile diabetes for some time now and continues to be a very strong ambassador, both for the research effort which JDRF pursues and also for increased awareness within her school community and the broader community. I certainly commend Lavinia, her mother Jo and their family on the work that they have already done to explain what juvenile diabetes means for Lavinia and the thousands of other young people facing the disease.

I must say I was struck by the maturity of Lavinia who, at a relatively young age, has had to contend with the daily practicalities and realities of her illness. She has certainly managed admirably the responsibilities that go with that. I was also struck by the extent to which she was aware of the risks that might present themselves to her and other juvenile diabetes sufferers later in life. It is an extraordinary thing to contend with at such a young age.

As many members in this debate have remarked, type 1 diabetes can occur at any age, but most commonly it is diagnosed from early childhood to the late-30s. Extraordinarily, it presently affects over 122,000 people in Australia alone. As members will no doubt know, with type 1 diabetes a person's pancreas produces little or no insulin. Although its causes are not entirely known, it is believed to be caused by the immune system mistakenly turning on itself and causing the destruction of beta cells within the pancreas and removing the body's ability to produce insulin.

People with type 1 diabetes, as many of us will also know, must inject insulin several times every day or have a constant supply of insulin through an insulin pump just to stay alive. For young people in particular, the reality of having to deal with that each day and families having to administer the arduous regimen of insulin is an extraordinary task which many young people have to face but really should not have to face. Most newly diagnosed cases are children aged under 15 years. Around 1,825 Australians are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year, which is a considerable number. The incidence, however, is increasing at a rate of around three per cent per year. In Australia, around 95 per cent of the diabetes found in children is type 1 diabetes.

Members who have spoken in this have remarked on the symptoms that present themselves, of which it is recommended the community be aware in the assessment of potential risk of type 1 diabetes. Those symptoms include extreme thirst, constant hunger, sudden weight loss, blurred vision and extreme tiredness, amongst other things. Treating juvenile diabetes requires ongoing vigilance and monitoring and it is a significant task for many young people and their families. But timely and routine treatment is essential because the risk of complications arising from the disease is also significant. Members have remarked—and no doubt those who are present in the House this week from JDRF and are supporting its efforts—will be happy to explain to members in this place that the risks associated with diabetes, and the complications arising from it, include such things as eye disease, nerve damage, kidney disease, heart disease and stroke.

Once again, I am very pleased that the JDRF are in the House this week. I look forward to joining them and Jo and Lavinia from my electorate at the Kids in the House event on Thursday to support JDRF. It is clearly a very significant organisation in its research effort and in raising awareness of type 1 diabetes. It has taken a significant role also in leading the agenda in terms of scientific research and I am sure that we will all continue to support its efforts. (Time expired)

John Alexander (Bennelong, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Shortland for her motion recognising the devastating impact that juvenile diabetes has on our society. I welcome the 100 young Australians suffering from this chronic disease who will be visiting this place later in the week as part of the Kids in the House program. This motion draws on the great work performed by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which runs the Promise to Remember Me campaign to start a conversation with members of parliament about type 1 diabetes and the importance of supporting those suffering from type 1 diabetes and to aid research. JDRF is the leading not-for-profit funder of type 1 diabetes research. Worldwide they have invested over $1.6 billion in research since 1970, including more than $100 million in Australian research. JDRF estimates there are 122,300 Australians suffering from type 1 diabetes.

This motion follows our recent recognition of World Diabetes Day on 14 November, which is an official United Nations world day. This day is recognised worldwide every year and brings together millions of people in over 160 countries to raise awareness of the challenges of diabetes. The theme of this year's World Diabetes Day campaign was: 'Diabetes education and prevention'. In my electorate of Bennelong we are fortunate to have several large pharmaceutical and medical device companies that create jobs, invest in research and development, and work towards a brighter future for those suffering chronic disease like diabetes.

As I did last year, I attended the World Diabetes Day event at Eli Lilly headquarters in West Ryde. This event invited all staff to join in a celebration of their great work and to hear from a Diabetes Australia representative about how the personalised solutions they provide can make a difference in the daily lives of those affected by this disease, particularly those suffering from juvenile diabetes. This includes working with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to offer the best range of support and advice for diabetes patients. This World Diabetes Day event was also a call for action on our fastest-growing chronic disease. There are 1.15 million Australians who have been officially diagnosed with diabetes. Perhaps even more alarming is that the New South Wales diabetes population is approximately 410,000, which is larger than the population of our nation's capital. I told those assembled at this event that, as diabetes becomes a national health priority, we need to take action and make changes in our lives to protect our health and the health of our children.

With type 2 diabetes representing the most common form of preventable illness, it is vital that we as community leaders promote the benefits of healthy living and a range of support services available to people suffering from diabetes. As chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Medicines, I have been a strong advocate in this place for sufferers of a wide range of diseases, both generic and preventable. The growth of type 2 diabetes warns us of a frightening future when the cause of deaths in our society is linked to the underlying illness. Type II diabetes has become the biggest killer in Australia. There is no greater challenge in health than to effect a combination of prevention and treatment of this disease. We should acknowledge the genuine concern for outcomes by the pharmaceutical industry at large on the issue of prevention, which they raise with me time and again as an area of great concern. Essentially, in the time that we will see the middle class of Asia grow from 500 million to 3.5 billion, this middle-class disease will become the greatest health challenge for our region. It is our duty as policymakers to meet this challenge.

I again thank the member for Shortland for raising this motion and making sure that we in this place promise to remember those suffering from juvenile diabetes. I also applaud the work of companies like Eli Lilly Australia and their managing director, Chris Miskel, who so eloquently and passionately advocate treatments and actions to treat both types of this disease.

Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in favour of this motion by the member for Shortland and its recognition of all children with type 1 diabetes. It is always sad to see young people afflicted with such a disease—children who are trying to lead a carefree life with their friends, exploring the world and testing their limits. It is sad for people so young to be confronted with such an issue with their health and having to face their survival every day. It is a fundamental issue. We know that people with diabetes, whether it is type 1 or type 2, are up to four times more likely to develop cardiovascular disease. Over two-thirds of Australians who died of cardiovascular disease had diabetes or pre-diabetes five years prior to their heart attack or stroke.

It does not have to be that way. I love speaking to young people. This week we have many young people joining us to talk about diabetes, including type 1 diabetes. I love giving them a personal story about diabetes. My father, who is 85 years old, has been a type 1 diabetic for well over 45 years. He has led a healthy lifestyle, he is active and is far more fit than I am, I would say. He rides his bike, walks every day and has two to three injections every day, and has been doing so for over 45 years.

That is the other side of it: if you do look after yourself and manage your diabetes carefully, you can have a normal life like anyone else. My father is living proof of that. As I said, he is much fitter than I am; he still rides his bike eight to 10 kilometres three to four times a week at 85 years of age. I certainly hope that young Australians who learn to manage their diabetes at a relatively young age have its management as a central element of their routine throughout their lives and that, with that superior management, they will defy the statistics that I read out earlier and join those of us who are more likely to live a longer, more complete and healthier life.

Australian researchers are leading the world in their work towards finding a cure for type 1 diabetes, through several highly regarded organisations. I, for one, have had most to do with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which conducts a fundraising walk in my electorate every year. I am very honoured to be invited every year to do the opening and sound the siren for everyone to take off in their walk from Glenelg to Somerton Park. It is always a terrific occasion, with many enthusiastic participants and supporters, generating a great crowd every year. Fundraising is necessary for the ongoing research toward a cure. Some discoveries have happened by accident, without apparent effort, but in this case a tremendous amount of work is required for relatively modest gains.

I would like to pay my respects to the consummate professionals in the medical research field, who all of us here in this place see and speak with on a regular basis, here in Australia and around the world—those who conduct the studies and those in the organisational wing which make the research possible so we can find a cure in the future. I must say how much I respect each and every young Australian with type 1 diabetes, for taking on board the knowledge of the disease, informing us as their members of parliament, maintaining the management regime that is required, and putting up with the limitations and complications that result from being just that little bit different to others—and just that little bit more special as well.

One such young Australian, who sets a very good example of maturity and grace for us all, is Casey Stubing, whose company I will have the pleasure of sharing at the JDRF Kids in the House luncheon in the Great Hall, Parliament House, on Thursday. I have met with her and her parents in my electorate office as well as on the walk we conducted in my electorate. I presented her with an award at her primary school's year 7 graduation ceremony. We met again a couple of months ago when she visited to discuss the walk, and it will be an absolute pleasure this week to speak with her again and spend time with both her and her family here in Parliament House.

Meeting and speaking with people like Casey reminds us all of the reality of type 1 diabetes, its presence, prevalence and impact, and our need to continue to work towards solutions to improve to the management that Casey and so many others maintain each and every day. Thank you, Casey, and all those who have come to Canberra this week to remind us of and keep us focussed on type 1 diabetes and the funds required to do the necessary research toward better management techniques, prevention and a cure.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Shortland. I should note that, while 100 young Australians will be visiting parliament this Thursday, they certainly will not be alone. Many staff in Parliament House and in our electorate offices around the nation live with diabetes. Even in my office, one of my staff members has lived with diabetes since he was 13 years of age.

Type 1 diabetes, often referred to as juvenile diabetes, is among the most common chronic diseases among our young people, with more than 1,800 young Australians being diagnosed with the disease each year. However, it should be remembered that children with type 1 diabetes become adults with type 1 diabetes, for this is an autoimmune disease that is with you for life. So perhaps in this motion, although we should remember all the children, we should also remember all other Australians with type 1 diabetes.

The National Diabetes Services Scheme is a government program designed to assist those with diabetes to afford the exorbitant costs associated with the ongoing medical treatments. The NDSS celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. It is a highly successful program that has evolved and expanded over its 25 years of operation. I am pleased to say it has done so with bipartisan support.

Many suffering with diabetes, especially older Australians, fondly remember the Howard government's initiative to completely subsidise insulin syringes back in the 1990s. But this is not to say that some of those costs associated with the treatment of diabetes are not still prohibitive. This is made particularly the case when new developments and technological breakthroughs are made. The costs of running an insulin pump and the associated lines of cannulas are not cheap. Even under NDSS subsidisation it is still expensive and can be a financial impost that is simply too high for some families to sustain, let alone when you look to include unsubsidised continuous monitoring technology. So we in parliament must keep an ever present eye on the developments in the treatment of diabetes to ensure that the successful scheme maintains its effectiveness. However, we should also remember that the NDSS subsidises treatment. While some in the field have described the insulin pump as a vital cure, it is not a cure. It should not be forgotten that continued research, whether it be in islet cells or in other fields, must retain our strong bipartisan support.

Finally, I am pleased to speak in this debate because it provides a further opportunity to raise a particular timely issue faced by those people who are living with diabetes. In March this year Austroads and the National Transport Commission, released the updated assessing fitness to drive regulations, which incorporated blood sugar benchmarks for the very first time. Needless to say, much concern has arisen from the inclusion of the benchmark of what would be a HbA1c result of nine, which is both arbitrary and without clinical evidence. Even more frightening is the concern that these benchmarks will be strictly enforced without due consideration to extenuating circumstances such as a particularly high stress level in the three-month period or an unrelated illness such as the flu pushing up blood glucose levels. The concern is inflamed as there are many GPs who are simply unaware that the benchmarks contained in the assessing fitness to drive regulations should be treated with discretion. This rule has put one million Australians at risk of losing their licence, even without having a strong backing of clinical evidence.

This recent case is not alone. There has been a wave of arbitrary regulations developed to target Australians living with diabetes. Work is being done on the second initiative designed to encourage diabetics not to drive with blood sugar levels under five millimoles per litre. While this benchmark, which usually packages 'above five to drive', is well-meaning, it is again arbitrary. Hypoglycaemia is a significantly more dangerous driving risk than is hyperglycaemia, especially due to the immediacy of the symptoms. However, few diabetics will suffer the effects of hypoglycaemia until they record results in the three.

I support this motion. However, in the area of diabetes we must be sure further research is done in this area before bureaucrats race in to regulate.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Diabetes myelitis type 1, also known as juvenile diabetes, is a form of diabetes which results from the autoimmune destruction of insulin producing beta cells of the pancreas. This type of diabetes accounts for 10 to 15 per cent of cases of diabetes worldwide. That means there are about 20 million people living with type 1 diabetes in the world. In Australia, more than 123,000 people are affected by type 1 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases in children, occurring more frequently than cancer, cystic fibrosis, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy. In Australia 1,825 Australians are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes every year. The incidence of this disease is increasing at a rate of 3.2 per cent in Australia. That is an alarming statistic. Furthermore, of the children diagnosed with diabetes, 95 per cent are diagnosed with type 1. Complications from type 1 diabetes include kidney problems, visual impairment and nerve damage due to damage to the small blood vessels. Larger vessels can also be damaged, which can lead to coronary artery disease, stroke and narrowing of limb arteries.

Currently there is no cure or preventive measure for type 1 diabetes; those who live with the condition are dependent on insulin injections for the rest of their lives. Currently underway is the type 1 diabetes prevention trial, a major Australian clinical trial to determine whether an insulin nasal vaccine can help prevent type 1 diabetes. Since the trial began in 2006 more than 7,500 people have been screened in Australia and New Zealand to assess their eligibility, with 76 participants being enrolled to participate in the trial. If successful, this vaccine could prevent type 1 diabetes and the need for daily insulin injections for people at risk.

In my electorate of the Riverina, a seven-year-old boy by the name of Bruno Romeo and his mother Lisa and his family have been forced to leave the city of Griffith to seek medical treatment for Bruno's diabetes. Mrs Romeo has worked hard to try to assist in attracting a qualified diabetes educator to Griffith but, unfortunately, she has been unable to do so. So Mrs Romeo has made the big call of moving to Canberra for the sake of Bruno's health, where he will have an insulin pump fitted in January.

The Area News wrote a very moving story about this little boy. He is a brave child, as are all children who suffer from type 1 diabetes. And Mrs Romeo is also a very brave mum. She wants to do the best for the young fellow and for her family. She said a steady decline in her son's health had cemented the decision to move to Canberra, where he will have an insulin pump fitted in January. 'Bruno is having five or six injections a day. It is a big upheaval for our family but the doctor in Canberra said Bruno is the type of child who will thrive on a pump. He said that, if he put one on, he would have to move so he can be monitored properly. If he has a pump, we might actually be able to sleep through the night for the first time in four years.' You can imagine that poor family not being able to sleep through the night whilst Bruno is suffering from this terrible condition. 'People do not understand what is involved in having a child with diabetes,' Mrs Romeo said. 'The sooner he gets the pump the better. I know this isn't going to be easy, but this is going to be life-changing in every way.'

The Australian Diabetes Council Griffith group president, Tom Marriott, said there was no doubt that Griffith should have an educator who can supervise pumps. 'They keep saying we cannot attract anyone here, but they will not allocate the money.' Of course, any money that goes into health and into education programs for this type of thing has to be a priority of this government and of this parliament. We all know that health is the most important thing that we as parliamentarians can fund and make sure is available for all communities and especially regional communities, where the tyranny of distance is such a factor.

I met last week with 11-year-old Thomas Zambon and his mum, Melissa, to discuss how he copes with having type 1 diabetes. I am pleased to say that Thomas will be in parliament on Thursday at a function called Kids in the House, which will recognise type 1 diabetes. Young Thomas is a fighter. Despite his ailments, he will lead the very best life that he can because he is such a brave little fighter.

Debate adjourned.