James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to note that, for the second year in a row, the Australian of the Year is from my electorate of Sturt. It's getting embarrassing, frankly! I do acknowledge and congratulate Dr James Muecke on being made Australian of the Year on Australia Day eve, just a few weeks ago. He follows Dr Richard Harris of Thai cave rescue fame. James Muecke is an ophthalmologist and has had a very eminent career as an eye surgeon in Adelaide. He was acknowledged as the Australian of the Year for the work that he has done around the world through the charity that he and his wife, Mena, established—Sight For All. They have been great pioneers—much like Dr Fred Hollows, another very eminent Australian eye surgeon—in taking their expertise and capability to parts of the world that need that kind of expertise and don't have the economic capacity to provide the same level of treatment that we can in this beautiful country of Australia.

I pay tribute and honour James Muecke for the work that he has done and that he will continue to do in the future. He has made the point that his very clear priority in the coming year as Australian of the Year is to focus on addressing diabetes and sugar in our diet. Diabetes is a very significant cause of repairable blindness. I wish him all the very best and congratulate him on being an Australian of the Year.