Santo Santoro (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Barnett for his question and acknowledge that he is an important role model for Australians with diabetes. Honourable senators will appreciate that Senator Barnett has type 1 diabetes and has proven through his election to this place that diabetes can be controlled and managed well and need not hold back those who are diagnosed with the condition. Also, I recognise that Senator Barnett is a former board member of Diabetes Australia, a former president of Diabetes Australia Tasmania and now serves on the executive committee of the Parliamentary Diabetes Support Group. I know that he is an inspiration to all those with whom he associates in these capacities.

I am aware that next Tuesday is World Diabetes Day. To mark this day, Diabetes Australia will launch a campaign to address the issues that affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with diabetes. The prevalence of diabetes in our community is indeed troubling. It has been estimated that around one million Australians 25 years and over have diabetes, half of whom do not even know that they have it. What is even more troubling is that studies indicate the rate of diabetes in some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is as high as 30 per cent, compared to seven per cent in the non-Indigenous population.

Next Monday, on the eve of World Diabetes Day, my colleague the minister for health will open in Melbourne a two-day Diabetes in Indigenous People Forum, to be hosted by Diabetes Australia and the International Diabetes Federation and attended by health professionals and Indigenous leaders in health and diabetes from here and from abroad.

This government’s program funding for Indigenous health, including diabetes, has increased by more than $260 million since 1995, and this year’s budget added another $136.7 million for Indigenous health measures.

Diabetes has been receiving attention as a national health priority for 10 years now. Two years ago, we introduced a free preventive health check for Indigenous adults between the ages of 15 and 54 to improve early detection, diagnosis and intervention for diseases such as diabetes. Since its introduction, I am pleased to inform the Senate that more than 20,000 health checks have been claimed.

Diabetes also delivers a worrying financial impact, costing Australia more than $1.1 billion for direct health-care costs. In terms of treatment, the government will provide $667 million between 2006 and 2011 for Diabetes Australia to continue the National Diabetes Services Scheme to enable people with diabetes to access essential products such as syringes, insulin infusion pumps, consumables and diagnostic products at subsidised rates, as well as diabetes self-management information.

Between 2005 and 2006, almost $230 million was spent on the PBS in managing diabetes. In the 2004-05 budget, the government committed $34 million over five years for increased research and development to improve the prevention and treatment of diabetes, while in 2005-06 the National Health and Medical Research Council directed over $30 million towards diabetes related research.

Finally, under the four-year $250 million Better Health Initiative, the government is funding projects across Australia to address obesity, which is of course strongly associated with the rising rates of diabetes. Recent research indicates that 50 per cent of newly diagnosed cases of type 2 diabetes, which itself accounts for more than 85 per cent of Australians with diabetes, could be prevented through lifestyle changes. This government acknowledges the importance of tackling diabetes within our community, and we will continue to do so into the future.