Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Some 3.6 million Australians of all ages are living with arthritis. Many of them are in fact children, and it is a leading cause of pain and disability in children. Arthritis is a musculoskeletal condition, has a variety of forms and is the second-highest burden of disease group in Australia, and it's in fact the highest nonfatal disease burden. Juvenile arthritis is as common as juvenile diabetes and causes permanent damage and disability. I want to thank the Juvenile Arthritis Foundation and Arthritis Australia for the event that they supported in parliament this week. They highlighted that children in Australia do not receive the same standard of care as they would in a comparable country like the UK.

In Australia we have fewer than 15 paediatric rheumatologists in positions around Australia, which is way too few for the thousands and thousands of children with arthritis. They can't get diagnosed, and, as a result, they can't get treatment. We have the first ever comprehensive national survey of the cost of juvenile arthritis and childhood rheumatic disease now taking place, and I want to thank Ged Kearney for launching the register for children with these conditions so that children can find each other and families can support each other. I know that, with a strong commitment from government and the community, we can make a difference to these children.