Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I stand tonight to congratulate Professor Martin Silink, the newly elected President of the International Diabetes Federation. Martin Silink is a paediatrician from Westmead Hospital in Sydney and he is the first Australian ever to be elected as the president of the International Diabetes Federation. The International Diabetes Federation is the global advocate for diabetes. It is based in Brussels and consists of 191 diabetes associations from 145 countries. Just this week it held its International Diabetes Federation congress in Cape Town, South Africa.

I had the pleasure of being invited to speak at the congress. Professor Martin Silink was elected at that congress having been made president elect three years earlier at the IDF congress in Paris, where I also had the pleasure of speaking and assisting the Australian contingent—led by Diabetes Australia—and the many Australians there to support, and lobby for the election of Martin Silink as president elect.

It is a great credit to Martin Silink and I want to pass on congratulations not only to him but to his wife, Margaret, who has served and assisted Martin with great perseverance and patience over the last three years in his role as president elect. I want to pass on my best wishes and congratulations for the next three years, when there will be a lot of travel all around the world—not only to Brussels, but to the many countries around the world where diabetes is such a problem.

It was an excellent congress in Cape Town, where there were some 10,000 people present. It was a great honour and a privilege to be invited to speak at that congress, on the obesity epidemic and the role of the diabetes community in dealing with government.

I also want to acknowledge the work of Diabetes Australia for the efforts that they have undertaken to support Martin Silink, and the measures that they have taken to address the diabetes epidemic in this country. They have spearheaded the campaign to support a UN resolution on diabetes and tonight I wear my badge or logo—the blue circle—on my lapel to support the UN resolution on diabetes. Diabetes Australia has supported that campaign, together with the Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association. Internationally, the campaign is supported by the European Association for the Study of Diabetes, the American Diabetes Association, and various other organisations, including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, which is an excellent organisation headed up by Susan Alberti in this country, and Chief Executive Officer Mike Wilson, who perform excellent roles.

I want to say that the main effect of the UN resolution would be to bring diabetes out of the shadows; unite people with diabetes, strengthen diabetes associations; raise awareness of simple, cost-effective strategies to prevent the complications of diabetes; encourage individual responsibility in health maintenance; and raise awareness at societal levels to promote healthy nutrition, increased physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. The thrust of the resolution would be to ask the United Nations and its member states to declare 14 November as a United Nations world diabetes day to recognise the seriousness of the diabetes epidemic and to encourage cost-effective strategies for the prevention of diabetes and its complications.

I seek leave to incorporate the United Nations resolution on diabetes in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The document read as follows—

Draft United Nations Resolution on Diabetes

Sponsoring Country: Bangladesh

1.

Welcoming the fact that the WHO and the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) have officially observed 14 November as World Diabetes Day on a global level since 1989,

2.

Recognizing the activities of the IDF to combat diabetes and welcoming the initiative to establish a campaign to empower, energize and educate more than 200,000,000 persons with diabetes in self-management,

3.

Recognizing the urgent need to pursue multilateral efforts to promote and improve human health, provide access to medications and education,4,     Decides to declare the current WHO/IDF World Diabetes Day, 14 November, as a UN World Diabetes Day, to be observed beginning 2007,

5.

Invites all Member States, relevant agencies, bodies, funds and programs of the United Nations system, and other international organizations and non-governmental organizations, to organize on that day activities designated to raise public awareness of diabetes, prevention of diabetic complications and prevention of diabetes itself,

6.

Requests the Secretary-General to take the measures necessary, within existing resources, and in association with relevant agencies and bodies within the UN to promote the observance of World Diabetes Day,

7.

Urges Member States to develop national policies for the prevention and control of diabetes in line with the sustainable development of their health systems in conformity with the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals,

8.

Requests all relevant United Nations organizations to address the diabetes pandemic in line with their respective mandates, to assist wherever possible, in global efforts against the pandemic and to keep their actions under regular review to counter the negative impact of diabetes on individuals and society as a whole,

9.

Expresses keen interest in additional discussion among relevant United Nations bodies, Member States, industry and other relevant organizations as proposed in the Millennium Development Goals to make progress, inter alia, on the question of access to treatment and care and continued research,

10.

Encourages all Member States to work with relevant UN Organizations and civil society, in order to develop cost-effective sustainable long-term strategies for the prevention of diabetic complications and diabetes prevention, taking into account Member States’ organization and delivery of their respective health services, ethical, legal, cultural and other relevant issues and available resources.

I would like to add that the Australian Parliamentary Diabetes Support Group is a bipartisan group in this parliament. It is a very effective group, and very recently Judy Moylan, on behalf of the group, and I met with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer. We were very pleased to have confirmed to us that the Australian government would support the UN resolution on diabetes. We were very thrilled with that because we have been making representations to our government over many months—in fact, since Martin Silink first apprised us of this initiative.

It is very important, in our view, that the diabetes movement takes up the cudgels on this, leads the community and works in partnership with government at all levels and the various stakeholder groups to address the top three priorities espoused by Sir George Alberti at the International Diabetes Federation Congress in Paris in September 2003—those three priorities being prevention, prevention and prevention.

Winning the battle will require an enormous commitment because, like tobacco, saturated fats and sugar are among the modern world’s great temptations, while inertia is a simpler and far more attractive message for the brain and body than the effort of activity. However, it is a battle that we must fight so that within a few decades we will look back and be able to say that fixing the obesity epidemic, by living healthier lifestyles, was as vital as changing attitudes and behaviour towards smoking. Of course, obesity leads to a whole range of chronic conditions, not just diabetes. It leads to heart disease, cancer, respiratory problems and the like.

I would also like to acknowledge the good work at Diabetes Australia of the former president Dr Peter Little and thank him for his many years of service to that organisation, which in my view have been quite outstanding. He has been selfless in his commitment and his sacrifice to the cause.

I want to thank and acknowledge the work of Brian Conway, who is the executive director—and has been for many years. He has been handling and working for that organisation in a professional, committed and incredibly capable manner.

I want to say thank you in advance to Dr Gary Deed, based in Queensland, who is the new President of Diabetes Australia. I congratulate him on his election, very recently—just some weeks ago—and say that he has the full support of the Parliamentary Diabetes Support Group for his work on behalf of people with diabetes in this country.

As far as Australia is concerned, we do have a responsibility for ourselves and in particular our Indigenous communities. Quite frankly, our Indigenous communities are in peril. They have a much higher rate of diabetes than the rate for the average Australian. Professor Paul Zimmet has advised in his wisdom that these communities could actually be wiped out by this disease. This view was confirmed by other experts that I met with in Cape Town in the last few days. Frankly, I am shocked and deeply, deeply concerned for the future of our Indigenous communities if we continue along the current path.

Diabetes is now impacting directly on 230 million adults worldwide. That is an estimate. It is nearly six per cent of the world’s adult population and it is increasing at seven million per year, with 70 per cent of the burden falling on the developing countries. Diabetes alone is causing a death every 10 seconds, an amputation every 30 seconds and is the leading cause of adult onset blindness and kidney failure and is equivalent in mortality to AIDS. They are shocking statistics. In my home state of Tasmania just a year or two ago we had 69 amputations from the knee down directly as a result of diabetes. It is a scary statistic indeed.

As far as Australia is concerned, I have mentioned our Indigenous populations but we also have a concern for the Pacific Islanders, who are particularly subject to this disease. They are amongst the worst affected in the world. What are we doing about it? Professor Silink has said that diabetes is undermining the benefits of economic gain and is thwarting efforts to reach the Millennium Development Goals in developing countries. Finally, I also want to thank Professor Paul Zimmet for his efforts—(Time expired)