Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Opposition (Social and Community Affairs)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak about a very important issue—certainly not a scare campaign but an epidemic nevertheless—and that is diabetes in this country, and the importance of providing support and resources for research and awareness-raising activities for this chronic and debilitating disease. Two hundred and seventy-five Australians develop diabetes every day. It is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease. Diabetes, as we all know, is the name given to a group of incurable conditions in which there is too much glucose in the blood. In fact, this disease is the sixth leading cause of death in Australia, so it is critical that we as a nation continue to take action to deal with it.

About 1.5 million Australians are living with types of diabetes and are still unaware of their condition. In fact, each year Diabetes Australia invests over $3.5 million in research into the disease. Type 1 diabetes—formerly known as juvenile diabetes—is an autoimmune disease that occurs when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin because the cells that make insulin have been destroyed by the body’s own immune system. The missing insulin has to be replaced, resulting in lifelong daily insulin injections. Type 2 diabetes—formerly known as mature age onset diabetes—is the most common form of diabetes. More than 85 per cent of persons with diabetes in Australia have type 2 diabetes. With type 2 diabetes, the pancreas makes the insulin but the insulin does not work as well as it should, so the body makes more and eventually it cannot make enough to keep the glucose balance right.

In 2003, the average annual per person cost of type 2 diabetes in Australia was $5,360. With an astonishing overall Australian diabetes prevalence in our population of 7.4 per cent, the total annual cost for people aged over 40 with type 2 diabetes is estimated at $2.2 billion. If the cost of carers were included, this figure rises to $3.1 billion annually. Also, people with type 2 diabetes receive an average of $5,540 a year in Commonwealth benefits, increasing the total annual cost of diabetes to about $6 billion a year. These costs are not inclusive of any loss of productivity, from either days lost through illness or premature death.

A recent US study estimated that the indirect costs of lost productivity accounted for 30 per cent of diabetes costs, and when this formula is applied to Australian data it suggests that the total cost of diabetes is $7 billion each year. Australians with type 2 diabetes also have significantly lower workforce participation and productivity rates than the general population. The annual cost of lost earnings due to workplace separation and early retirement due to type 2 diabetes was estimated at $3.96 billion in 2005. Increased workplace absenteeism as a result of type 2 diabetes was estimated to cost $53.1 million in 2005.

Many of us were fortunate enough to meet children from the Kids in the House delegations. They brought to us personal accounts of their experiences in living with type 1 diabetes at home and at school. They highlighted the devastating life-altering impact of this disease and explained in their own words why a cure is so desperately needed.

Research is demonstrating that complications are the major drivers of all costs in diabetes care. For those who have been diagnosed with diabetes, strategies that minimise the development or progression of complications will also reduce the burden of diabetes on the health system and the economy. The health and financial burden of chronic diseases such as diabetes has the potential to create unsustainable pressure on our health system and the national economy. Investment in awareness raising and interventions that successfully prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes will of course be cost-effective in the long run.

A reduction in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes will result in cost savings in the health budget, increased participation and productivity in the workforce and, most importantly, better health and quality of life for Australians. Through the national reform agenda’s desire to build the nation’s human capital, there is a focus on reducing the prevalence of key risk factors contributing to chronic disease, ultimately working towards a reduction in the proportion of the working age population not participating in the paid workforce.

In 2006, the Council of Australian Governments committed to the national reform agenda, the cornerstone of which is the relationship between the health of the community, workforce participation and the nation’s future productivity and living standards. The size, urgency and complexity of the type 2 diabetes epidemic in Australia was recognised in 2006 when type 2 diabetes was identified as a foundation area with the potential to provide critical local, state and national platforms upon which broader chronic disease strategies can be built. This debilitating disease was chosen because of the magnitude of the epidemic of type 2 diabetes, estimated at an astounding 3.3 million Australians by the year 2031.

The key risk factors which contribute to type 2 diabetes and are able to be modified include obesity, poor diet and lack of physical activity. These modifiable risk factors also underpin a number of other chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, bowel cancer, depression and asthma. National action on type 2 diabetes has the potential to make a significant contribution to reducing the burden of chronic disease.

Diabetes Australia research tells us that the escalating health and financial costs of the type 2 diabetes epidemic is serious enough to provide an imperative for policymakers at all levels to focus resources on raising awareness of the disease, prevention methods, identifying those at risk of developing the disease and diagnosing those with previously undiagnosed type 2 diabetes. This can be achieved through improving access to appropriate standards of management and care to prevent or delay the onset of complications for all types of diabetes.

The National Reform Agenda under the Council of Australian Governments provides the ideal vehicle for Australian governments to agree on priorities, strategies and outcomes and then to cooperate and deliver those outcomes across all levels of government. The Council of Australian Governments framework allows policy responses that are tailored to national and local needs, and recognises the federal and state responsibilities for service provision that exist under our federal system. This framework also encourages diversity, innovation, flexibility and responsiveness, and shares the costs of major initiatives.

Therefore, I urge the government to maintain diabetes research as a major priority within the Council of Australian Government’s national reform agenda and, particularly, keep it on the agenda when COAG meets next month so that the resources can be committed to the implementation of population based awareness and prevention strategies for type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I encourage honourable senators to attend the function being organised by Diabetes Australia on Thursday this week to highlight the progress it has been making in its research and development program.