John Faulkner (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the courtesy of the senators present to enable me to make this brief contribution at this time. Tonight I want to speak this evening about World Sight Day, which is an annual day of awareness which highlights global action against blindness and vision impairment. This year's event will take place next Thursday, 9 October. World Sight Day is joint initiative of the World Health Organisation and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, which is a civic alliance of corporate, civic and professional bodies. In Australia, World Sight Day is organised by Vision 2020, a peak body which represents 50 professional, non-profit and government organisations.

Significant gains internationally have been made in the effort to eliminate blindness and vision impairment. According to the World Health Organisation, visual impairment worldwide has continued to decrease since the 1990s. In Australia, we continue to make significant gains in areas such as Indigenous eye health. For instance trachoma rates have fallen in Australia from 14 per cent in 2009 to four per cent in 2012—and I have spoken on a number of occasions in this chamber about that achievement.

World Sight Day is an opportunity to recognise the gains we have made on blindness and vision impairment. However, it is also an opportunity to reflect on the challenges we still face as a nation and across the globe. We have made progress but there is much still to do. Globally, today, 696 million people are needlessly blind or vision impaired and 80 per cent of this vision loss is avoidable or treatable. Nationally, more than half a million Australians over the age of 40 are blind or vision impaired—a figure expected to double by 2020. Vision impairment is acute amongst Indigenous Australians. In fact, Indigenous Australians are six times more likely to blind and three times more likely to be visually impaired than other Australians.

The impact of vision loss in Australia hinders an individual's ability to access education, to find work and to participate in their communities. Beyond these personal impacts there is an economic imperative to address eye health. A study conducted by Access Economics estimated that the productivity losses to individuals and their support networks was a staggering $4.2 billion in 2009. Tackling vision loss in Australia is not only a public health issue but a significant economic and productivity issues. World Sight Day is an opportunity to focus attention on the fight to improve vision at home and around the world and to raise awareness of the fight against global vision impairment. I am pleased to add my voice and lend my support to this crucially important task.