Motions

Muecke, Dr J.

The Hon. S.G. WADE (Minister for Health and Wellbeing) (18:24): I move:

That this council—

1. Recognises the 2020 Australian of the Year, South Australian Dr James Muecke AM;

2. Highlights Dr Muecke's outstanding contribution to the medical profession worldwide in the area of eye health and the prevention of blindness; and

3. Acknowledges the significant impact Dr Muecke has had on the fight to prevent blindness, not least through his role as co-founder of Sight For All, a research, education and infrastructure organisation providing low-cost programs to target the causes of blindness.

I rise to recognise the work of Dr James Muecke. Dr Muecke is an outstanding Australian excelling in the area of eye health and the prevention of blindness, which service has seen him recognised with one of the greatest honours of our state and our nation.

Dr Muecke was born in Adelaide and graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1988 with Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery degrees. He commenced his medical career in Kenya, later returning to South Australia, where he became an eye surgeon. After a trip to Myanmar to conduct research about childhood blindness, he co-founded Vision Myanmar at the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology in 2000. This program focused on eye health and blindness initiatives in Myanmar, including the training of a local eye surgeon, Dr Than Htun Aung, at the Women's and Children's Hospital. Dr Aung returned to his country as its first eye surgeon, seeing approximately 20,000 children on an annual basis. In 2015, Dr Aung started training his own colleagues as paediatric eye surgeons.

With the success of Vision Myanmar, Dr Muecke co-founded Sight for All as a charity to deliver eye health programs free of charge to partner countries and communities, with the ultimate aim of reducing vision impairment and blindness. The vision for Sight for All is to create a world where everyone can see. Many of the visual impairments that the Sight for All program targets are preventable through the treatment of eye conditions, such as cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic retinal disease and corneal diseases. Blindness and vision impairment can significantly reduce a person's quality of life. In many cultures, these eye conditions can also limit access to education and work, leading to social isolation and poverty.

A team of more than 120 ophthalmologists, optometrists, orthoptists, ophthalmic nurses and scientists from Australia and New Zealand donate their time, goodwill and expertise to Sight for All's projects in Aboriginal communities in Australia, communities in Ethiopia and countries across Asia, including Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Vietnam. Each year, these teams of visionaries, as they are described, donate 10,000 hours towards sight-saving work in these countries. Their work is supported through charitable donations and corporate sponsorship to fund the provision of diagnostic equipment, surgical instruments and educational materials. Sight for All is currently improving the lives of half a million people annually, and its impact is growing year on year.

Dr Muecke has devoted over half his career to treating and preventing blindness. His focus, as Australian of the Year, is fighting blindness from diabetes in this country. I have met with Dr Muecke, and I gave broad support to his aim of combating diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in working-age Australians and the fastest growing cause of blindness amongst Indigenous Australians. In 2018, 10.8 per cent of South Australian adults reported having diabetes. Almost 80 per cent of these had type 2 diabetes, which is largely preventable.

The impact of diabetes on eye health can be minimised with appropriate screening and treatment. Dealing with preventable illness is one of the reasons that the Marshall Liberal government has established Wellbeing SA, to develop health prevention strategies to manage chronic diseases and maintain wellbeing, thereby leading to healthier lives.

Wellbeing SA will undertake a range of initiatives to improve nutrition and increase physical activity, the two main contributors to diabetes. These initiatives will support the work of Dr Muecke to reduce the incidence of diabetes in the population through good nutrition, screening and, for people with diabetes, the importance of regular eye checks. I understand that Dr Muecke has met with Wellbeing SA and will work further with them to promote better diabetes care and nutrition at the population level.

Dr Muecke's receipt of the 2020 Australian of the Year award comes 30 years after a fellow ophthalmologist and eye health innovator, Professor Fred Hollows, was awarded Australian of the Year in 1990. Like Fred Hollows, Dr Muecke is a legend. I am delighted that his service has been recognised by his well-deserved receipt of the honour of the 2020 Australian of the Year award.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. I.K. Hunter.

At 18:29 the council adjourned until Thursday 4 June 2020 at 14:15.