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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-16 Daily Xml
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DIABETES

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (11:35): I move:

That this house notes the increasing incidence of diabetes and urges governments, both state and federal, to promote awareness of this disease, along with increased emphasis on prevention, treatment and research.

I became conscious of this issue recently. As you get older you have check-ups, and my GP, who is a fantastic young female doctor, was interested in checking my blood sugar level. I had an English uncle who had diabetes, though that was not the cause of his death. Other family members have recently had their blood sugar level checked and there were indications that there could be a tendency to have diabetes. I am sure, and I do not want to go into people's personal situations, there are members in here who are well aware of this issue.

Diabetes is the seventh greatest cause of death by disease in Australia. It is the fastest growing chronic disease. An estimated 280 Australians develop diabetes every day. One person is diagnosed every five minutes. Diabetes prevalence has increased approximately 8 per cent per annum since the year 2000. There is no cure for either type 1 or type 2 diabetes. The 2005 Australian AusDiab follow-up study, the Australian Diabetes, Obesity and Lifestyle Study, showed that nearly one million Australians are currently diagnosed with diabetes

For every person diagnosed, it is estimated there is another who is not yet diagnosed, so when you add the two together, people with diabetes and pre-diabetes, you get an approximate figure of just over three million people. An estimated 2.45 million Australians have pre-diabetes. Up to 60 per cent of type 2 diabetes can be prevented. By 2031, it is estimated that at least 3.3 million Australians will have type 2 diabetes.

According to Diabetes Australia—and I must say it is a great organisation; on a recent trip to Melbourne I visited their office and we also have an office here—diabetes is a silent pandemic and there is an urgent and growing need to promote the issues surrounding the disease, and that is one of the reasons I raise it in here. As an aside, I usually raise a health issue in each issue of my newsletter. I think one of the best things you can receive by way of comment from a constituent is that you helped save their life because they went and had a check-up and something was not right.

Diabetes Australia strongly believes that we need to focus the minds of the general public, practitioners, researchers, the media, politicians, bureaucrats and policymakers on diabetes and related chronic diseases. That is, as I say, one of the reasons for raising it in here. It argues that there have been a lot of plans and strategies to deal with diabetes, but they have not been properly implemented or even evaluated. The cost of doing too little in relation to this epidemic or pandemic is apparent to many, but we need hard and firm policy decisions to create healthier environments in schools, homes, hospitals and workplaces. We need to ensure there is funding available for quality treatment to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes.

Some of the statistics from 2005—we have not been able to get more recent figures, but I am sure they are available somewhere—are 15 per cent of people with diabetes were hospitalised with coronary heart disease, 38,700 Australians were hospitalised with eye complications caused by diabetes and 90 per cent undergoing a lower limb amputation had a history of ulceration. There were 65 amputations a day due to diabetes, 11 per cent of people with diabetes have had a heart attack and 23 per cent have died from kidney disease.

It is an insidious thing that in some ways is a silent killer because, as I indicated earlier, many people do not realise they have diabetes. The test is a blood glucose test involving fasting, but there are many people who are pre-diabetic who are not aware of the risk factors either. What are those risk factors? They are family history, increasing age, ethnic background, previous history of gestational diabetes, high blood pressure, high blood cholesterol, inactive lifestyle, smoking and an unhealthy diet.

The treatment for type 2 diabetes is to promote healthy lifestyle changes with regard to weight and physical activity which will help prevent future diabetes. People with pre-diabetes are also at increased risk of heart disease, so controlling blood pressure and blood cholesterol is also important. Does pre-diabetes mean type 2 diabetes? Evidence shows that people with pre-diabetes are at high risk of progressing to type 2 diabetes. A relative of mine who was having high blood sugar levels got the message. Currently he has lost 20 kilos and that has certainly helped in reducing blood pressure and a few other things as well. What the experts are saying is try to lose some weight, increase your level of physical activity and adopt a healthy eating plan.

What is the cost of type 2 diabetes to Australia? The estimation is in excess of $10 billion. Carer costs estimated at nearly half of that. Productivity losses make up not quite the other half, with health system costs over $1 billion and $1 billion of the costs were due to obesity. Type 1 diabetes, which is insidious but different from type 2, costs Australia $570 million a year, so 4 per cent of the people who are diagnosed with diabetes account for 12 per cent of the total health costs in Australia. The pandemic is threatening to blow the budget out, but more important than the money side is the effect on people's health and wellbeing, including the risk of amputation, damage to the kidneys and so on.

The organisation I referred to, Diabetes Australia, was established in 1984 and is doing great work in educating people and helping them to improve their lifestyle and the state of their health. The Australian Diabetes Council is now in its 75th year, so this is not an issue which has been unknown for a long time, but what has happened in the last 20 years is that it has escalated and we are now finding that many children are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which was extremely rare years ago.

There is some food for thought and it is important for all levels of government to make people aware of these risks because my main focus is on the wellbeing of people and I am continually saddened when I see and hear of people who are dying earlier than need be because they have not had an illness diagnosed or treated.

I think what we can do collectively through the parliament, and then obviously through government, is to make people aware of the risk of diabetes and to focus particularly on trying to have a healthy weight, eating healthy food and exercising. I am trying to get my weight down. It is not easy. I have lost a few kilos but I need to lose a lot more. These are some of the things which in recent times in Australia have not been given the attention they should. My strong plea is to make people aware of the risk of diabetes. It is a silent destroyer of health and ultimately can result in death. I commend the motion to the house and hope that the awareness from the parliament and through the members may result in people's quality of life being improved.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mrs Geraghty.

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