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House of Assembly - Fifty-Third Parliament, First Session (53-1)
2014-09-23 Daily Xml
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Juvenile Diabetes

Ms WORTLEY (Torrens) (15:16): Over the years, in the different positions I have held, including my current role as the member for Torrens, I have met many children and families whose lives have been dramatically changed by type 1 diabetes, otherwise known as juvenile diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes does not have links to diet, blood pressure, weight, or physical activity. It is an incurable autoimmune disease that generally occurs in childhood and lasts across a person's lifetime, and it makes up approximately 10 to 15 per cent of all cases of diabetes. Around 2,000 Australians are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes each year, and it affects more than 120,000 people across the nation and millions around the world.

Type 1 diabetes stops the body from producing the vital hormone insulin. Without insulin, our bodies cannot digest food, and without insulin we can literally starve to death. People with type 1 diabetes must strictly control their blood glucose levels or risk becoming hypoglycaemic (low in blood sugar) or hyperglycaemic (high in blood sugar). Both conditions can, in fact, be deadly.

The list of potential complications from the disease makes sobering reading: heart attack or stroke, kidney failure, blindness, amputation, pregnancy complications, and depression. Naturally, living with type 1 diabetes can be a pretty stressful existence, requiring constant monitoring of blood levels via regular finger pricks, multiple insulin injections each day, or a constantly regulated supply through an insulin pump. Type 1 can be diagnosed at any age, but it occurs mostly in people under 30. For now, there is no way to prevent it. Environment and genetics are thought to be factors in type 1, but much more research is needed to fully understand its causes.

The Australian Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Research Network, which was committed to under the previous federal Gillard Labor government, is now funding 12 projects and 45 researchers across Australia. In South Australia, the project includes the Environmental Determinants of Islet Autoimmunity study, which is looking into which environmental factors contribute to the development of type 1 diabetes in early childhood.

The staff and supporters of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) work tirelessly to improve the lives of those with type 1 through awareness, advocacy and research. The JDRF currently funds several research areas, with the aim of fulfilling its new slogan, 'Help turn Type One into Type None'. Fields with significant promise include exploration into:

artificial pancreas systems;

therapies to treat and even reverse some of the debilitating and life-threatening complications of type 1;

smart insulin, which controls blood glucose with just one dose a day; and

a vaccine that eliminates the risk of anyone developing type 1, although this is a long-term goal.

It is hoped that new treatments will appear along the way which help reduce and ultimately remove the onerous daily regime those with type 1 must undergo, as well as the side effects they endure and the complications they face. The foundation says its work is not just about a vision; it is also about a plan for a world in which:

blood glucose levels can be controlled automatically;

people with type 1 can sleep, eat, exercise and live as if type 1 diabetes is not in their lives;

type 1 can be cured; and

type 1 can be prevented and never threaten anyone again.

One of the JDRF's most important annual fundraisers is the Walk to Cure Diabetes, and I would like to encourage as many members as possible to sign up for this event. I know that people both in this parliament and at the federal level have previously done so.

The Adelaide event will be a five-kilometre walk, from Wigley Reserve at Glenelg to Somerton Surf Life Saving Club and back, and it will take place on Sunday 26 October. The walk is pram and wheelchair friendly, and dogs are permitted on a leash. Among other events around Australia there will also be walks in Whyalla on Sunday 2 November and in Mount Barker on Saturday 15 November. People wanting more information can go to www.jdrf.org.au/walk.

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