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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-27 Daily Xml
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Dementia Awareness

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (15:18): Dementia is a condition that affects an estimated 487,500 Australians. Indeed, it is anticipated that in the decades to come it will not be long that, without a medical breakthrough, it will impact more than one million Australians. Across South Australia, and in all our communities, I am sure that every member of the house will be familiar both with people in their own lives who have dementia or are caring for those with dementia and, indeed, with many people in the community for whom this is a very real concern.

I think every Australian and every South Australian would also have in their mind the possibility of one day getting dementia and what that would mean for them and for their family members, their loved ones—those who may be caring for them in the years ahead. It is an issue that I have had in my life—fortunately, not in recent times—and it is something that is troubling as an existential factor for all humans.

Dementia Australia are an outstanding organisation that provides advice and services. I was really pleased that in recent weeks they were pleased to engage with my office, just ahead of Dementia Action Week, to offer a dementia-friendly community forum for people living in Morialta, which we advertised in my newsletter and through emails to constituents and the like.

There was a very significant response from members of my community, both those who came along to the forum and also those who were eager to get the information packs that we put together if they were not able to attend the forum itself. I would like to thank Lynn Field from Dementia Australia for presenting at that forum. She did an excellent job and I commend to all members the opportunity to engage with Dementia Australia to put on such forums in their own community. We will certainly be doing another one in Morialta, probably in a couple of years, as we did I think about four or five years ago, because that interest is still there.

We need to ensure that people have an understanding of the diversity of Australians who are impacted by dementia. We have many misconceptions, and there are reasons for them. We understand it as an older person's disease, and certainly the risk of contracting one of the many forms of dementia—in particular, Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia—increases when we get older. However, younger onset dementia impacts an estimated 28,000 people in Australia; indeed, there are people in their 30s, 40s and 50s who are all impacted by it.

Sixty-five per cent of people with dementia live in the community. There are many people we would interact with from time to time who have dementia. I know that many people in our community wonder about how to successfully interact in a way that will add to that person's day and not just leave uncertainty of how to act during such an encounter. I encourage people to go to the Dementia Australia website, which is very easy to find, and seek further information themselves.

The presentation that was provided by Dementia Australia was excellent. Without going through all the matters, Lynn, who was formerly a dietitian, did provide a very helpful summary about the things that all of us should bear in mind, and I have been telling everybody I know for the last three weeks the very simple summary. She said, 'If you take nothing else from the presentation, remember this: smoking less is good. Don't smoke.' Not many people smoke anymore, so that is good news. 'Reduce your intake of alcohol as much as is possible,' and I am sure that everybody does that on a daily basis, and 'Physical exercise is good.'

She said the number one thing to take away was actually in relation to diet and that just five serves of vegetables a day dramatically reduces the potential of contracting dementia or any range of the number of dementia conditions. Irrespective of whether or not you have a genetic predisposition towards getting dementia, if you have a high likelihood because you have all the risk factors present but you are eating a lot of vegetables, apparently that still dramatically reduces your chance of getting dementia.

I would encourage the parliamentary caterers, and indeed all of us, to take note and be mindful of that. I would also like to acknowledge Campbelltown council for their support in putting on these forums. Campbelltown council is one of four councils in the Morialta district, but it is the one that has about two-thirds of my residents and it is also central for the others. I thank them particularly, because it is much easier to get to Campbelltown from Tea Tree Gully, Adelaide Hills and Burnside than any of the others are from each other.

I thank Jill Whittaker, the mayor, for hosting us and it was great to be able to congratulate her, despite the caretaker mode, given that she had been re-elected unopposed. So I also take this opportunity to congratulate Jill on her re-election.

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