Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I implore the Abbott government to reverse their cruel and callous budget decision to cut the IEM grant, the Inborn Error of Metabolism Program grant. This funding provides financial support for special low-protein food for those with metabolic protein disorders. These individuals are unable to properly metabolise one of the amino acids in protein. This cut impacts on some 985 families across the country. In my electorate, a local teenager from Bexhill, Jayden Driussi, suffers from such an illness. Jayden is now 13 and was just nine months old when he was diagnosed. Since this budget announcement there has been a huge community outcry across the country about the need to reverse this harsh decision. This decision was made overnight with no consultation and no warning.

Previously the federal government had assisted families with a monthly food grant to help cover the cost of sustaining the complex and expensive diet that includes specialised low-protein foods. Until this month, individuals with these conditions were entitled to a grant of around $250 a month or around $3,000 a year to help with these costs. As a result of the budget cuts, this funding has been scrapped. It is a budget saving of around $3 million a year.

Jayden's family are calling on the Abbott government urgently reconsider their decision. I join with them and families right across the country in urgently calling for a reversal of this decision. It is vitally important that these grants are reinstated to assist these families.