Alan Griffin (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the member for Newcastle's motion on dementia and to highlight the significance of Dementia Awareness Week. It is important to improve awareness and understanding within the Australian community of the significance of dementia and its impact on many families. We need to support more research into how to deal with the terrifying—it is terrifying for the families involved—results of dementia and to ensure that the community as whole becomes more aware, and so understanding, of the sorts of problems that dementia produces.

Dementia Awareness Week has a theme this year: 'Worried about your memory?'. It is all about encouraging people to look after their brain health by leading a brain healthy lifestyle. It is important to be physically active, maintain an active social life and keep mentally stimulated. Those are among the best things you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia.

As has been said by other speakers, dementia is the third leading cause of death in Australia after heart disease and stroke. One in four people over the age of 85 have dementia and the number of people living with dementia is expected to grow from around 270,000 people today to almost one million by 2050. That is, if you like, a natural symptom of an ageing society, but it is all the more reason why, as a society, we need to be aware of it. We need to do all we can to deal with it and minimise its impact on the future of our nation.

Although it is not a normal part of ageing, it is something which can happen to anybody. It is more common for those over the age of 65, but there are some 16,000 people who have younger onset dementia. Members of parliament—either through their dealings with aged-care facilities in their local community or through their own families—generally have experience of people suffering from dementia. I have been lucky that, in my immediate family, it has not been an issue for some years, although my grandmother on my mother's side did suffer from Alzheimer's. I know, though, from visiting my father in an aged-care facility that many people in such facilities have been touched by it. The strugglings of those who have this terrible affliction are tragic to watch.

I mentioned earlier the importance of understanding and awareness. I would like to commend to the House a booklet by Alzheimer's Australia, entitled Worried about your memory, which is all about improving understanding of the signs and symptoms of dementia. If we know what to look out for, the potential to do something about it is much greater. The ten signs of dementia, the signs that people should be looking out for, are (1) memory loss that disrupts daily life; (2) challenges in planning or solving problems; (3) difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, at work or at leisure; (4) confusion with time or place; (5) trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships; (6) new problems with words in speaking or writing; (7) misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps; (8) decreased or poor judgement; (9) withdrawal from work or social activities; and (10) changes in mood and personality. These are the factors that people need to look out for in their loved ones, in their families, in order to ensure that, should those signs exhibit themselves, they look to try and give those people the help that they will need. There are tests that can be done and I certainly urge anyone who feels that someone close to them is facing those circumstances to take action.

I would like to commend all those involved in Dementia Awareness Week for their efforts in ensuring that this is better understood, and I would like to say to all those who are out there dealing with people in these circumstances as carers that the support you give is worth while and should be acknowledged.

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