Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The high quality of medical care we enjoy today is built on years of efforts of physicians, scientists, PhDs and other medical professionals investigating the causes of and potential treatments for disease. The tireless efforts of these professionals have changed diseases and conditions from life threatening to life changing, and one of these particular conditions is of course diabetes.

The story of the life-changing treatment for diabetes is really one of the extraordinary things we should celebrate in the history of medical research and, indeed, medicine. One hundred years ago it was very rare for someone with type 1 diabetes to live for more than one year, and I really welcome the member's motion with regard to raising awareness of this life-changing discovery for literally millions of people all around the world.

It was in 1921 that Canadian surgeon Frederick Banting, along with Professor John Macleod, medical student Charles Best and researcher Dr James Collip, discovered insulin. They were able to administer extracted insulin to Leonard, a 14-year-old boy at Toronto General Hospital, who lay dying from diabetes. Almost immediately, his condition dramatically improved. It must have been an incredibly extraordinary moment to see children almost rising from their beds. I understand that children were dying in Toronto hospital, and basically Banting, Best and Collip went from bed to bed of dying children, injecting the entire ward with insulin. Before they had reached the last child, some were literally awakening from comas. Every person in that room must have felt they were part of a miracle, a life-saving discovery for Leonard and for millions of others diagnosed with diabetes globally over the last century.

Banting and Macleod won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1923, just two years later. It was an extraordinarily short period of time to be recognised for this extraordinary discovery. They shared their prize money with the student and researcher, Best and Collip, respectively, which is more than appropriate.

I will say as a paediatrician that, having seen the impact that diabetes can have on the lives of children, it is truly life-changing, and we must recognise that medical research has provided hope and life extension for this amazing condition that basically has changed from being one that kills children to one that completely supports them.

But of course diabetes is not just about type 1 diabetes, which is a condition that occurs early in life. We don't know why children develop type 1 diabetes. It's a very frightening condition. It has a very sudden onset and can become an emergency. Children can turn up in a coma in an emergency ward, and doctors have to work very quickly to save their lives. Of course, there's also another condition, which is called type 2 diabetes, and this is completely different. It has a later onset and is associated with increasing rates of obesity around the world. It is something that we can do more about preventing through actions taken to increase weight reduction and through other lifestyle factors such as improved exercise.

More than 1.4 million Australians suffer from diabetes, and that is why the government supports these Australians through the subsidy of essential medicines like insulin under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and of other products through the National Diabetes Services Scheme, established in 1987. The NDSS, as it's known, provides reliable and affordable accession and products such as insulin, pen needles, pump consumables and glucose monitoring devices as well as education and support programs. The continuous glucose monitoring initiative was introduced in 2017 and provides fully subsidised continuous glucose monitoring products to those people so they don't have to test their blood with a finger prick. I can tell you that children love it. Finger pricks used to be the bane of families' lives, and to have this monitoring product really does bring comfort to millions of families with young children right around the world. I know so many families and friends affected by this.

The Australian government has invested over $300 million over four years in the CGM initiative for this life-changing product. We continue to improve our technologies, our devices and our approach to supporting diabetes because investing in health and medical research is a priority for the Morrison government. Research is a key pillar of our plan to help keep Australians safe. Just like Banting and Macleod, this investment continues to help millions of people around the world.

See this speech in context