Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I'd like to acknowledge the chair, Dr Mike Freelander, the member for Macarthur, for his outstanding leadership of this inquiry—the first inquiry of its kind in this country into long COVID. When we started this inquiry I had been having my own experience with persistent symptoms after contracting COVID in April 2022. I wasn't able to find in the public sphere adequate information about what I was experiencing—and I wasn't alone in this. I believe the health committee inquiry could be useful, at least in terms of filling an information gap. There had yet to be an official inquiry, as I said. What we didn't know at the start of the inquiry was that it's not so much an information gap as a data, diagnosis and treatment gulf. We don't yet have a definition of what long COVID is in Australia, let alone have consistency in how people are diagnosed and then looked after.

The committee recommends that the World Health Organization definition of long COVID be used at this time. But the definition has its failings, including not being quite clear enough for clinical purposes. Despite this, without an official definition people just can't get the care they need, whether it be through their GP, who may not have received adequate education on long COVID, or via a long-COVID clinic, which we heard have some extraordinary waiting times, leaving people without proper treatment for up to a year.

I've also come to realise that the relatively short symptoms of breathlessness and fatigue that I had were very mild compared to how much some people around the country are suffering with long COVID. They're so sick they can barely get out of bed many months after the onset of their symptoms. Long COVID is having a major impact on lives and livelihoods. The committee received almost 570 submissions during the inquiry, and it is clear the committee has uncovered a very significant condition that could affect between two and 20 per cent of people infected with COVID. The lack of a precise number reflects the whole problem we have with understanding long COVID in this country: we just don't have the data. The No. 1 recommendation of the inquiry is the establishment of a COVID-19 database, including the recording of long-COVID diagnoses and complications. Data linkages with the states and territories are essential for its effectiveness as, ultimately, it needs to be about consistency in diagnosis and treatment of people with long COVID, no matter where they live in Australia.

Not too long after we started the inquiry, my very athletic and healthy 19-year-old son Byron was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. It is well known that certain viruses can trigger type 1, which is an autoimmune disease, and the only known virus that Byron had before diagnosis was COVID. When Byron was diagnosed in October 2022 there was very little data on whether it was plausible that COVID caused it, but reports were starting to surface that there had been a surge in type 1 diabetes globally amongst children and adolescents. Six months later, research is showing a correlation between COVID and type 1 diabetes, and the committee was provided evidence of this during the inquiry. The Victorian Department of Health noted that long COVID may be associated with more serious issues, such as increased risk of developing diabetes. Diabetes Australia told the committee that research funding should be made available to further investigate COVID related new-onset diabetes.

The increased prevalence of disease is not just reflected in all cases of type 1. The evidence heard by the committee about what COVID can do to your body makes for less than light bedtime reading. The Australian Society for Medical Research advised that future research needs to include how a COVID infection can initiate the development of conditions that evolve over time to cause organ dysfunction or increase the risk of developing other disorders. The committee made a recommendation to the Australian government that funding is required for coordinated and thorough research into long COVID. As deputy chair of the committee, I would highly encourage that this include research into the serious diseases that are developing in people that have contracted COVID. It's a public-health imperative.

Before I finish, I just want to touch on COVID and mental health. This is another area that is suffering from a lack of evidence for whether the mental health impacts of long COVID are a biological or a psychological response to having long COVID—or possibly both. It is clear from the inquiry that, for many people, long COVID is having a significant mental health impact, which can be debilitating and life-changing. As the shadow assistant minister for mental health and suicide prevention, it concerns me greatly to hear from individuals about their declining mental health, including feelings of uselessness, anxiety and depression. The committee has recommended that mental health support for those with long COVID must be provided in an affordable, timely and equitable manner. I would like to see the government prioritise this recommendation. We're experiencing a mental health crisis in this country, and the seriousness of this should not be underestimated.

This first-of-its-kind inquiry into long COVID has given thousands of people across Australia hope that politicians as policymakers are listening. It is clear there are unacceptable gaps in data and research and inconsistencies in diagnosis and treatment, particularly when it comes to where people live and their socio-economic status. The inquiry has provided the evidence that it doesn't have to be this way. There are ready-to-go solutions in the committee's recommendations, and I'd like to commend the chair again for his wonderful leadership and work. Those recommendations just needed to be actioned. As deputy chair of the health committee, I endorse them and hope that we see some strong commitments in the government's budget.

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