Nicolle Flint (Boothby, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Three weeks ago I had the pleasure of meeting a brave young man with type 1 diabetes, Hayden Supple. I am so grateful to Hayden for taking the time to see me to talk about the struggles and risks of living with his condition. With the support of his parents, Andrew and Rose, Hayden has been campaigning to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes for much of his young life. Hayden also mentioned to me the important investments by the coalition government of $54 million to subsidise continuous glucose monitoring technology and of $35 million for diabetes medical research. Developed in consultation with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and other professional bodies, these policies will help an estimated 4,000 sufferers and save families around $4,000 each year, whilst also paving the way towards finding a cure.

Hayden and his family have been tireless fundraisers and recently participated in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's One Walk initiative. So far, the national event has involved 4,600 walkers, and there have been 11,000 individual donations. As at last week, the walk had raised over $700,000, and I encourage everyone to find an event, register to walk, and donate to this worthy cause. We must help the 122,000 sufferers of type 1 diabetes—especially as two-thirds of the people diagnosed annually are under the age of 25.