Kate Thwaites (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Tomorrow is World Tuberculosis Day. For many Australians, TB can feel like a disease from another time. Consumption was in some ways seen as a romantic disease in the 18th and 19th centuries. It claimed the lives of artists such as Keats and Emily Bronte. But the reality is that TB is not just a historical anomaly. Despite being preventable and curable, TB remains the world's deadliest infectious disease, claiming around 1.25 million lives every year. Here at home, rates in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are around four times higher than among non-Indigenous Australians. And in our region the challenge is great, with the Indo-Pacific carrying more than half the global TB burden. The health burden falls on our neighbours in PNG and in communities linked there in the Torres Strait.

That's why Australia's role matters. The Albanese government has continued our strong commitment to the Global Fund, investing $266 million to combat TB as well as HIV and malaria, with a clear focus on our neighbours. I'm proud to once again serve as chair of Parliamentary Friends of Australian TB Caucus in this parliament, and I look forward to working with the members for Mackellar and Monash as we continue raising awareness and pushing for practical solutions to tackle TB. While we may not always see it at the moment, it is very real, and together we can be part of a global movement to end TB.