Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

First of all, I congratulate you, Mr President, on taking on the presidency, and thank Senator Duniam for his question. Yesterday, 14 November, was World Diabetes Day. As Minister Hunt said, this is a day about new hope and new opportunities for people of all ages with diabetes. To support this, the minister announced that the Turnbull government would invest $9.46 million through the National Health and Medical Research Council's grants program. This investment will support new research into type 1 diabetes, a disease for which we have no cure. This project, run by St Vincent's Institute of Medical Research in Melbourne, will see collaboration between four of Australia's top research teams. The focus of the research will be on early life and understanding why type 1 diabetes develops, prevention, seeking to identify new drugs to stop the disease from occurring, treatment and improving therapies to replace the cells that are destroyed during the disease process.

This research is important because around 140,000 Australian children and adults suffer from type 1 diabetes. Yesterday's announcement builds on the Turnbull government's recent $200 million investment in world-leading medical research projects which will improve the lives of patients battling cancers, mental health illnesses and chronic disease. This will include over $400 million to be invested in cancer research, including areas like melanoma research, $29 million into mental health research, $23 million into cardiovascular disease research, $8 million for diabetes research, $5 million for obesity research, and improving the health of Indigenous Australians is a priority with $15.5 million for new research. Over $15 million also will be targeted at research projects that support people who suffer severe injuries. A total of 326 projects will be funded at a cost of more than $197 million. (Time expired)