Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to make a contribution tonight and talk about the Parliamentary Friends of Dementia group. We had an event late this afternoon and this evening. I believe in the magic of Arts and Dementia. I want to acknowledge my co-convener, Nola Marino MP, and thank her for the contribution that she makes every single day in the other place in the work she does about raising dementia awareness. I have to say that it was an amazing event, and I want to acknowledge those members and senators who were able to join us. Senator Richard Colbeck, who has just joined us in the chamber, was there, and I'm sure he will attest to the fact that the panel discussion today was just an amazing experience. I would also like to acknowledge the facilitator, Dr Pat Baines. We had Mr Colin Blake who is a dementia advocate. He cares for his wife, Shirley. An interesting fact is that Shirley and Colin were on the ABC program titled Keep On Dancing. The amazing thing is, when Shirley dances, it's like the first time she is dancing with Colin. Hearing that was so moving, and I want to acknowledge their contribution this afternoon.

We then had Matt Okine, the comedian-actor who is also responsible for the new version of Mother and Son on the ABC. He is exposing the Australian community to dementia and breaking down some of the barriers and myths around dementia. He was an amazing contributor to that panel as well. Then we had Mark Seymour, another Dementia Australia ambassador. He spoke about his journey with his mother and how he probably had a much closer relationship with his mother because she is on that dementia journey. He sang a couple of songs and brought us all to tears. It was just amazing. Then we had Dr Janet Thomas, a dementia advocate living with dementia who is an author, and with the support of her writing friends and her wonderful husband she continues to write. It was an amazing event and I want to pay special acknowledgement to Dementia Australia for all the work that they do. Their CEO is the inspiring Maree McCabe, and I thank her for her leadership over a long period of time. I also acknowledge David Edghill and, in particular, Christine Bolt. I thank them and the rest of the team for bringing this event altogether. It was just an amazing, moving event.

Colin spoke about his relationship with his wife, Shirley, and he explained to us about love. Their love was a love of sharing. Now that she has been on this journey for seven years, it is a love of dependence. When we were fortunate enough to have Mark singing for us, we saw Shirley and Colin were up and dancing. That just reminded everyone that, when you have a diagnosis of dementia, you can have the best life possible if we give you the tools and the support you need to continue to enjoy your life to your full capacity. But what we also have to do as a government is to continue to invest. We have to support their carers, and we have to acknowledge the early onset of dementia and what that does to our local economies when the person diagnosed with dementia has to leave their work and their carer also has to leave work because people having to leave their work has an impact on the Australian economy. I just want to do a big shout-out for all of those members and senators who joined us and the advocates for what they do each and every day, and really pay homage to Dementia Australia. I've been a co-convenor for more than 10 years, and it's amazing how far we've come in breaking down the barriers and educating people in this place, the other place and our staff about dementia and how important it is. It's a very important part of life for too many Australians, and we have to do all we can to support them.