Expanded MBS subsidies, a national screening program, and a ban on junk food advertising to children are among the recommendations to come from the Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes.
Aiming to help arrest the diabetes epidemic in Australia, 23 key recommendations are included in the comprehensive report tabled on July 3 by the Health, Aged Care and Sport Committee following its landmark Inquiry into Diabetes.
The recommendations include expanding subsidised access to insulin pumps for people living with type 1 diabetes, as well as continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices for people living with type 2 and type 3c diabetes requiring regular insulin, and people with gestational diabetes.
Prevention is also a key focus, with recommendations for a national public health campaign, a levy on sugar-sweetened beverages, and food labelling reforms targeting added sugar to allow consumers to clearly identify the content of added sugar from front-of-pack labelling.
Speaking from Parliament House in Canberra, Diabetes Australia Group CEO Justine Cain said after decades of calls for more diabetes prevention measures, these were welcome recommendations.
“For many years Diabetes Australia has strongly advocated for prevention, care and research measures like those recommended in this report,” Ms Cain said, adding that the committee’s recommendations about access to technology are critically important.
“We would like to see insulin pumps subsidised for all people living with type 1 diabetes, and we’ll be engaging with government about how to do that in a staged, affordable way,” she said.
“Diabetes technologies change people’s lives and that’s why we have been calling for the government to invest in equitable access to them.”
Diabetes Australia also supports the recommendation for comprehensive economic analysis to be undertaken about the direct and indirect cost of diabetes.
With an estimated 2 million Australians living with all types with diabetes, the committee’s recommendations will provide a roadmap to address diabetes prevention and management.
“We need to act decisively and collectively. The time for bold action is now,” Ms Cain said.
“We look forward to working with the government as it responds to the Committee’s recommendations.”
The Parliamentary Committee’s Diabetes Inquiry was referred by the Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Aged Care, in May 2023, and received evidence from people living with diabetes, advocacy groups, healthcare professionals, and researchers. More than 450 submissions were received by the committee.
