Australian politicians, called pollies by their media, debated 100 years of insulin on a motion proposed by MPs, Rowan Ramsey and Graham Perrett, the Co-Chairs of the Australian Parliament’s Friends of Diabetes.
In the debate many issues were raised with MPs from across the country taking part.
Rowan Ramsey (right), a member of the ruling Liberal Party, referred to the world wide incidence of diabetes and concerns that numbers continue to increase.
His Labor Party Co-Chair, Graham Perrett (left), referred to insulin as the holy grail of diabetes treatment as insulin keeps more than one million Australians alive. You can read, watch or download the debate that took place in the Federal Parliament on 2 nd June by searching here: https://www.aph.gov.au/
Advocacy Action: The motion, right, could be used as a template and adapted for other countries. How are you marking 100 years of insulin in your Parliament? Could you use a campaign on this to gain more advocates?
This House: (1) notes that:
(a) 2021 marks 100 years since the discovery of insulin by Canadian surgeon Frederick Banting; (b) Frederick Banting along with his colleagues Professor John McLeod, medical student Charles Best and researcher Dr James Collip, solved the problem of how extracted insulin could be used to treat a person with diabetes;
(c) insulin was first administered to a 14 year old boy, Leonard Thompson at the Toronto General Hospital—it was lifesaving for Leonard and for millions of others diagnosed with diabetes over the ensuing years; and
(d) for their discovery, Banting and McLeod won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in 1923 and shared their prize money with Best and Collip;
(2) recognises that:
(a) diabetes is a serious and complex metabolic disease that affects the lives of many Australians;
(b) more than 1.4 million Australians currently have diabetes and are registered with the National Diabetes Services Scheme (NDSS); and
(c) Australians like Anna Moresby, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child during World War 2, can live long and productive lives because of the discovery of insulin—Anna has just received a Kellion Victory Medal for living with diabetes for 80 years; and
(3) acknowledges that:
(a) the Government has a long-standing commitment to the NDSS, established in 1987, which assists people with diabetes to self-manage their diabetes through provision of subsidised insulin pen needles and pump consumables, glucose monitoring strips, continuous glucose monitors and flash monitors, and important information, resources, education and support programs and other services;
(b) there has been strong bi-partisan support for the NDSS; and
(c) since its inception the NDSS supports all people with diabetes all over Australia, including children with type 1 diabetes and families, young adults, women with diabetes in pregnancy and over 450,000 people who currently use insulin to help manage their diabetes.
The cross party ‘Friends of Diabetes’ group in the Australian Parliament is one of many such groups in Parliaments around the world. Could we help yours to be even more effective, or help you to grow your membership. We can liaise with you to arrange an on-line meeting to encourage new members who advise on campaign and advocacy ideas. Do ask your colleagues to join, is free and only takes a couple of minutes to fill in a form on-line at www.pdgn.co.uk – To contact PDGN, email info@pdgn.co.uk