An additional 71,000 Australian Type 1 diabetes patients will have access to continuous glucose monitoring and flash glucose monitoring devices under the National Diabetes Support Scheme from
1 July this year.

They will pay a maximum of $32.50 each month, equivalent to the cost they would already be incurring when using blood glucose test strips. 

Type 1 diabetes is an insidious condition that cannot be prevented and costs Australians thousands of dollars each year.

People who meet the existing eligibility criteria, such as people under 21, concession cardholders and pregnant women, will continue to receive unchanged, fully subsidised access to continuous glucose monitoring products.

This means that every Australian with Type 1 diabetes will have access to a potentially life-saving Government-funded glucose monitoring device, which could cost up to $5000 per year without subsidy.

Importantly, it will be easier for them to go about their everyday lives.

Continuous glucose monitoring allows patients to monitor their glucose levels and, therefore, their ability to deal with diabetes.

One in six Australian men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer by the age of 85. 
From next month, men with prostate cancer will have access to Maryland which will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for the first time for the treatment of people with non-metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. 

Without PBS subsidy, patients might pay more than $40,000 per year of treatment. 

Empliciti will also be listed on the PBS for the first time for the treatment of relapsed and/or multiple refractory myelomas for use in combination with medicines lenalidomide and dexamethasone. 

Myeloma is a type of cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow. Representing Australia’s third most common blood cancer after lymphoma and leukaemia, approximately 18,000 Australians are living with multiple myeloma at any given time. 

Without PBS subsidy, an average of 230 patients each year might pay more than $145,000 per course of treatment. 

These treatments will now be available on the PBS for a maximum of $42.50 per script or as little as $6.80 with a concession card.

ANZAC DAY COMMEMORATION
I was privileged on Anzac Day to attend a number of commemorative events in the electorate of Wright. April 25 is Australia’s most important national occasion, marking the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. It is a day of national remembrance in which we honour all those who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations. We must never forget them.