Thursday, 8 February 2024

Ministers statements: medical research

Ben CARROLL (Niddrie – Minister for Education, Minister for Medical Research) (14:18): I rise to update the house on how the Allan Labor government is backing our best and brightest medical minds and medical research to transform the health outcomes for everyday Victorians right across our state. If you asked any medical researcher around the world where they would want to work, they would talk about three places: London, Boston and Melbourne. Right here in Melbourne we are home to a world-class medical research community and world-class medical research precincts from Parkville right out to Monash in Clayton. Some of our brightest minds are really working very hard to change very, very incredible outcomes.

It is very sad that around 1000 children are diagnosed with childhood cancer each year – that is 1000 too many diagnoses – but our world-class researchers at the Hudson Institute of Medical Research, which I visited recently, are about changing that. Last month I saw firsthand how they are using precision medicine to target brain tumours in children. While survival rates for children have not improved in a long time, our researchers out at the Hudson are trying and trying and trying again, and it is all starting right here in Victoria, where we are wanting to shift the dial with the Victorian Paediatric Cancer Consortium, which I know the Minister for Health is very proud of.

If you take type 1 diabetes, every day around seven people are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Many of them are children. Right here in Victoria, and right now, we are changing that. A few weeks ago I met with Professor Thomas Kay from the St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. He told me about their breakthrough using transformative research to use everyday rheumatoid arthritis drugs to halt the progression of type 1 diabetes – a real game changer that will help people who have been dependent on insulin injections to have the quality of life that they so richly deserve.

This is all happening under the Allan Labor government in one of the fastest growing areas of medical research, where we are translating that research not only into cures but, as the Treasurer knows, also into our precincts and making sure it creates jobs.