Early Intervention is Vital Against Dementia

I move:

That this House notes that:

(1) dementia is the leading cause of death of women in Australia;

(2) over 42,000 Western Australians are living with dementia and some 242 new diagnoses are made each day;

(3) 472,000 Australians live with dementia and almost 1.6 million people are involved in their care;

(4) it is expected that the number of people living with dementia in Australia is likely to increase to over 1 million by 2058;

(5) we all have a role to play in building dementia-friendly communities such as the initiative of the Memory Cafe in Cambridge;

(6) Western Australians are fortunate to be served by Alzheimer's WA which was founded 40 years ago in Inglewood and has just opened their new base in Subiaco; and

(7) the 42,000 Western Australians suffering from dementia deserve local, well-funded care, support and research.

Dementia is a truly awful disease where you watch family members forget other family members, forget faces they once recognised and eventually forget who they are themselves. Like many in this place, I've had the experience of seeing members of my family being eaten away by this disease, which currently has no cure. My great-grandmother, who lived with us for many years in Fremantle when I was growing up as a kid, started to show early signs and was eventually moved into a nursing home, which, thankfully, was just around the corner from us. But watching her go through that awful experience, her fears and worries amplified as her personality was slowly sanded away, was just truly awful, and it's awful for any family member who has to watch that happen to someone they love.

I'm proud to be moving this motion in coordination with the member for Curtin. We were at the Alzheimer's WA launch of their new offices in Subiaco. I think it was the member for Curtin's idea that we should try to amplify the message from that event by moving this motion. Normally I would have thought it was too kind a bipartisan motion to get much attention in this place, but it speaks to the great people on the selection panel that we are debating it here this evening, and I thank them all.

If there's one message I'd like people to take away from the motion, if there's one message I'd like to send from this motion, it's this: early intervention is vital in the fight against dementia. Currently there is no known cure, but what we can do now, in our lives today, are things that we know can minimise the risk of dementia down the track. Regular exercise, keeping mentally stimulated, eating healthy, drinking less alcohol, maintaining social lives, maintaining a healthy weight, quitting smoking—good advice generally; good advice if you want to avoid the awful impacts of dementia. Not that, if you do any of these things, you're guaranteed not affected by it. It's probably also good advice for all of us in this place regardless. If we take the steps where we can, we're not just looking after ourselves, we're looking after our loved ones. We know when someone suffers from dementia, it's not just them who suffers, it's their family who suffer too.

It's estimated that up to 337,000 Australians provide unpaid care for someone living with dementia in Australia. One in three of these people reduce their working hours so that they can provide unpaid care. We know this is something that disproportionately affects women. Three in four primary carers of people with dementia are women So, again, when we think about what we will be able to do to cure this disease and prevent people being affected by it, we'll also be taking a small step towards reducing that burden on so many families.

I would like to make special mention of the chair of Alzheimer's WA, Adjunct Professor Warren Harding , who is a very proud and active advocate and a g reat constituent of the Curtin electorate. I 'll quote something he said, which I think sums up what needs to be done as we tackle this policy challenge: ' Every Australian has the human right to age with dignity in place , where their children work and their grandchildren go to school, and live as they choose in safe , dementia - friendly communities , with access to affordable, high - quality and safe aged - care services. ' I want to thank Warren and his team for their research and advocacy work and for the meaningful difference it makes to the lives of people in Western Australia every day.

Alzheimer's WA was established in 1982 — I understand it was established in Inglewood in the Perth electorate —and over the last almost 40 years it has continued to help carers and people who are living with this disease. Over time they have become a leader not just in WA but also across Australia. T heir work also provides important , essential jobs , some 180 permanent, part-time and casual roles , in three facilities across the metropolitan area. They also offer certificate III and certificate I V education consulting services for other providers.

If we look at what the future holds, it's worth reflecting on the fact that the number of older Australians is set to double over the next 40 years and that that is going to put huge pressure on our economy . We have to make sure we have the skills and the people able to care for not just this generation but also the next generation .