Australia’s Minister for Health and Ageing Mark Butler and the nation’s leading diabetes experts will gather at Parliament House in Canberra today for the National Diabetes Summit, as figures highlight the growing scale and impact of one of Australia’s most complex health challenges.
Hosted by Diabetes Australia, the landmark Summit will bring together policy makers, clinicians, researchers, advocates and importantly, individuals living with diabetes, to address the escalating effects of diabetes and identify solutions.
Diabetes Australia’s Group CEO Justine Cain said the Summit marked a critical opportunity for the nation to confront the diabetes epidemic.
“A challenge of this scale demands a national response,” Ms Cain said.
“Diabetes is one of the most serious and costly health challenges facing Australians.
“Every five minutes an Australian is diagnosed with diabetes. These individuals are managing a complex condition that affects almost every organ in the body and increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputation.
“Bringing national leaders together, alongside lived experience representatives, is a critical step toward delivering the coordinated response Australia urgently needs.”
The Summit will feature a keynote address from Health Minister Mark Butler and bring together experts from across the sector to help shape the next phase of Australia’s national response to the condition.
This critical national dialogue comes as diabetes continues to place enormous pressure on Australia’s health system and economy.
Around two million Australians are currently living with diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes, with another two million at high risk. Without decisive action, the number of Australians affected is projected to reach 3.6 million by 2050.
More than 1.2 million hospitalisations each year are linked to diabetes, accounting for around 10 per cent of all hospital admissions in Australia, and the number of diabetes-related amputations has increased by 51 percent in a decade according to the latest figures.
Each year about 6,300 Australians living with diabetes undergo a lower-limb amputation, and experts estimate that up to 85 per cent of these procedures are preventable with earlier intervention and coordinated care.
The condition is also the leading cause of blindness in working age adults and the leading cause of kidney failure requiring dialysis.
Ms Cain said the recent parliamentary inquiry into diabetes made clear that Australia now needs a nationally coordinated response to deliver solutions that change lives.
“We know that investing in prevention, early diagnosis and better access to technology and coordinated care can dramatically reduce devastating complications like amputations, kidney disease and vision loss,” she said.
“Preventing or delaying type 2 diabetes is possible. When prevention programs focus on people at highest risk, around 58 per cent of cases can be delayed or avoided.”
The impact of type 2 diabetes is felt strongly among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, where people are more than three times as likely to live with diabetes and nearly five times more likely to be hospitalised with diabetes-related complications.
Ms Cain said tackling diabetes effectively would deliver significant health and economic benefits.
“Diabetes already costs the Australian health system more than $14.2 billion each year, and those costs are projected to reach $45 billion by 2050,” she said.
“If we act now, we can prevent complications, help people live healthier lives, reduce hospitalisations and strengthen Australia’s health system for the future.”
Ahead of the Summit, the diabetes community has made two submissions to the 2026-27 Federal Budget seeking affordable access to diabetes technologies for those who face the greatest risk of complications.
The joint submissions, supported by peak diabetes, research and lived experience organisations, urge the Australian Government to expand subsidies for Automated Insulin Delivery (AID) systems for people living with type 1 diabetes in priority groups and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) devices for people living with type 2 diabetes and other types of diabetes in priority groups, through the National Diabetes Services Scheme.
Equitable access to technology is one of the topics that will be raised at the Summit.
