Release: $300 million for “nothing special”

Release: $300 million for “nothing special”

A select few are cheering the government’s plan to subsidise free glucose monitoring systems for Type 1 diabetics at the expense of many. The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance, the nation’s largest grassroots advocacy group representing taxpayers, today took aim at the shortsightedness of the Government, as well as Diabetes Australia, for dropping a $300 million bill on the taxpayers.

”Less than 0.5% of Australians are Type 1 diabetics, and of that only a select few will be eligible for the free monitoring systems. Minister Hunt is spending $300 million of taxpayer money on doing very little good for very few people,” said ATA spokesman Eliot Metherell, himself a diabetic.

”I have been a Type 1 diabetic for over half my life. It requires daily effort to manage. But the devices the government plans to fund will do little to improve that management for one simple reason - all they do is remove the split-second pain of a regular blood test.

”These devices don’t deliver insulin, don’t remove the need for regular manual testing, and don’t do anything special. Yet each one costs thousands of dollars a year.

”While I am disappointed in Minister Hunt, I am equally disappointed by the lack of principle of the Opposition and Diabetes Australia in supporting such an enormous waste of money at a time when hospital beds are at a premium and doctors are suffering mental health problems from stress. This isn’t in the best interests of the public or our health budget. It’s barely in the interests of Type 1 diabetics like myself. As a diabetic and a taxpayer, I want it undone and the money better spent.”