I had the pleasure of sharing this announcement with our region’s delegates from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JRDF) in Canberra last week.

Abbie Wren, of Orange and Georga Nonnenmacher, of Cudal were picked by the JDRF to visit Parliament House as part of diabetes awareness month, and I was thrilled to be able to show my support and that of my colleagues for diabetes research.

Type one diabetes is a life-long auto-immune disease that usually occurs in childhood but can be diagnosed at any age. 

More than 122,000 Australians have type one diabetes including 20,000 children, and more than 1000 in our electorate of Calare.

The Coalition has long recognised the value of the JDRF which brings together the best of Australia’s medical talent to tackle this health problem.

Another year over

Federal Parliament has finished for 2012, and unfortunately it ended as it began, with a government in chaos, too busy dealing with various scandals to formulate, let alone deliver good policy for Australia.

The cost of living continues to soar and according to local charities, more and more people arestruggling to stay afloat. 

The Prime Minister’s announcement this week of plans to cut power bills are laughable. If she really wants to do something about electricity prices, she should drop the carbon rax – it’s partly to blame. I know the people of Calare will not be fooled by this pathetic olive branch. 

And as the government continues to fumble with scandal after scandal, more boats continue to arrive on their watch. 

Since coming to power, this government has seen more than 250 boat arrivals to Australia, carrying a staggering 30,500 people.

Yet, in the face of a monumental failure in border protection, the government remains stubborn and refuses to fix the problem. I hope for a more proactive parliament in 2013.

 Swim safe

With the recent hot weather, it’s timely to think about being safe around pools.

Royal Life Saving estimates there are 600,000 young adults aged 15-24 in the community who have missed out on a water safety education and are at extreme risk of drowning.

I gave my support to Royal Life Saving’s campaign calling on state and territory government’s to make swimming and water safety compulsory in all Australian primary schools.  

I urge everyone to heed this important safety message this summer.