“Sugar Sugar” was the most successful song by the fictional rock band The Archies, who featured in The Archie Show comics. I remember watching reruns on afternoon TV throughout my childhood, following Archie, Jughead, Reggie, Betty and Veronica. It’s a song that’s stayed with me — and in more recent years, one of the things I’ve had to examine very carefully since being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes nearly ten years ago is sugar. Also chocolate. And butter — in our family, we had such generous servings that the standing joke was, “Would you like some bread with your butter?”
When I was diagnosed, I was overweight. During my time in the ACT Legislative Assembly, I’d gradually become less physically active. Instead of exercise and sport, I was attending functions and meetings night after night. Add in a pair of dodgy knees, a punishing schedule, and the convenient excuse that I only had time for a quick takeaway at lunch, and the result was predictable.
Over the past several years, I’ve managed to shed a lot of that weight and my health is far better for it. A double knee replacement in 2021 allowed me back into sport and exercise, but diet was the real turning point.
Two million Australians currently have pre-diabetes and are at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Additionally, approximately 1.5 million Australians — around 5.6% of the population — are living with diabetes. Type 2 is by far the most common form, accounting for nearly 88% of cases, with Type 1 making up around 10%. And those are only the diagnosed cases — studies suggest that up to half of all Type 2 cases remain undiagnosed.
Diabetes is considered one of the top ten leading causes of death in Australia, and it now costs the Australian health system an estimated $9.1 billion annually. The human cost is even more confronting: unmanaged diabetes significantly raises the risk of stroke, blindness, kidney failure and amputation. I can tell you from personal experience that the prospect of those outcomes is terrifying. Prevention and early management aren’t just smart economics — they’re about preserving a life worth living.
The leading risk factors contributing to the Type 2 diabetes burden in Australia are overweight and obesity, dietary risks, and physical inactivity. Other factors include age, gender (males are 1.3 times as likely to be living with Type 2 diabetes), family history and genetics and a few others.
Many Australians brush off the symptoms of Type 2 — persistent tiredness, increased thirst, slow-healing cuts — as just part of getting older. They’re not. That’s why I urge you to get tested. It’s simple, painless, and it’s always better to know.
I was genuinely pleased to recently become an Advocate for Diabetes Australia as part of their new Blue Circle Collective — a group dedicated to amplifying the voices of people living with diabetes in shaping care, policy and awareness across the country. Lived experience matters, and it must inform decision-makers.
