Australian Parliament House, Canberra

Tuesday 31 March 2026

Summit: 9:00am–4:00pm, Theatrette | Exhibition & Networking Reception: 4:00pm–7:00pm, Mural Hall

About

Hosted by Diabetes Australia, the National Diabetes Summit will convene leaders and decision‑makers from across the diabetes and broader health ecosystem, including people living with diabetes, policymakers, clinicians, service providers, researchers, and industry partners. The Summit will facilitate a whole‑of‑sector dialogue on the policy and system changes required to meaningfully reduce the impact of diabetes for all Australians.

Across keynote addresses and dynamic panel discussions, the Summit will explore:

• Australia’s Diabetes Landscape: Context, Challenges and Momentum
• Closing the Gap: First Nations Leadership in Diabetes Prevention and Care
• Turning the Tide: Prevention as the Cornerstone of a Sustainable Health System
• Fit for Pace: How Australia Can Better Translate Emerging Diabetes Innovations into Equitable Real-life Care
• Care that Connects: Integrating Services Around the Person

Following the Summit, the Exhibition & Networking Reception in the Mural Hall will showcase the latest technologies, services, treatments and research driving innovation in diabetes prevention and management.

Why attend

• Help shape near‑term policy and system priorities on prevention, equity, technology and integrated care.
• Engage with influential voices driving national health policy.
• Connect with peers and partners at the post‑Summit Exhibition & Networking Reception in Mural Hall.
• Experience technologies in the prevention and management of diabetes.

Who will be in the room

Invited representatives span lived experience voices, policy decision makers, peak bodies, clinical leaders, research partners, industry, PHNs, state prevention agencies, service providers and consumer organisations.

Program at a glance

9:00am	Arrival and morning tea
9:15am	Welcome remarks
9:40am	Opening address – Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
9:55am	Panel: Australia’s Diabetes Landscape: Context, Challenges & Momentum
10:50am	Panel: Closing the Gap: First Nations Leadership in Diabetes Prevention and Care
11:45am	Keynote address – Minister for Health and Ageing
12:00pm	Lunch
12:40pm	Panel: Turning the Tide: Prevention as the Cornerstone of a Sustainable Health System
1:40pm	Panel: Are our policies and systems fit for pace? Translating diabetes innovation into equitable care
2:40pm	Afternoon tea
3:00pm	Panel: Care that Connects: Integrating Services Around the Person
3:55pm	Closing remarks
4:00pm-7:00pm	Exhibition and Networking Reception

Program and panel information

View speaker bios

Master of Ceremonies: Nicole McMahon, Chief of Impact and Innovation, Diabetes Australia

Welcome to Country: Aunty Violet, Ngunnawal Elder

Welcome remarks

• Justine Cain, Group CEO, Diabetes Australia
• Prof. Josephine Forbes, President, Australian Diabetes Society
• Ann Bush, President, Australian Diabetes Educators Association

Opening address – Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

• Duncan McIntyre, First Assistant Secretary, Technology Assessment and Access, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing

Australia’s Diabetes Landscape: Context, Challenges & Momentum  – This opening discussion sets the foundation for the Summit, establishing a shared understanding of Australia’s diabetes landscape, exploring the key drivers of prevalence, the pressures on current models of care, and the lived experience of people managing diabetes. It will highlight the systemic challenges that continue to shape outcomes, while also pointing to areas of growing momentum across policy, research and community‑led practice, setting the scene for the conversations ahead.

Facilitator: Justine Cain, Group CEO, Diabetes Australia

Panel:

• Duncan McIntyre, First Assistant Secretary Technology Assessment and Access, Department of Health, Disability and Ageing
• Dr. Dorota Pawlak, Chief Scientific Officer, Breakthrough T1D
• Brett Fenton, Chief Health Officer, Diabetes Australia
• Caitlin Rogers, Diabetes Australia Blue Circle Collective Adviser – Community Advisory Council Chair, Lives with Type 1 Diabetes
• Nicole Lawder, Diabetes Australia Blue Circle Collective Community Advocate, Lives with Type 2 Diabetes

Closing the Gap: First Nations Leadership in Diabetes Prevention and Care  – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities face a disproportionate burden of diabetes. This discussion centres First Nations leadership, local workforce models, cultural safety, food security, and the realities of remote service delivery, highlighting practical pathways that are working and how policy can better enable them.

Facilitator: A/Prof. Deanne Minniecon, Diabetes Australia

Panel:

• Coralie Cross, CDE Board Director, Australian Diabetes Educators Association
• Dr. Peter Malouf, CEO, Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association
• Dr. Matthew Hare, Endocrinologist, Diabetes Researcher, and President, Australasian Diabetes in Pregnancy Society
• Jessica Phillips, Lives with Type 2 Diabetes

Keynote address – Minister for Health and Ageing

• The Hon Mark Butler MP, Minister for Health and Ageing

Turning the Tide: Prevention as the Cornerstone of a Sustainable Health System - Preventing type 2 diabetes is essential to the long‑term sustainability of Australia’s health system. This session explores holistic, community‑led and policy‑enabled approaches to reducing incidence, addressing commercial and social determinants, local environments, culture and socioeconomic factors.

Facilitator: Annette Panzera, National Policy Manager, Diabetes Australia

Panel:

• Tim Benson, Diabetes Australia Blue Circle Collective Community Advocate, Lives with Type 2 Diabetes
• Jenna Van Der-Velden, Head of Prevention, Diabetes Victoria
• Dr. Ana Svensson, Senior Medical Director, Novo Nordisk Oceania
• A/Prof Sof Andrikopoulos, CEO, Australian Diabetes Society

Are our policies and systems fit for pace? Translating diabetes innovation into equitable care – From GLP‑1s and early T1D screening to connected devices, virtual care and AI, innovation in diabetes is accelerating. Are our policy and funding settings keeping up – especially for equitable access and real‑world implementation? This panel examines how research, policy and practice can better come together around the needs of people living with diabetes to ensure that innovation translates into real‑world benefit.

Facilitator: Prof. Grant Brinkworth, Director of Research, Diabetes Australia

Panel:

• Tania Harris, Advocacy and Engagement Manager, WA Health Consumers’ Council
• Dr. Amandeep Hansra, Chief Clinical Advisor, Australian Digital Health Agency, and GP
• Warren Bingham, Executive Chairman, Medtech International, Diabetes Australia Blue Circle Collective Ambassador, Lives with Type 2 Diabetes
• Prof. Jonathan Craig, Vice President and Executive Dean of College of Medicine and Public Health Flinders University, Chair of MSAC

Care that Connects: Integrating Services Around the Person - Integration is the difference between fragmented touchpoints and coordinated, wrap‑around care that prevents complications and hospitalisations. This discussion focuses on practical approaches to link primary care, hospitals and community services; enable data‑sharing; and align funding to outcomes within the Government’s reform priorities on prevention, equity, digital and system integration.

Facilitator: Prof. David Simmons, Diabetes Australia

Panel:

• Ms. Natalie Wischer, CEO, NADC
• Dr. Konrad Kangru, GP, RACGP Queensland Faculty Council General Member
• Dr Amira Howari, Senior Clinical Optometrist and Primary Care Diabetes Society of Australia Board Director, Diabetes Australia Blue Circle Collective Community Advocate, Lives with Type 1 Diabetes
• Melanie Gates, CEO, Diabetes WA

Exhibition and Networking Reception - Hosted by the Parliamentary Friends of the Prevention of Diabetes, the Reception will include remarks from the Co-Chairs. The Reception will also feature reflections on the Summit and a special presentation on the KeepSight program.

Formalities

• Summit Reflections & Sponsor Q&A (approx. 4:20pm)
• Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes – Dr Mike Freelander MP, Member for Macarthur, Chair of Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Disability (approx. 5:00pm)
• Enhancing diabetes-related vision care and preventing vision loss through the KeepSight program (approx. 5:10pm)
• Senator Anne Ruston, Senator for SA, Shadow Minister for Health and Aged Care (approx. 5:50pm)
• Parliamentary Friends of the Prevention of Diabetes Co-Chairs, Marion Scrymgour MP and Melissa McIntosh MP (approx. 6:00pm)

Health checks

A range of health check will be available during the Exhibition & Networking Reception, including:

• Eye and hearing checks
• HbA1c (average blood glucose) and cholesterol checks
• Shane Warne Legacy Health Checks
• CGM sensor trials

Thank you to our sponsors and exhibitors