Tuesday, 20 June 2023

 Wendy LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (13:38): I rise to acknowledge and champion the tireless work of Kyabram’s Mick Simpson, who has dedicated his life to raising community awareness of dementia, an insidious condition that is the second leading cause of death in all Australians. In February I spoke of Mick’s work when I joined him on a Walk for Dementia event at the Victoria Park Lake in Shepparton. Through his walks Mick raises both awareness of and funding for research into the condition, despite having been diagnosed with dementia himself in 2019.

Earlier this morning I was honoured to welcome Mick on the front steps of state Parliament as he completed his latest Walk over Dementia event, walking from Kyabram to Parliament House – what an unbelievable achievement. Mick’s event was to highlight the increasing number of children diagnosed with childhood dementia in Australia. One in 2800 children are born with a condition that causes childhood dementia, and sadly 70 per cent of those children diagnosed will not reach their 18th birthday. Due to a lack of funding there has been little research into treating or slowing childhood dementia, and the money raised from Mick’s walk will support research as well as dementia and carer support in Kyabram. I welcome Mick and his support team to Parliament House today. Mick, you are an inspiration to all of us for the wonderful work that you do to raise awareness of this insidious condition. You are a champion for all sufferers and a hero in your local community.