I acknowledge the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples as the traditional owners of Canberra, and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

I will say more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health in a moment.

I wish to acknowledge the presence of the Minister for Regional Services, Mark Coulton, and the Co-Chairs of the Parliamentary Friends Group for Eye Health and Vision, Mr Andrew Laming and Ms Meryl Swanson.

I wish to acknowledge that The Hon Bob McMullin the President of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness is attending the event this evening, and want to thank him for his leadership in this important area internationally.

It is great that the sector comes together for the launch of the World Health Organization World Report on Vision, which is a critically important and thorough piece of work.

I think it is also important to acknowledge that this World Report on Vision, in my view, recognises and celebrates some of the achievements of the Australian eye sector. A number of the sector representatives are in this room tonight.

In particular I want to thank the other guest speakers for the evening, Ian Wishart CEO of the Fred Hollows Foundation, Peter Holland CEO of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, Judith Abbott CEO of Vision 2020 Australia, as well as their Chair Amanda Vanstone.

To all advocates, clinicians, and researchers here tonight, thank you for the work you do towards reducing avoidable blindness in Australia and our region.

I know Im speaking at the end of a long day for everyone, but I want to make a few important comments about the World Health Organisations Report on Vision, which I welcome on behalf of the Australian Labor Party.

Keeping closer to home, I want to address that this report recognises a most acute problem Australias eyesight and vision, that is the rates of eye disease and blindness in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

It is in this vein that I acknowledge that 94 per cent of vision loss in Indigenous Australians is preventable or treatable, and that vision loss alone accounts for around 11 per cent of the gap in health outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.

The report notes our first Australians experience rates of presenting distance vision impairment at double the rate of than other cohorts.

This means the World Health Organisation in their World Report on Vision has called out the fact that some of our Australians suffer distance vision impairment at double the rate of others.

Vision2020s report Strong Eyes, Strong Communities: a five year plan for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander eye health and Vision outlined a suite of initiatives needed to expand eye care services and improve access to treatment, increase community led eye care, eliminate endemic trachoma and embed eye health in integrated primary care models.

To me, that your organisations are calling for additional resources so 95,000 extra services can be delivered to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia means collectively, we are falling short on providing access to those who need it the most.

Too many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people still experience avoidable vision loss and blindness, and those who have lost vision often find it difficult to access the support and services they need.

Wholly preventable eye diseases and blindness should be unacceptable in a developed nation like Australia.

Labor made a commitment at the last election of $13 million to start to close the gap on eye health.

This commitment was to fund regional eye health coordinators, improved case management and outreach services, and in establishing a new eye health centre to service the needs of communities Western Australia.

And while we are a way off the next election, and Labor is a while off finalising policy decisions, I want to make clear that as a party this is something we will continue to support and advocate for.

The World Report on Vision signals that there is more to be done, both in Australia and in our region.

The World Report on Vision points out that Australia remains one of only 44 countries with endemic levels of trachoma, and the only high-income country to be included on the list. We are not on track to eliminate blinding trachoma as a public health problem by 2020, despite the fact that it is preventable.

In Australia we know that 90 per cent of blindness and vision impairment across both Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians is preventable. If we arent preventing it, then we are falling short of giving all Australians a fair shot at a health life.

But we also cant turn our head away from our shared responsibility to addressing the crises of our neighbours too, rising rates of vision loss and its impacts in Southern Asia and the Pacific.

It is stark that the World Health Organisation notes that Australian studies have indicated growing rates of myopia in urban Australia; and that the Report also highlights the challenges of age-related vision loss, noting that population ageing will significantly increase the number of people with eye conditions, especially glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration.

This isnt good enough.

These arent criticisms of your industry by any means, but an indication of the importance of the work you do and the need for greater resources.

Now, more broadly on the World Report on Vision, it is good that the updated methodology of the reporting process has resulted in a much more accurate number for those facing blindness or vision impairment globally despite the fact that it means the number is higher.

2.2 billion people around the world have vision impairment or blindness. Yet nearly half of those people have conditions that were preventable, or have not yet been addressed.

I think this report goes to the heart of the problems, and what can be done, both around the world and in Australia, to prevent blindness and vision impairment, especially in our most vulnerable populations.

I do want to briefly acknowledge that the report also recognises that Australia is a leader in many aspects, thanks to the important work like that of our cataract surgery coverage rates of over 80%, and the use of teleophthalmology by Lions Outback Vision linking patients in rural and remote communities of Western Australia to consultant ophthalmologists based in Perth.

It is good that this has been recognised by the World Health Organisation.

So Ill leave you to enjoy the rest of your evening, but let me say, I welcome the World Report into Vision, and say to your sector, you have my full support.

The Labor Party will take their time in consulting with your organisations to develop good policies for the next election, as we did most recently, but we will also call for the Government to provide appropriate support to your organisations, to make sure that we are all working together to prevent vision impairment and blindness as much is possible to do so.