On Monday the Western Sydney Diabetes Alliance held a community meeting to beat diabetes in the Blacktown area. A heap of community leaders, or probably in this modern era I should call them influencers—

Mr Paul Scully: Particularly if you were there!

Mr STEPHEN BALI: I was there. I was even on the panel. Thank you, Minister. Some 123 influencers were there for the pre‑launch of a campaign to lose weight to reduce the risk of diabetes. To make any campaign about losing weight successful in any area, it needs community support. A lot of people talk about it but then nothing happens. We understand that losing two kilograms can massively reduce either your exposure to diabetes or reduce its impact. In fact, research shows that losing two kilograms reduces the chance of getting diabetes by 30 per cent. Unfortunately, Western Sydney is a hotspot for diabetes. Therefore, mobilising key stakeholders and their communities is the best way to address it. By bringing people together they can talk about the potential of losing two kilograms, the different aspects of it and how to do it.

One of the co-chairs of the forum was Ray Messom, who is the CEO of WentWest Primary Health Network. It has hundreds of medical clinics that want to be part of this. The other was the great Jim Taggart, OAM—who else can conduct these forums? He is a man about town who is involved with community organisations across Sydney. And he is a better talker than anyone in this Chamber, I reckon. There were also guest speakers. Graeme "Buzz" Bidstrup is the CEO of Uncle Jimmy Thumbs Up app, which was designed mainly for the Aboriginal community but can be used by everyone. The app gives a thumb signal for food that either is plugged in or scanned using its barcode. Two thumbs up is good. A sideways thumb shows it is not that good. The thumbs down shows you should not be eating that food. It is a simple app. Most of my food would probably get the thumbs down!

It was a great thrill to have a live cross from Parliament House into our forum at the Blacktown Workers Club as the Minister for Health was able to squeeze us in for 15 minutes in his busy schedule before he went to a Cabinet meeting. To have a person like the Minister enthusiastically talking about government initiatives and encouraging everyone in the room to come together was a highlight of the event. Other guest speakers included Prevention Manager at Western Sydney Diabetes Janine Dawson, chair of the Western Sydney Local Health District Board Richard Alcock, and Dr Rebecca Nogajski from Western Sydney Local Health District.

The forum panellists were great. The member for Prospect talked about his life experience and how he lost 15 kilograms—probably during COVID he put it back on. That is on the record now, so I will be in trouble. He will do a response later! Another panellist was Simon Graham, representing Blacktown Workers Club CEO Morgan Stewart. The club has done a wonderful job and is putting in $500,000 over the next five years to the health care program. Another panellist was Dr Shanthini Seelan, a GP at Bridgeview Medical Practice in Toongabbie, which is a leading local GP clinic that runs information sessions, healthy living classes and cooking demonstrations. Mark Scott is from Novo Nordisk Australia, which is a pharmaceutical company putting a lot of money into prevention programs. You would think pharmaceutical companies would want you to use their medicines, but it has established Cities Changing Diabetes in 40 cities around the world.

I notice the member for Castle Hill is here, but I want Blacktown to be the forty-first city and the first city in Australia. We will have a challenge whether it will be Blacktown or the Hills. I know the member is on the Hills council. Novo Nordisk Australia has established a good network around the world. Rowan Clifford, the CEO of Diabetes Australia, was another panellist. Panellist Professor Glen Maberly is a world‑leading medical doctor based in Western Sydney who goes around the world delivering studies and results. If we do not come together and do not deliver outcomes then we will never beat diabetes.