Andrew Laming MP, co-chair of the Parliamentary Friends Group for Eye Health and Vision Care, praised the sector for turning the spotlight on vision impairment and blindness.
“As a sector you do it in a way that virtually no one else does and those who have been in this parliament before know how hard it is to get an overall sector view.” Mr Laming said.
“It’s something you do in an excellent way, it is really well supported by MPs because we are getting to meet, and to talk to and hear from people who work at the coalface, and that’s sometimes a rare thing.”
The Parliamentary Friends Group for Eye Health and Vision Care dinner was held at Parliament House, Canberra in March. The dinner was a great success with over 100 attendees including parliamentarians, advisers, government officials and representatives from eye health and vision care sector.
This year's dinner provided an opportunity to highlight critical eye health issues in Australia and hear stories from the men and women working in eye health and vision care as well as people who have the lived experience of blindness and vision impairment.
The event also saw the launch of ‘Our Eyes–Our Journey’, a video that seeks to increase the number of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people receiving eye health and vision care services across Australia.
Special guests included former Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery AC AO (Mil) CVO MC (Retd), Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash, Secretary of the Department of Health Jane Halton, and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Brett Mason.