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The Macular Disease Foundation of Australia is always welcome as a friend at Admiralty House, and I am very pleased that we can continue a tradition today that has spanned many years.

I am also delighted that such a diverse cross section of the Foundation’s community has joined us here this morning.

Ambassadors, advocates, researchers, supporters, partners, volunteers and, importantly, those with lived experience of macular disease – you are brought together not just by your understanding of the disease, but by your shared determination to make a difference to reduce its incidence and impact on all Australians.

The Macular Disease Foundation – passionate, patient-centred, and community-focused – has been an unwavering voice on behalf of those impacted by macular disease, and a source of information, support and evidence, making a real difference in the fight for sight.

Your 2025 funding brings your total research investment to almost $7 million across 42 projects – a remarkable achievement since you launched your research grants program in 2011.

As Australia’s largest non-government funder of macular and retinal disease research, with a goal of doubling the number of research projects you support by 2030, you embody the hard edge of care.

And you have enlisted some extraordinary champions, patrons, ambassadors, supporters and experts in your campaign.

Ita Buttrose, Jean Kittson and Jillian Skinner, and the corps of MDFA ambassadors – you are all so admired and trusted by Australia.

I hope today’s event gives you another opportunity to share the message that vision loss is not just a normal part of growing old.

Your work reminds us that we all have a responsibility to work towards equitable, accessible preventative care and treatments.

Just over a year ago, I undertook as your Governor-General to make care a central focus of my term.

Care for each other, care for those who care for others, care for our extraordinary continent and its environmental beauty, care for civics and institutions.    

And care for the way we discuss and debate the tough and sensitive issues of our time.

As I have witnessed care enacted in our community, I have realised that care is by no means a soft option.  

Care is complex and subtle, it is accountable and measurable.

And it encompasses the research, scholarship and rigour we celebrate today.

I want to thank the Foundation’s large cohort of volunteers – all of you so compassionate and so trusted – you are out in the community, in the office and on the phone providing thousands of hours of support.

The tech support you provide to community members who use life-enhancing applications on their smartphones is now such a vital and modern example of care.

And the community reference group – joining up the lived experience of people living with macular disease, their family and carers to elevate the Foundation’s work and impact.

Today, we recognise some of the extraordinary researchers and your groundbreaking projects to improve treatments, reduce the burden of macular disease and make significant progress towards a future in which we are all protected from its impact.  

I am very much looking forward to talking to you about your work in more detail after the formalities.

Of course, your research is made possible by the generosity and philanthropy of many. This, too, is an act of care.  

Whether through personal connections to macular disease, the value you place on world-class research, or just a determination to invest in a stronger, more inclusive community – the generosity of the Foundation’s donors is care that makes a difference – to those living with or at risk of macular disease, and to the strength of our society.

Today’s grants mark the third round of funding from the Grant Family Fund – a very generous bequest that uniquely supports blue sky research projects led by early career researchers.

Thank you to the supporters here today, and to all who stand beside the Foundation in achieving lasting change in the treatment and prevention of macular disease.

To our grant recipients, as a community of researchers, your work is a powerful demonstration of care, with an unstinting focus on positive future outcomes that lie at the heart of the Foundation’s ambition to support and care for people with macular disease today, and invest in the ongoing fight for sight – through education, treatment and prevention – which is the hope of tomorrow.

From studies to predict and prevent the progression of age-related macular degeneration, to new imaging techniques to a new gene therapy and targeted treatment for inherited disease – you are all extraordinary.

Congratulations and thank you to you all.

I am proud to be part of MDFA’s journey this morning, and look forward to many more opportunities to support the Foundation, and your remarkable and generous community, into the future.