HANSARD EXTRACT
|
Adjournment: Childhood Obesity |
| 19 October 2006 |
Mr HAYES
(Werriwa)
(12.46
p.m.)—Childhood
obesity has reached critical levels, with recent reports indicating
that the prevalence of obesity has trebled amongst young
Australians, and the number continues to rise. It is estimated that
one in five Australian children are overweight or obese. The figures
in
New South Wales
indicate that it could be as many as one in four. Alarmingly, one in
10 boys in year 10 has liver damage and one in five suffers from
high blood pressure as a result of being overweight. Some experts
predict that the current generation of children might be the first
to die at an earlier age than their parents as a consequence of
obesity.
This issue needs to be addressed. Childhood obesity is a public
policy problem. Not addressing childhood obesity has public policy
implications for our health budgets, implications for the Australian
economy and potential long-term effects for the future. In many
circumstances childhood obesity results in obesity in adults and, as
such, places those adults at risk of serious medical conditions such
as diabetes and heart disease.
Obesity is reported to have caused more than 100,000 Australians to
suffer from type 2 diabetes, almost 380,000 to suffer from
cardiovascular disease and 225,000 to suffer from osteoarthritis.
Such conditions place considerable pressures on our health system
and this, in turn, places pressure on our future budgets. Access
Economics has estimated that the cost of obesity in
Australia reached $21 billion last year, including a direct
financial cost of $3.767 billion. Therefore, the public policy
imperative of this matter is undeniable.
The Minister for Health and Ageing continues to neglect his duty to
us and to future generations by persistently denying that childhood
obesity is a real or significant problem. He has tried to tell the
Australian public that it is ultimately a problem for parents. That
is clearly wrong. In question time yesterday the minister was
quizzed on his response to obesity in a series of questions from
both sides of the House. We heard him wax lyrical about the
government’s efforts to tell us about how much money has been
dedicated to research. Research is fine, but, as the head of
paediatrics at
Campbelltown
Hospital, Dr Andrew McDonald, has advised me, this matter should be
brought to the attention of all policymakers. He says that, in the
minds of medical practitioners, there is no doubt that there is a
socioeconomic dimension to this problem.
Children from poorer families are more likely to be obese, because
fatty food is cheaper. Accordingly, outer metropolitan areas of
Sydney
are disproportionately affected due to their relative socioeconomic
standing. I am not critical of local parents; it is the nature of
the problem. But, when family budgets are under pressure from rising
mortgage costs, rising petrol costs and cuts to take-home pay,
parents look to where spending cuts can occur. Unfortunately, food
and the quality of food is one such area.
Having identified and understood the breadth of the problem, I
concede that there is no simple answer. Much as with addressing a
road toll, a suite of measures is required. Banning the television
advertising of junk food is certainly a good start but, as the
Sydney Morning Herald reported, the cleverest marketers will
find their way around that. Other measures that address the
contribution of our lifestyle need to be encouraged. The proper
resourcing of abstention programs at schools and, particularly,
things such as Active After-School Communities programs is certainly
also to be encouraged. Such programs should be properly resourced to
encourage more kids to participate in healthy activity. (Time
expired)
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