Steve Irons (Swan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I will take that as a compliment, thank you. I thank David Gillespie, who came and presented to us on the Gold Coast, for his evidence and his book Sweet Poison, which I know some of the committee read. I know the member for Kingston had doubts about it, but I am living proof that it does work. It focused my thoughts on what I was eating, on my intake, and also on my output of physical effort. Again I thank David Gillespie. Not every solution is going to work for every person but it has worked for me, and I think if that can help other people to focus on a healthy lifestyle and activity that would be great.

On the matter of submissions to the inquiry, I must congratulate all the groups, associations, businesses and individuals who presented to the committee. The individuals who had the courage to tell their stories were fantastic and I applaud them. The member for Lyons came and spoke to us as well. I was not at that particular hearing, but I applaud him for his opening up about his personal situation. The report also dealt with bariatric surgery, which is the surgical reduction of the stomach and includes lap band surgery and gastric bypass.

Unfortunately the media focus after the release of this report was on the recommendation that said, ‘Obesity should be placed on the Medicare Benefits Schedule as a chronic disease requiring an individual management plan.’ The media were more interested in the fact that this would lead to people obtaining free surgery for stomach lap banding at the expense of the taxpayer. If the media had bothered to understand the full implication of the report, they would have understood that the inclusion of this type of surgery on the Medicare schedule would give access to people who could not afford it and, from evidence given during this inquiry, to people from lower socioeconomic areas, who are most likely to need the surgery. The benefits to society would far outweigh the costs and might also lead to social and economic benefits as well as just health and physical benefits. The media failed to recognise that the report indicated that people in certain environments need assistance and this surgery would have been a final solution, not a first choice, for anyone who qualified for lap-banding surgery.

The reports we received on this surgery are positive but, again, as the chair stated, the committee is wary of giving open slather access to bariatric surgery. It has to be maintained in a clinical program, and many aspects of that program would need to go to the wellbeing of the people who are involved in bariatric surgery. On radio 6PR in Perth, this report was discussed on talkback radio twice during the day after it was released, with some radio callers calling in saying how their lives had changed since the surgery.

We must all treat obesity as not actually a disease but a result of the person’s environment, lifestyle and eating habits. A holistic approach should be taken. The chair stated in his speech that a number of witnesses called for changes to be made to the health system to better treat and manage Australians who are overweight or obese. I believe that the committee has made recommendations in this report that will put Australia on the pathway to achieving a reduction in obesity levels in Australia.

Before I conclude, I would like to say that in my electorate I have started to implement a program which will be called the Swan 10/10 program. That will involve the community as a whole in active lifestyles and healthy eating options. We are just getting our ducks in a row and making sure that all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed before we launch the program. I look forward to that, and it is purely based on the efforts of this obesity inquiry that I have decided to activate a combination of the Gold Coast program and the WellingTONNE Challenge in my electorate. I hope this report contributes to the bettering of our lifestyles and health in Australia. I commend the report to the House.

See this speech in context