Belinda Neal (Robertson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency Bill 2009. It is high time that Australia strengthened its framework for delivering better health outcomes for our people. In particular, Australia needs a fresh strategy to tackle the problems caused by the increasing incidence of chronic illnesses in our society, many of which are preventable. That is why I am particularly pleased to support the government’s present initiative to establish the Australian National Preventive Health Agency, which will coordinate preventative health measures across the country.

The Council of Australian Governments agreed to establish the agency in November 2008 as part of the National Partnership Agreement on Preventative Health, also known as the prevention NP. The creation of a national preventative health agency was also recommended in the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission’s report released in July 2009, with the National Preventative Health Strategy submitted to government on 30 June 2009. As part of agreements forged under the prevention NP, the Commonwealth government committed to provide $872.1 million in funding for six years for a range of preventative health activities, including the establishment of a national body to oversee preventative health.

The government also commissioned three major inquiries into the health system: the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission, the Preventative Health Taskforce and, through the Department of Health and Ageing, the National Primary Health Care Strategy External Reference Group. All three reports reinforce the view that more vigorous efforts in the field of prevention are needed. The Preventative Health Taskforce made numerous recommendations on prevention, focusing particularly on obesity, and tobacco and alcohol use. One of the task force’s main recommendations was to establish a national prevention agency.

The bill before us outlines the broad approach to the challenges posed by preventable chronic disease. It also sets out the functions, governance and structure of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency—I do not know if we can call it ANPHA, but I am sure someone will along the way. ANPHA will play a key role in delivering the new national approach that this country needs. Under the prevention NP, the government will invest $133.2 million over four years to establish the agency. This includes $17.6 million to set up and maintain the agency itself; another $102 million will be allocated to national social marketing campaigns, targeting obesity and smoking; $13.1 million will be invested in a preventative health research fund which will focus on the translation of research into practice; and a further $500,000 will be used to audit the preventative health workforce and to address any identified gaps.

A key initial role of ANPHA will be to provide the leadership, coordination and monitoring required to support the successful implementation of initiatives funded through the prevention NP. This will include $692 million to provide for interventions to help Australians to modify their lifestyles. The agency will support Australian health ministers in tackling the complex and growing challenges of preventable chronic disease. ANPHA will be a statutory authority under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997. A chief executive officer will manage ANPHA and will be directly accountable to the minister for its financial management. The CEO will also be responsible to the Australian Health Ministers Conference, via the minister, for the agency’s performance against agreed strategic objectives and operational plans. ANPHA will have an advisory council comprising between seven and 11 members with preventative health expertise in a variety of disciplines and from a variety of sectors.

The agency will supply evidence based advice to health ministers on key national-level preventative health issues. It will also provide national leadership and stewardship of surveillance and data on preventable chronic diseases and their lifestyle related risk factors in order to improve the availability and comparability of the evidence. Evidence available from a range of sources will be collated to assess and report biannually on the state of preventative health in Australia.

The agency will support behavioural changes through education, promotional and community awareness programs relating to preventive health. Financial assistance to third parties will help support the development and evolution of evidence around preventable health interventions and will achieve preventive health gains—for example, through grants supporting research. Partnerships will be formed with relevant groups, including industry and the non-government and community sectors, to encourage cooperative action leading to preventive health gains. The agency will promulgate national guidelines, standards, codes, charters and other frameworks to guide preventive health initiatives, interventions and activities. It will also manage schemes for awarding best practice preventive health interventions and activities. The agency staff will consist of people with a wide range of professional skills and will also deal with health promotion, health economics, social marketing and corporate support.

The health challenges that are facing Australia are particularly daunting at this time. We have an ageing population combined with problems caused by obesity, smoking, alcohol and unhealthy eating. These are posing serious problems for the health of Australians. Australia currently spends less than two per cent of its health budget on preventative health. This is very much an indication of some of the pressures that are placed on our primary healthcare system. The time to act on this particular problem is now.

Any action to address the challenges presented by preventable health conditions must be done in a coordinated way through a national body. The ageing of the Australian population is perhaps one of the greatest challenges facing this nation in the coming decades. By 2050 the number of people aged 70 years and over will triple to more than six million. On the Central Coast of New South Wales, where my electorate is situated, there are currently 43,000 people aged 70 years and over, representing 13 per cent of the region’s population. In New South Wales the proportion of people aged 70 and over is approximately 10 per cent, so it is clear that the measures contained in this bill will be of vital interest to my constituents. That is why I am particularly concerned that this bill receives the full support of all members of this House and that it is passed quickly so that the Australian National Preventive Health Agency will begin its important work on 1 January 2010, as is planned. The challenges posed to all governments by the long-term demographic change in Australia’s population will be enormous. The costs associated with this trend will also be enormous. If we fail to act now to put in place appropriate policy settings to account for our ageing population, the costs will be far greater down the track.

Smoking and obesity are major lifestyle factors that will be a focus for the new agency. Both smoking and obesity are preventable health risks that continue to burden our people both in human cost to people’s health and in lost productivity. Between 1950 and 2008, an estimated 90,000 Australians died of smoking related diseases. Today, approximately three million Australians continue to smoke despite endless evidence of the health risks that are associated with it and the other stresses and strains it causes our lives. I do not wish to suggest anything here.

Lung cancer remains the biggest killer of any cancer affecting our society today. Approximately 25 per cent of cancer deaths are attributable to tobacco and alcohol use. The Preventative Health Taskforce has called for a target of reducing smoking rates to less than 10 per cent of the population. This would mean one million fewer smokers in Australia and would result in 300,000 fewer premature deaths. While smoking rates have fallen over time, uptake rates among young Australians are still too high. I am constantly amazed, when meeting my young son’s friends, how many of them still smoke and how horrified I am by that. Tobacco remains the single biggest preventable cause of death and disease among Australians. This is a societal impediment to improving the nation’s health that must be tackled. Alcohol consumption in Australia is still high by world standards. About 10 per cent of people in Australia drink at levels which put them at risk of long-term harm.

According to the Preventative Health Taskforce, obesity trends in Australia are also alarming. If left unchecked, the life expectancy of Australia’s children living today will fall by two years by the time they turn 20. Constructive steps must be taken to ensure that this retrograde legacy is not visited upon future generations. The Rudd government is determined to meet this challenge.

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