Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

First of all I'd like to thank the member for Mackellar for introducing into the House this matter of public importance regarding marketing regulation. It really is a matter that is very important to me and my electorate. I would also like to thank her for her work and her advocacy as a medical professional in the House, and I'm delighted she'll be joining our health committee inquiry into type 1 and type 2 diabetes and obesity. There's no question in my mind that Australia has an obesity epidemic. I've practised as a paediatrician in my community for almost 40 years now. Obesity was very rare when I started my private medical practice. Incidentally, in February 1984, the same time that Medicare was introduced, it was extraordinarily rare for me to see a child with type 2 diabetes. Shamefully, it's now very common. Not only can the disease be difficult to manage once it develops but also it is a harbinger of problems in the future. We're now seeing in much of our community the long-term complications of type 2 diabetes, with increases in renal failure, amputations and vision loss due to the complications of type 2 diabetes.

As a paediatrician, I want to protect our children from that, and it is very hard to do that in the face of the massive advertising that assails our children every day—on screens, on radio, on their devices—with very little thought to long-term complications. I will just mention that tonight is the Rugby League State of Origin 2023, which is well known to most members of the House. Unfortunately, while the game is good fun to watch and I enjoy the competition, the problem is that many people will be severely damaged by the advertising that's going to appear tonight. When I say 'damaged' I mean that they will, because of the advertising of junk food and gambling, develop problems that the rest of the community will be paying for well into the future.

One reason our health committee is having an inquiry into obesity is that there are long-term effects of obesity that (1) we're not fully aware of and (2) we aren't fully aware of the causes of. It's not just about eating less and exercising more. It's about the types of foods we're consuming. People talk a lot about high-sugar drinks, but there are also concerns about some of the ingredients in our fast foods. Unfortunately in my community, where people travel long distances to get to work every day, food preparation time is very limited, so more and more people are resorting to fast food to feed their families. And it's not just the sucrose, the sugars. It's also the trans fats, it's the complex corn sugars, and it's the sugar substitutes, which may well be having a severe effect on people's metabolism that we don't quite understand. So it is time to look into this in great detail.

I could talk for hours about this, but unfortunately there are other issues with advertising, not just food advertising but also things like gambling advertising. I'll be watching State of Origin tonight, and I know I'll be assailed by gambling advertisements aimed at young people and the most vulnerable groups, with euphemistic catchphrases like 'Bet with your mates'. What a ridiculous, idiotic phrase that is. The advertising industry is pushing this down the throats of our young, often male, adults to their huge detriment. I've seen friends of my kids bankrupted by being involved in online gambling. The fact that the minister is going to introduce a bill to prevent the use of credit cards for gambling online is a great idea, I think, but there is much, much more to do.

I'm aware that there are so many other things I could talk about in this debate. There is alcohol, and the incidence of fetal alcohol syndrome in many of our very disadvantaged communities, not just our Indigenous communities. The fact that sometimes the first thing that kids can say is 'McDonald's' and they can recognise the McDonald's trademark is very, very sad. I thank the member for introducing— (Time expired)

See this speech in context