Kym Richardson (Kingston, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Would the minister advise the House how government funding for medical research is contributing to better health outcomes and, in particular, examining factors contributing to the growing problem of obesity in our society?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kingston for his question. I can inform him and other members that health and medical research is one of Australia’s strongest areas of comparative economic advantage. It is not necessarily widely recognised, but in international terms Australia’s health and medical research is just a strong as our sport. Australia has produced no fewer than six Nobel prize winners in health and medical research. The heart pacemaker, the ultrasound scanner, the bionic ear, aspro, penicillin and, most recently, a vaccine for cervical cancer were all discovered in Australia or by Australians.

This week the government announced a further $529 million in research grants funded through the National Health and Medical Research Council. This money is important because today’s research is tomorrow’s new drugs or new medical treatments. This funding includes some $6.5 million for research at Flinders University, which would interest the member for Kingston. It also includes some $15 million for anti-obesity research, including almost $1 million for anti-obesity research conducted at South Australian universities. I am very pleased to say that health and medical research funding has increased fivefold since 1996 thanks to the policies of the Howard government. This very substantial boost in health and medical research funding is one of the many reasons why our health system remains amongst the best in the world.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Health and Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. Can the minister confirm that he has consistently denied government has a role in addressing obesity, saying on the ABC Four Corners program ‘the answer is in the hands of those individuals’? Given the minister’s dismissive attitude and his failure to put any money into addressing childhood obesity in the last budget, isn’t announcing $3.4 million in research funds today—the figure in his press release—an absurdly token effort to address a national health crisis that cost $21 billion last year?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly believe that obesity is a very important public health issue, one of the most important public health issues our country faces. Government has a role and, in fulfilling that role, the Prime Minister committed $116 million to this back in 2004. The Prime Minister and the premiers committed half a billion dollars to this issue at the COAG in February. But, just as government has a role, individuals also have a role. In the end, no government can or should try to regulate what individuals eat or the amount of exercise they take. I have to say that the question from the member opposite demonstrated just how committed to the nanny state the current Australian Labor Party is.