Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, let me firstly congratulate you on your appointment, as this is the first opportunity I have had to do that. Tonight I rise to speak on the issue of the obesity epidemic and to highlight to the Senate some of the outcomes of the healthy lifestyle forum to help combat childhood obesity organised by me, held in Hobart and hosted by the YMCA in Glenorchy in Hobart last Friday. I want to put on the record my thanks to the YMCA for the wonderful work that they do in promoting healthy lifestyles and specifically Stuart Slade and his wife, Lynne, and the team at the YMCA at Glenorchy. They did a wonderful job in hosting the event.

I want to recognise upfront the wonderful support that we received at the forum from the special guest speakers and, firstly, to Professor Paul Zimmet, who is a guru with respect to the obesity epidemic and indeed diabetes. He is a professor, obviously, and a former director of the International Diabetes Institute, now the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, based in Melbourne. He is an author and is simply world renowned in terms of obesity and diabetes. He gave an excellent presentation and really hit us between the eyes with his knowledge of the obesity epidemic and its dreadful impact on us here in Australia.

Yes, we do lead the world—we are in the top four. One report was released recently saying we are the fattest nation on earth, but whether we are or whether we are in the top two, three or four really does not matter. It is not good enough. It is a dreadful record to have and we need to do a lot more about it—at all three levels of government. Yes, you can say that it is an individual’s responsibility, but of course it is more than that. We live in an obesogenic environment, and this point was made very clear at the forum held in Hobart on Friday. So at all levels of government, and especially at the federal level, we have a responsibility to tackle it.

At this point I want to say the federal government does have a plan, and that is to have a plan. They have a plan to have a plan, and they wish to release that plan next year. They released the plan to have a plan earlier this year. Well, we need action, not just words, strategies and plans, and we need it fast. That point was made very clearly at the forum.

To Professor Jennie Brand-Miller from the University of Sydney, author of many books, former president of Nutrition Australia and certainly renowned in terms of nutrition: thank you for your wonderful presentation and keynote address to the forum on the importance of healthy eating. I also thank Lynne Pezzullo from Access Economics. Senators and people from around the country all saw the release of the Access Economics report at my forum. The report was commissioned by Diabetes Australia. I thank them particularly for being there. I thank Dr Gary Deed and Matt O’Brien, the Chief Executive Officer of Diabetes Australia, for their wonderful support and their initiative in trying to make a difference with respect to the obesity epidemic. We found quite clearly that obesity leads to type 2 diabetes and a range of other health complications, including heart disease, certain cancers and other diseases, which I will touch on shortly.

I want to touch on that Access Economics report very soon, but I first want to acknowledge Jenny Branch, who is the president of Tasmanian State School Parents and Friends Association and who spoke and helped on the organising committee. I also want to acknowledge Karena Brown from Maddington Child Services, based in Burnie. She gave an excellent presentation on the importance of having a happy, healthy and fun environment for our young kids aged between zero and six. I thank Dr Michael Aizen, a former president of the Australian Medical Association, for his assistance as convener and for making the day a success. I also thank my staff, Caroline Donaghy in particular. I want to put on record my thanks to her. She did a wonderful job as a key organiser. I thank Mary Dean, Claire Stewart and Tasman Stacey in particular, and also my former chief of staff, Barry Prismall, who is now Deputy Editor of the Examiner newspaper. I put on record my thanks to them. There is a lot of work that goes into organising such an important and well-run forum such as that. I also particularly want to thank the Mercury newspaper. They have taken the obesity epidemic on board as a cause and they want to try and turn it around and make a difference. Thanks to Garry Bailey, as editor, and to the Mercury for their special interest.

The Access Economics report made it very clear that this year 3.71 million Australians, 17.5 per cent of the population, are estimated to be obese—1.76 million males and 1.95 million females. It said that by 2025 a total of 4.6 million Aussies are projected to be obese. Regarding the effects of these increases, 242,033 Australians had type 2 diabetes as a result of being obese, up from 102,204 in 2005—a 137 per cent increase in three years. That is huge. It is also scary. We now have about 1.5-odd million Australians with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, but this relates to type 2 diabetes in particular. This is a big issue. It proves quite categorically that the obesity epidemic is not just a health issue; it is a matter of economics. It is an economic issue. 644,843 Australians had cardiovascular disease as a result of being obese, up from 379,000 in 2005—a 70 per cent increase. 422,274 Australians had osteoarthritis as a result of being obese, up from 225,000 in 2005—an 88 per cent increase. And 30-odd thousand Australians had colorectal, breast, uterine or kidney cancer as a result of being obese, up from 20-odd thousand—a 47 per cent increase.

So the direct costs, as estimated by Access Economics using the new obesity prevalence estimates of obesity this year, 2008, were estimated at $8.283 billion. The net cost of lost wellbeing was valued at a further $49.9 billion, bringing the total cost of obesity in 2008 to $58.2 billion. What a huge figure. To put it in context, the federal government’s budget for health and aged care is less than that. It is just above $50 billion—and it is very scary.

The figures that were done in 2005 show that the total cost was $21 billion. So we are talking about nearly three times the cost as estimated in 2005, just some three years ago. When the report and the terms of reference were being prepared, I specifically asked that the state and territory estimates be included so that the states and territories knew exactly what share they had. On a population share basis, the figures are as follows in terms of total costs: New South Wales, $19 billion; Victoria, over $14 billion; Queensland, over $11.6 billion; Western Australia, over $5.8 billion; South Australia, over $4.37 billion; Tasmania, over $1.36 billion; the ACT, $936 million; Northern Territory, $598 million—totalling, as I say, over $58 billion. Those figures are available on the Access Economics website and they are on my website guybarnett.com. That is public information, and I hope it jerks all of us into gear to try and respond to this obesity epidemic.