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

I stand to speak on the Protecting Children from Junk Food Advertising (Broadcasting Amendment) Bill 2008 and say at the outset: isn’t it bizarre? Here we are in Australia and there is an obesity epidemic. We are one of the four or five fattest nations on earth and simultaneously 30,000 children die every day in the world from a lack of food and clean water—or a lack of water altogether. That particular observation is a stark contrast. It should cause us all to rethink our priorities, strategies and objectives in this great nation, Australia.

On this matter, certainly the objective of Senator Brown and the Greens to address the obesity epidemic is fully supported. But the bill in its current form is not something that I can support, and I will speak to it shortly. I hope each of us in this chamber supports that objective of addressing the obesity epidemic.

Just two weeks ago in budget estimates I asked questions of the Australian Defence Force about obesity. One response was that 14 per cent of the Australian Defence Force are classified as obese. That is a great worry. A report showed that in the US defence force some 4.6 per cent were obese. Those sorts of numbers, which have tripled in terms of the proportion of Australian Defence Force that are obese, are a major cause for concern. I note that the head of the Australian Defence Force indicated that he would take that on board and certainly look at a review of that.

The obesity epidemic in Australia today is serious and it is an issue that we must address as a matter of urgency. It is getting worse, not better. Over 60 per cent of Australian adult males are either overweight or obese and nearly 50 per cent of adult women are either overweight or obese. One in five of our children is overweight and one in 10 is obese. The cost to this nation is not insignificant. In fact, it is outrageously high. I notice that in his second reading speech and again today in his address, Senator Brown referred to the Access Economics report that was delivered just last year. That report was released by Access Economics at my Healthy Lifestyle Forum that I hosted in Hobart—in fact by Dr Lynne Pezzullo, a very professional and outstanding woman. That report indicated that the direct cost of obesity per year to Australia today is over $8 billion. That report indicated the total cost to the Australian community was something like $58 billion. I commend Access Economics and I thank them for releasing the report at my forum in Hobart and for being involved in many of the nine healthy lifestyle forums that I have hosted since 2002. The cost of obesity today is significant.

It is also worth noting that 40 per cent of all children play no sport outside school hours. In fact, the average time that children watch television per day—this is not per week—is 2.5 hours. The energy intake between 1985 and 1995 has increased by 15 per cent in boys and some 12 per cent in girls. The evidence shows that only 30 per cent of Australians eat four or more serves of vegetables per day and only half eat the daily recommended two serves of fruit. So we can see that obesity, poor dietary habits and a lack of physical activity account for at least 14 per cent of deaths in the USA, or some 300,000 premature deaths each year. As at 2000, total direct and indirect costs attributed to overweight and obesity were estimated at $117 billion in that country.

You can see the costs are significant. Where do the costs flow to? Not just to health costs, which are primarily related to chronic diseases like diabetes. I have type 1 diabetes and have obviously had a close association and working relationship with the diabetes community and specifically Diabetes Australia and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. I congratulate both those organisations for their advocacy and their efforts in addressing not only diabetes concerns but also the obesity epidemic. We have chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and respiratory problems and it is well known now that 80 per cent of all deaths are a result of chronic disease, not infectious disease. Chronic disease is a big issue for us here in Australia and it is in large part because of the obesity epidemic.

I learnt in 2002 following a study tour to the USA where I attended the Harvard School of Public Health that 50 per cent of all deaths can be prevented or postponed as a result of better public health practices. That means behaviour change. That means the way we live our lives—more healthy diets, healthy eating practices and an exercise regime. Regular exercise and a more healthy diet can make a huge difference—an enormous difference.