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

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I rise to take note of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Pricing Authority annual report 2009-10. I have the report with me—it is the annual report for the year ended 30 June. A section of this report relates to reforms. One of the reforms that the government is not considering relates to preventative health and the fact that Australia is one of the fattest nations on earth. Just today we have received a report commissioned by the National Heart Foundation and the Cancer Council of Australia—and I congratulate both organisations on their leadership. It is called the National Secondary Students Diet and Activity Survey 2009-10. Twelve thousand students were surveyed, and what did the survey come up with? Some shocking figures.

I know perhaps some of the senators on the other side are concerned because there has been a lack of action, a sitting-on-their-hands approach to preventative health and making a difference in that sphere with respect to obesity and chronic disease in particular. What did the survey say? The survey, which was released today, said that only 14 per cent of students were found to have met the recommended daily intake of both vegetables and fruit, while 85 per cent did not engage in enough activity for it to have a health benefit. They were two of the key findings.

Other fascinating findings were that 47 per cent of all students reported having three to four televisions in their home, while 17 per cent had five or more—that is a fair few. Seventy-one per cent spent more than the recommended two hours watching TV or using electronic media for recreation on an average school day and 83 per cent on weekends. Seventy-six per cent did not meet the recommended intake of at least four serves of vegetables a day, and 56 per cent the recommended three serves of fruit. Thirty per cent reported drinking at least four cups of soft drink or sports drink a week, and 43 per cent ate from fast food or takeaway outlets at least once a week. Nineteen per cent of boys were overweight, while 5.4 per cent were obese. For girls, 17.1 per cent were overweight and 5.5 per cent were obese.

What that means, in summary, is that we are about to have on our hands a crisis that is coming our way. It is a time bomb. It is called chronic disease and it is coming Australia’s way big time. What we know is that secondary students have very poor eating and exercise habits. We know that one in four teenagers is either overweight or obese. This is not good enough. This should send alarm bells ringing in the government’s ear. We already know from Access Economics, as was released at one of my Healthy Lifestyle forums, that the cost of obesity in Australia today is estimated at $58 billion each year and we know that in 2007 Labor, prior to its coming into government, announced that obesity would become a national health priority. But I am sad to say that they have been sitting on their hands. I refer in particular to the National Preventative Health Taskforce report, which is getting more and more dust. There are so many recommendations in that report that are very worthy of consideration and merit but the do-nothing approach of this government is awful. We cannot just sit around and wait for this problem to fix itself. It will not. The problem is getting worse, not better.

The Active After-Schools Communities program, an initiative under the Howard government, was announced in 2004 at one of my Healthy Lifestyle forums in Launceston by the then Prime Minister, John Howard, with the then sports minister, Senator Rod Kemp. That has been proved to have been a very popular initiative. We proved it to Senator Mark Arbib and he has agreed to extend it for one year, and that means to the end of this year with no further life in it after that. That is not good enough. It needs to be extended, and a do-nothing approach is not on. We need to remove unhealthy food and fizzy and sugary drinks from our tuckshops and canteens so that healthy food is the only option for the children in our schools. There are so many further initiatives that could be implemented by this government and, indeed, the state and local governments around Australia. This is a time bomb waiting to go off and the crisis is fast approaching, so this report today confirms that one of the reforms that should be considered is action—and fast—on obesity and chronic disease in this country. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.