It has taken a party room coup to finally force the Howard Government to belatedly acknowledge Australia’s obesity problem. Liberal backbenchers, frustrated with their Party’s lack of action, have resorted to drafting a formal memo to attract the Prime Minister’s attention.
The fact that it has taken some ten years after the World Health Organisation sounded the ‘globesity’ alarm for the penny to drop is not surprising. It is merely another example of the Howard Government’s inability to keep up with current issues.
On a number of occasions, most recently last week, the Labor Party has called on the Government to address the very important issue of the increasing rates of childhood and adult obesity in this country.
The Federal Liberal Government, with its entirely irresponsible attitude toward the Australian obesity issue, has placed the nation’s health and wellbeing in serious jeopardy. Obesity is killing Australians, and it is costing the health system around $100 million a year.
The importance of physical activity and nutrition education in the fight against obesity are well documented but under the Howard Government, funding for physical activity and participation has continually been slashed across the board since 1996. For the year 1998/99 to 1999/00 alone, participation rates in Australia dropped by 4.7 percent across all age groups.
It is hypocritical of the Howard Government to now feign concern when they have directly contributed to this problem.
Media contact: Adina Cirson – (02) 6277 3334 or 0418 488 295
