The Howard Government has done nothing to arrest the dramatic rise of obesity amongst Australians.
Current estimates suggest that 2.4 million Australian adults are obese and a further 4.9 million are overweight. Levels of obesity amongst women have doubled in the last 15 years. Children’s obesity is estimated to have nearly tripled in the last ten years.
The Howard Government can’t point the finger at anybody else – this crisis has developed on their watch.
For example last month the Government released the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. This is the most comprehensive study ever conducted on the health of Australian women involving 40,000 women nationwide and it showed women’s obesity has risen as much as 8% amongst younger women.
A contributing factor to this trend is that a large number of working Australian adults don’t have time to exercise and as a result the proportion of the adult population that undertakes sufficient physical activity for health benefit has declined steadily over the last decade.
The CSIRO’s Total Wellbeing Diet publication highlights the need for nutritious food and physical exercise.
What is missing is leadership. The Howard Government has not provided the leadership necessary in the area of adult and children’s physical activity and good nutrition to make an impact on ballooning obesity.
Here is the link to Senator Lundy’s speech to the Parliament on these issues.
Contact: Taryn Langdon 0417 148 059 or 02 6277 3334
