The Minister for Health has today described Australia as being in the ‘grip of an obesity epidemic’, and yet this budget shows that the Howard Government is content to stay on the couch on this issue.
The 2006 Budget has not delivered a single additional cent to address rapidly increasing rates of overweight and obesity.
The Howard Government has lost yet another opportunity to improve the diets and increase the low physical activity levels of many kids and their families.
Research has proven that childhood overweight and obesity puts children at risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer as early as their teens.
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50,000 children have missed out on a place in the Howard Government’s Active After School Communities (AASC) this year alone. This is the government’s only practical program designed to target childhood obesity, yet it has not received a cent in this years budget!
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The Minister for Health shelved a report by Government consultants which urged the Howard Government to take a national approach to nutrition and obesity.
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The Howard Government – despite advice in the same report – has put on hold plans to update the national nutrition database, something that has not been done for 11 years!
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The Health Minister Tony Abbott continues to place the onus on parents to solve the problem of obesity, rather than using public policy and programs to support Australian kids and their families.
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Junior Sport won’t see one sent of extra money at a time when local clubs really need it.
More physically active kids can be achieved through greater participation in recreational and sporting activities, so it is unbelievable that the Government has ignored the demand for at least 50,000 more places in the Active After Schools Communities (AASC) Program.
It is Labor who has taken the lead on the issue of obesity and it is Labor’s Children’s Health Blueprint Goals for Aussie Kids which sets out long term goals necessary to build a healthy future for our kids and country.
