3 Feburary 2006
Tony Abbott, Federal Minister for Health & Ageing:
Well, it’s nice to be here with the kids from Hoxton Park Primary. Obviously, this is a school where the principal and the teachers are very much behind the Healthy for Life program, and I want to congratulate schools like Hoxton Park and their teachers for the effort they make to give their kids the best possible start.
Reporter:
You say that one in four Australian kids are overweight?
Abbott:
That’s what the stats are telling us and the problem is that, if you’re an overweight kid, you’ve got much more likelihood of being an overweight adult. And, if we’re going to try to combat the problem of obesity, we need to start as young as we can.
Reporter:
So what sort of an impact are you hoping this can have on people ...
Abbott:
I hope it will remind them of just how much fun exercise can be. I know when I was a kid I played a lot of sport, I ran around the neighbourhood, not always doing the things that my parents would have approved of, I’m sure. But, never the less that’s all part of getting the kind of start in life which you’d like to think all Australian kids would get.
Reporter:
Can it be hard for parents to get their kids off the couch?
Abbott:
Yes, it can, particularly if the parents are on the couch themselves. So this isn’t just for kids, it’s also about the parents of the kids, because if you get active together, not only will there be health outcomes, but there could also be much better family outcomes as well.
Reporter:
How serious is Australia’s epidemic of obesity?
Abbott:
It’s quite serious, because if we don’t do something about it we will eventually become the first generation in modern history that has a lower life expectancy than our parents. So, if we want to keep living longer, better lives we’ve got to tackle the obesity crisis.
Reporter:
For example, you know, banning junk food advertising during children’s television ...
Abbott:
The advertising industry certainly has a regulatory code. My understanding is that they’re looking at this to see if it ought to be tightened up and I would ask advertisers to be responsible and, certainly, you don’t want kids to have a diet of fast food. There’s nothing wrong with fast food occasionally. But, if that’s mostly what kids eat, that’s a serious problem.
Reporter:
What power do you have to actually have over advertisers or, indeed, manufacturers in terms of cutting down the sweeteners and fizzy drinks and all of that ...
Abbott:
Sure. Look, in the end, the important thing is for everyone to exercise responsibility. We are a free people in a free country and the last thing I want to do is start dictating the menu in every Australian home, dictating what appears on every Australian television program, but I do think we need to be more conscious of what we put in our mouths, more conscious of the amount of time we waste looking at television and sitting in front of the computer, and remember that it is very important for a whole range of reasons to be active as well as passive.
Reporter:
So, are you ruling out tougher regulations on the advertising industry around junk food?
Abbott:
I’m saying that it’s important for people to be responsible. My understanding is that the industry is reviewing the code that regulates advertising and children’s viewing hours. And I think it’s important that that be done very responsibly, and in a way which is conscious of the problems that can occur if kids eat too much of the wrong sort of food.
Reporter:
Well, the research has shown that Australian kids are exposed to more junk food ads than any other nation, I think. So certain ... maybe putting a limit on the number of ads rather than a blanket ban would be a way ...
Abbott:
Well, this is the kind of thing that I think the industry needs to look at. I mean, what the government is doing today is putting some counter-images out there, if you like. For every image of someone wolfing down some KFC, there’ll now be an image of someone getting off the couch, and being active. So, we are in the business of trying to make sure that people get the right messages, as well as what might sometimes be the wrong messages.
Reporter:
Also, in this ad, it’s encouraging people to be active - not necessarily take part in sport.
Abbott:
Mmm.
Reporter:
How important is it that people just be active, in terms of it doesn’t have to be organised ...
Abbott:
No, look, it doesn’t have to be sport. I mean, it could be going for a walk, going for a swim, kicking around a football in the park in a very casual sort of a way, walking the dog, mucking around on the trampoline, anything. But, the important thing is that you’ve got a body, and you need to use it occasionally.
Reporter:
And minister, you’re saying the Australian Government doesn’t have more powers to influence manufacturers and advertisers?
Abbott:
Look. We have all sorts of powers and what we’re choosing to do today is to launch some helpful images into a viewing context which is not always dominated by helpful images. Now, what we might do in different circumstances, let’s not speculate about today. All I would do today is urge everyone who has a role here to be responsible.
Female Speaker:
Final question.
Reporter:
I guess you can understand why so many Australian parents are angry, when they see those types of ads.
Abbott:
Yeah. But, of course, advertising has all sorts of different effects on different people. And, in the end, the best way to stop the kids watching the wrong stuff on television is, of course, to turn off the TV. Now, don’t turn off the TV until you’ve seen my ads. Please. But nevertheless, when the bad ad comes on, then pull the plug, okay?
Reporter:
Can we just get you to comment on ... Kim Beazley’s launching a child health plan ...
Abbott:
Right, okay.
Reporter:
... lunch time today. Two of the things that are going to be in it is, looking at folate deficiencies ...
Abbott:
Uh huh.
Reporter:
... whether we need to add folic acid to flour, and cereals ...
Abbott:
Yeah.
Reporter:
… like we have in the US.
Abbott:
Mmm hmm.
Reporter:
Is that something that you would look at, as well?
Abbott:
Look: it’s certainly an issue that I’m aware of. And I certainly don’t rule it out, no.
Reporter:
What about, also, the plan that was mooted this morning for these preventative health check ups for people over forty-five ...
Abbott:
Yeah.
Reporter:
... which would certainly fit in with the ...
Abbott:
That’s right.
Reporter:
... prevention rather than cure.
Abbott:
That’s right. Well, look, these preventative health check-ups build on the sorts of things that the government has already put in place. For some years now, we’ve had comprehensive health check ups for people over seventy-five; we’ve now got the chronic disease management items that enable GPs to very thoroughly review and treat holistically patients who’ve got chronic and complex diseases.
Recently, the government introduced health checks for Indigenous people; and we’ve gradually extended that to the whole of the Indigenous age range. So, I think that it would make sense for more health checks to be included in our system, and that’s one of the things that the Prime Minister and the premiers will be talking about in a week or so.
END OF SEGMENT
To view PDF (Portable Document Format) documents, you will need to have a PDF reader installed on your computer. The Adobe Acrobat Reader is available free of charge from Adobe's website.
