JIM HUNGERFORD, BUTTERFLY FOUNDATION CEO: Good morning everyone. Welcome, and thank you for joining us today. To start, I would like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the lands of the Canberra area, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people, and I pay my respects to their elders, past and present. Aboriginal people have cared for this country for untold generations, and we recognise their ongoing custodianship.
Appearance ideals: two simple words that we now know cover a terrible cost for Australia. With the report that we're releasing today produced by KPMG, we know that appearance, ideals, body dissatisfaction, appearance based discrimination and weight based discrimination create untold costs for millions of Australians. Body dissatisfaction costs Australia $36.6 billion per year. Weight based discrimination costs us $27.6 billion per year. But it is the personal cost that is really heartbreaking. I'm joined today by Evie(*), who will be speaking about her personal experience; Matt from KPMG, who will be able to speak to the details in this report; and I'm very pleased to say that Minister McBride, the Assistant Minister for Mental Health, is also joining us to make an announcement.
I would like to now hand over to Evie to- who will share some of her personal experience. Thank you, Evie.
EVIE GARDINER: Thank you, Jim. Thanks Jim and Butterfly for inviting me along for the launch of the Appearance Ideals Report today. And thank you, Minister McBride, for coming along as well. It's really exciting to see you here. So I'm here today just to share my personal experience of the costs of appearance ideals. The costs that appearance ideals, particularly weight based discrimination, are pervasive. I've been impacted by these costs since I was in school, from being excluded in sporting events, from social events, and from just lost opportunities. So, as Jim alluded to, the cost of appearance ideals go far beyond just the financial costs. The costs are social and different lost opportunities as a result of being discriminated against because of how you look.
I sometimes think about what my life would have been like if I hadn't been discriminated against because of my appearance. As a kid, I was a really good swimmer, and I loved participating in the swimming carnival and swimming at the beach with my friends. Unfortunately, I gave that up as I grew older and became ashamed of my body due to different discrimination and experiences of weight stigma. I know that my experience is only one of many, so I really urge everyone to consider not just those financial costs of appearance ideals, but the social costs as well. I'm really excited for the launch of this report that gives insight into these different financial and social costs as well. And I'm really hopeful that as a society, we can come together to address appearance ideals through collective action through government, as well as different organisations such as Butterfly, who are doing incredible work in this space.
I think I always like to think about what I could say to my younger self, and she would be so excited that I'm here at Parliament talking about this issue and advocating for work in this space. So I just want to give a shout out to my younger self as well. So thank you.
HUNGERFORD: Thank you so much, Evie, for sharing those words. Evie's words, along with everything that we hear from our lived experience community, support what we know from research and evidence that the way that we are approaching appearance ideals currently is not working. It isn't working. It isn’t working shaming people about their body. It isn't working blaming people and saying it's their fault. It isn't working supporting diet culture.
What we know does work is supporting people to develop a healthy attitude towards their body, and to include supporting people to develop positive self-esteem and attitudes to how they're developing. Based on these factors, we have proposed a range of programs going from community-wide health promotion and activities in schools through to support for health seeking and early intervention, and we are calling on the Australian Parliament to fund them. I would now like to ask the Minister to come forward for her announcement. Minister.
ASSISTANT MINISTER EMMA MCBRIDE: Thank you very much, Jim. I am so proud to be here today standing alongside Butterfly Foundation, Australia's trusted provider of support and information to people living with eating disorders and those who care for them. I want to thank Evie for contributing to the expert panel. We know that when policy is shaped by people with their direct lived experience that we have much better outcomes for all Australians.
In Australia today, there are 1.1 million people living with an eating disorder. In their lifetime, one in 10 Australians will be impacted by an eating disorder. When this happens, it has a profound and ongoing impact on the individual, their family, and as Evie as mentioned, so many parts of their lives.
I'm so pleased to make this announcement today of $9.2 million for the Butterfly Foundation to bolster their important work with their national helpline, and to introduce a new single session model of care. The new single session model of care will mean that someone in distress or at risk of an eating disorder can get immediate support, and it’ll also provide ongoing support to those living with eating disorders between face-to-face appointments – a really important, new addition to the work of the Butterfly Foundation. We know that the Butterfly Foundation is Australia's trusted provider of information and support to people living with eating disorders and those who care for them.
This is part of a broader investment of the Albanese Labor Government in mental health. We're introducing a new national early intervention service for people in distress. We're also rolling out a national network of Medicare Mental Health Centres – free walk in mental health support and care.
I am so proud to be part of an Australian Government that is investing so strongly in mental health, in suicide prevention, and particularly today to make this announcement – $9.2 million over three years to the Butterfly Foundation to bolster the work of their national helpline, which gives web-based support, phone counselling, information, advice and referrals for people at risk or living with eating disorders.
And I'm particularly proud of this new national single session model of care, which will provide immediate support to someone in distress and ongoing support for those seeking- between face-to-face appointments. Thank you to the Butterfly Foundation for the work that you're doing.
Thank you particularly to Evie. And I just also want to mention, Evie's been quite modest about this – Evie is currently undertaking her PhD at UQ, focused on this area, this really important area of research in Australia. It isn’t well understood. We need to know more about it to be able to have better policy solutions that are going to improve the lives of so many Australians.
I might now hand back to Jim, but I'm so pleased to have made this announcement this morning.
HUNGERFORD: Thank you so much, Minister. We're so appreciative of this funding from the Albanese Government to support Helpline. Helpline provides much needed assistance to tens of thousands of Australians each year, and this improvement in funding is critical. And I'm looking forward to having further discussions with the Minister over the coming days about the other programs that we've put forward. So we're now available for any questions, and I think everyone on the panel here is open to answer any questions. Thank you.
MCBRIDE: Thank you, everybody.