Peter Garrett MP
Member for Kingsford Smith
Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Reconciliation and the Arts
“The Howard Government’s decade-long neglect of childhood obesity in this country represents a serious failure to address one of the most significant health issues we face, namely, a growing epidemic of overweight and obese young people,” the Member for Kingsford Smith, Peter Garrett, said today.
I raised this issue in the House on 5 December in Private Members’ Business.
“Minister Abbott’s response has been to blame parents. Instead, he must cop some responsibility for the fact that between 1989/90 and 2001 rates of obesity have risen from 9 per cent to 16 per cent. Alarmingly if these rates continue, by 2020 there will be 6.3 million Australians overweight including 3 million suffering obese.”
“Unfortunately the statistics for Indigenous people are even more worrying. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are twice as likely to be obese than non-Indigenous people and, of particular concern, a recent study showed that 28 per cent of Indigenous low birth rate babies were attributed to maternal malnutrition.”
“The Government needs to follow Labor’s lead and support the Australian Medical Association’s call for a nutrition survey and the establishment of a national nutrition centre.
“Labor also calls on the government to conduct a national audit into junk food advertising during children’s programs and assess the impact it has on children’s health.”
Contact: Andrew Palfreyman