SECOND READING SPEECH
This Bill amends the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 and the Schools Assistance (Learning Together - Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 to encourage healthier eating habits among children and to prohibit the broadcasting of advertisements for junk food during certain times.
This Bill revises a bill by the same title first introduced by Senator Lyn Allison o f the Australian Democrats in 2006. This bill will ensure that the advertising of junk food and beverages on television during children's viewing times are disallowed as is the advertising of alcoholic drinks. The Bill allows for the exemption of food and beverages which are deemed by the Minister for Health to be beneficial to children's health, guided by the FSANZ nutrient profile of healthy foods and beverages. Additionally, it ensures that these standards will apply in all circumstances and will not be included in the exemptions under the provisions of the Broadcasting Legislation Amendment (Digital Television) Act 2006.
The Bill also places restrictions on the advertising in schools of companies whose principal activity is the manufacture, distribution or sale of junk food.
Obesity is a significant problem in Australia. Studies show that between 1985 and 1997 the combined rate of overweight and obesity in Australia doubled and obesity among young Australians (7-15 years) trebled. Indications are that the trend to overweight and obese children is not merely increasing but accelerating. On current trends, the rate of childhood overweight and obesity is expected to double over the next 30 years, reaching around 60 percent.
Obesity is a problem that the parliamentt can no longer afford to ignore. According to the Australian Medical Association the rise in childhood obesity may, for the first time in Australian history, result in a decline in the life expectancy of newborns. Access Economics estimates the financial costs of obesity in 2008 at $8.2 billion. The report calculates the net cost of lost wellbeing (including the dollar value of the burden of disease on individuals) as a result of conditions associated with obesity like diabetes, heart disease and various types of cancer, as well as lost productivity, adds up to a total financial burden of $58 billion a year.
Childhood obesity is a complex issue with many causal factors. An advertsing ban alone will not eliminate the problem of obesity but it is a sensible first step step that has the support of health experts, including doctors, community groups and, most importantly, parents.
A study reported in the August issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health of parental awareness and attitudes found that there was widespread parental concern about food advertising aimed at children and strong support for tighter restrictions. Almost 80 percent of respondents were concerned about the volume of advertisements and 68 percent were concerned about the methods used to market unhealthy food to children. 87 percent supported a ban on unhealthy food advertising during children's viewing times. The 2007 survey commissioned by the Coalition on Junk Food Advertising to Children (CFAC) found that 90 percent of parents agreed that advertising food high in fat, sugar and salt directly to children was 'unconscionable'. In 2004 an Australia Institute study found that 86 percent of people wanted more limits on advertising to children.
