Food for Health Alliance is disappointed in the government’s response to the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into Diabetes, released on Budget night, which has failed to action strong, evidence-based policies to prevent type 2 diabetes.
Executive Manager of Food for Health Alliance, Jane Martin said the response from government was a missed opportunity to prevent chronic diseases linked to poor diet and obesity – covering not just type 2 diabetes but heart disease, cancer, stroke and dementia.
“The budget outlined significant and growing investment in building a stronger healthcare system. This needs to be coupled with a strong prevention system to reduce chronic disease and curb future increases in healthcare costs.
With millions of Australians suffering from serious health issues caused by unhealthy food environments government leadership is urgently needed to help make it easier for Australians to eat nutritious diets. Instead, the evidence-based policies recommended in the Diabetes Inquiry report have been pushed aside by government,” she said.
In 2024, a parliamentary committee chaired by paediatrician and Labor MP Dr Mike Freelander presented 23 recommendations in Parliament House, including:
- A levy on sugary drinks to encourage manufacturers to reduce sugar in their drinks
- Regulating unhealthy food marketing to protect children on TV, online and gaming
- Improved food labelling targeting added sugar
The government has ‘noted’ these recommendations, but has not accepted them, despite them having significant support from public health experts and the Australian community.
“Sugary drinks are the top contributor to sugar consumption in the average Australian’s diet, increasing risk for type 2 diabetes, heart disease, poor dental health and long-term weight gain and obesity. It’s imperative that the government takes action to push sugary drinks companies to cut the sugar in their products through a tax on sugary drinks companies,” Ms Martin says.
More than a quarter of Australian children are above a healthy weight and their diets are well below recommendations. More than forty percent of children’s total energy intake comes from unhealthy foods that dominate supermarket shelves, marketing and promotions.
“Unhealthy food marketing has a powerful influence on children, shaping what they eat, what they ask for, and how they spend their pocket money.”
“We were pleased to see the government's acknowledgement of the feasibility study on policy options to limit unhealthy food marketing to children which found that comprehensive marketing restrictions, included TV, streaming and digital are feasible and necessary to effectively protect children from this marketing. This must be acted on urgently.”
In response to recommendations that the government reforms food labelling to clearly identify added sugar on front-of-pack labels, the government has claimed that nutritional information will be more appropriately captured through the existing Health Star Rating system.
According to Ms Martin, “this system is currently voluntary, which makes it little more than a marketing tool for companies to promote their products. Governments have taken steps towards making this system mandatory – we strongly urge them to prioritise this, so that Australian shoppers have a widespread food rating system they can trust.”
Ms Martin concluded by saying, “this budget has included significant and growing investment in a stronger care system with record funding for public hospitals, investments in treatments under the PBS and universal healthcare with Medicare.
While this investment in health is most welcome, it must be coupled with policy reforms that will build a stronger prevention system to prevent chronic disease, protect Australian’s health and curb future healthcare costs. Instead the government has given us a lack-lustre response to the Diabetes Inquiry report, snuck out on budget night.
The government has a real opportunity to show vision and leadership and follow the wealth of evidence that demonstrates what works to prevent chronic disease and protect Australians health now and into the future. I urge them to take it.”
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