Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to endorse the words of the member for Macarthur and say that I agree wholeheartedly with what he said about preventative health. Investment in preventative health is the best possible investment that we can make in our nation’s health.

The Australian National Preventive Health Agency Bill 2009 establishes the agency to support the Australian Health Ministers Conference and, through the conference, the Council of Australian Governments to address the increasingly complex challenges associated with preventable chronic diseases. The agency will assist these councils in their efforts to cross portfolios, jurisdictions and sections in support of nationally agreed preventative health policies. The establishment of the agency was recommended by both the Health and Hospitals Reform Commission and the National Preventative Health Taskforce. The agency will provide the leadership, coordination and monitoring required to support the successful implementation of the initiatives funded through the national strategy, including interventions to help Australians modify their lifestyles.

The Commonwealth will be providing funding of $133.2 million over four years for the agency. Of this, $17.6 million will go to its establishment and maintenance; $102 million will be used for social marketing, which is extremely important in relation to preventative health because of its educational role; and $13.1 million will be used for preventative health research and its translation into practice; and $0.5 million will be used for an audit of preventive health workforce availability and the development of a strategy to address any identified gaps. Under the auspices of COAG, the federal government reached agreement with the states and territories in November last year for a National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health, which will be funded by $872 million from the government.

Madam Deputy Speaker, you might ask why all this is needed. I would draw the House’s attention to the greatest health costs we face in this country, which are chronic illness and issues associated with the ageing of the population. This legislation will give the government and the Australian people a mechanism by which to address the lifestyle diseases that have increased in recent times. I would like to draw the House’s attention to the fact that cardiovascular disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, arthritis and cancer are all lifestyle diseases and are linked into this legislation. Preventive health can make a major impact on the incidence of all of those diseases. Cardiovascular disease is still claiming the lives of Australians and is one of the highest incidence diseases affecting Australians. In relation to stroke, I recently brought a private member’s motion to the House. That motion addressed the lifestyle issues that impact on people and lead to an increased incidence of stroke.

We still have a high incidence of alcohol use and abuse. In Australia, 90 per cent of people have tried alcohol in their lifetime, 83 per cent have consumed an alcoholic drink in the past 12 months, only about 10 per cent of Australian adults have never had a serve of alcohol, around eight per cent drink daily and around 41 per cent drink weekly. There is also an enormous cost associated with the abuse of alcohol through the incidences of motor vehicle accidents, domestic violence and the number of people in hospital due to consumption of alcohol. It also contributes to a number of cancers, stroke, diabetes and to so many of the lifestyle diseases that we have been talking about.

When we were discussing the alcopops legislation, it was highlighted by the AMA what a problem the use of alcohol and binge drinking has created in our society. The agency will be working to educate and raise people’s awareness of issues relating to alcohol. I think that, if you put that into the context of society as a whole, you will see there are enormous savings to be made in the area of health through, for example, domestic violence and policing. The whole of the community will benefit not just one sector but right across the community.

As well as alcohol there is the tobacco problem. Twenty per cent of people still smoke. The diseases that I have referred to previously such as stroke, cardiovascular, arthritis and cancer are all negatively impacted upon by smoking. These are lifestyle diseases. There has been a reduction in the number of people who do smoke, but it is still an enormous problem within our community. Unless the issues of tobacco and alcohol are addressed we will not see the decline in cardiovascular, stroke, arthritis and cancer diseases that we would like to see in our community.

The member for Macarthur rightly pointed out that with a fitter and healthier society enormous savings right across the board can be made, including savings in medication. Every member of this House is constantly approached by companies that have drugs that address the illnesses that have been caused by smoking, alcohol and other lifestyle issues.

I would like to turn to one issue that is very close to my heart. I see that the member for Hindmarsh has entered the chamber, and he chairs the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health and Ageing. An issue that we on the health and ageing committee looked at in great detail was obesity. We brought down a report in May this year, called Weighing it up, which looked at obesity. In the report we made some recommendations and one of them was to look at supporting such an agency—a whole-of-government and a whole-of-community approach to addressing the issue of obesity. Australia is a country with one of the greatest numbers of overweight people in the developed nations, with about one in two adults and up to one in four children being overweight or obese. That is a rather frightening statistic. We face a situation where the children growing up in Australia look at dying at a younger age than the generation we are part of. I believe that the establishment of the agency and the effect of having the Commonwealth government, the state governments, the business community and health professionals—everybody who is involved in the sector—coming together and working as one will help to address this, as it will for the other illnesses that I have mentioned. Currently, only two per cent of the health budget is spent on preventative health; the rest of it is spent on treating the illnesses that could be prevented if we had a strong preventative health program in place. That is what will be delivered through this legislation.

Returning to obesity, our report highlighted things that do work and things that need to be done to address the issue of overweight and obesity. It also highlighted the cost to Australia of the fact that we have such a problem with overweight. It referred to the Australian National Children’s Nutrition and Physical Activity Survey that stated that 17 per cent of children in Australia are classified as overweight and six per cent are classified as obese. I see that as a very significant figure. It also highlighted that, in addition to the cost of being overweight and obesity for individuals, families and communities, there is a huge financial cost for the health system. Access Economics released a report: The growing cost of obesity in 2008. The latest report found that the total cost of obesity in 2008 came to $58.2 billion—quite a significant amount. It linked obesity to the fact that we have increased problems with arthritis and diabetes, and it highlighted some actions that could be taken to address these issues.

One of the best programs we visited whilst we were doing this report into obesity was the Active After-school Communities program. It did just what the member for Macarthur was talking about—it encouraged children to be active and looked at nutrition. They were given healthy afternoon teas, they exercised and they had fun. Young children who are involved in programs like this discover that exercise is fun. I think we as members of parliament should encourage children to be involved in planned activities. In the Shortland electorate we have five junior and senior surf lifesaving clubs. We should encourage young people to be involved in surf lifesaving, netball, soccer, football of whatever code, basketball or walking with the family.

With a strong social marketing program the government can provide education, including education on nutrition. One of the best advertisements that the committee looked at was one that highlighted eating foods from different food groups and combining that with exercise. A healthy lifestyle is about eating well, exercising well, cutting out smoking, and monitoring and using alcohol sensibly. If we do all of those things, we will have a healthier society. The Australian National Preventive Health Agency Bill 2009 puts in place a structure through which this can be done. It can be a coordinated approach, whereby all levels of government direct their social marketing towards the common goal of increasing the fitness and improving the health of all Australians. Reducing people’s alcohol intake, reducing the number of people who smoke, and reducing the number of people who are obese or overweight will achieve that goal.

This will be a whole-of-government approach. The Commonwealth and the state governments will work together, but I think local governments also have a part to play. When we build our cities and communities there should be proper walking and cycle tracks set in place. I commend the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government on the cycle tracks that have been approved by this government because they are all about promoting health. They are all about the family getting out on the weekend and going for a walk or cycle. The family can do things together and the side effect is a healthier community.

I would also like to look at addressing preventative health measures towards our ageing population. As people get older they tend to become less active, but that is not necessary. There are a number of activities that older Australians can participate in. Given the right sort of support, they embrace the fact that they can still be involved in activities.

I hold two seniors forums, or information days, a year. As part of those information days, I include an exercise component. Sometimes it will be Tai Chi or sometimes it will be people coming along from Heartmoves, and they run through some very simple exercises that people can do. People can exercise sitting on a chair and still improve their fitness. At the same time, information is provided on nutrition.

As we get a little bit older, we often feel that we know what we should eat and that we know how we should exercise—we have done it all our lives. I must admit that I do not exercise as much as I used to when I was younger. I have tended to look towards what I have done in the past to determine what I do now. But a really big component is changing our behaviour and saying: ‘Well, we can exercise more. We can eat differently.’ By undertaking these types of life changes, we become healthier people and, as such, we become a healthier nation.

I commend this legislation to the parliament and congratulate the minister on getting the agreement that she has. I know that she is totally committed to preventative health and improving the health of all Australians.

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