Guy Barnett (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Acting Deputy President, for the opportunity to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2008-2009 and related legislation and on the important issue of obesity. Last week we saw a report released by the head of the Preventive Cardiology Unit at the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute in Melbourne. It was a landmark report. I want to refer to its key findings and then speak to the issue of obesity, what is being done in Australia to address the obesity epidemic and what is not being done, in particular at a federal level, by the Labor government.

We know that obesity leads to type 2 diabetes, we know it leads to heart disease and we know it leads to certain cancers, respiratory disease and a whole range of other health complications. So what were the findings of this landmark report by the Baker IDI Heart and Diabetes Institute? There are a number of key findings. Firstly, overall almost four million adult Australians are currently obese. Secondly, the ‘fat bomb’ is loudly ticking in middle-aged Australians, with around seven out of 10 men and six out of 10 women aged between 45 and 64 years being overweight or obese. Overall, around 1.5 million middle-aged Australians are currently obese and therefore at high risk of a cardiovascular event in the longer term. Based on the best available evidence, our expanded middle-aged waistlines will result in an extra 700,000 CVD related admissions—that is, heart related admissions—in the next 20 years. These highly preventable admissions will conservatively cost, in today’s terms, an extra $6 billion in health care—and $2.9 billion of that will be hospital costs alone. An estimated 123,000 Australian men and women will die, many prematurely, from cardiovascular disease over the next 20 years as a result of their excess weight—more than the seating capacity of the MCG.

A simple strategy, such as losing five kilograms in five months, has the potential to result in 27 to 34 per cent fewer cardiovascular disease related hospital admissions and deaths over the next 20 years. The findings relate in particular to heart disease and cardiovascular disease and concerns, not directly the issue of type 2 diabetes and not directly the concerns relating to certain cancers, respiratory disease and other health complications. You can see that the consequences of this obesity epidemic are incredible—almost beyond belief.

It is true that this government has announced obesity as a national health priority, and I want to congratulate the government for doing that. It is a good move. It is a very good move and it is something that I have supported for a number of years and I am very pleased that it has happened. But what did we find from the federal Minister for Health and Ageing last Friday upon the release of the report? What did Nicola Roxon say about this report? She said that we will have an anti-obesity strategy released next year. I put it to the Senate—