Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Supporting our children to make healthy life choices and lead active lives is one of the most important tasks we have been given. There are a number of initiatives that occur, primarily through our schools, that specifically aim to educate children about healthy life styles, good nutrition and the importance of physical activity. One of these initiatives is National Ride2School Day, which was celebrated last week on Wednesday, 16 March, by teachers, parents and students all over Australia. Ride2School Day is a great opportunity for parents and teachers to instil positive exercise habits in children as well as showing them the enjoyment and fun they can experience from riding or walking to school. Programs such as Ride2School Day foster an excellent culture of undertaking physical activity as a family, and this was obvious at the participating schools I visited.

Early last Wednesday morning I travelled to Youngtown Primary School to greet students and families as they rode, walked and scooted through the school gates. The positive response from the greater school community was overwhelming, with almost 200 students participating from a school with a total enrolment of 350 children. These numbers are particularly impressive when you look at the general trends associated with children and physical activity.

I am particularly concerned by the fact that Australia has witnessed a steep decline in childhood physical activity rates in recent years. In the 1970s more than 80 per cent of students walked or rode to school but alarmingly that number has fallen to only 20 per cent today, even though the majority of students live within a two-kilometre radius of the school gate. This worrying trend has continued despite a consensus amongst health experts that children need at least 60 minutes of physical activity each day.

The 2006 Children’s Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities Survey collected information on the participation of children aged five to 14 years in organised sports and informal sports. It provides us with some important insights. The survey collected information on informal sports, such as bike riding, rollerblading and skateboarding, to get some indication of children’s involvement in informal physical activity. The survey found that 68 per cent of children had been bike riding and 24 per cent had been skateboarding or rollerblading in the previous two weeks. The amount of time spent on these informal activities was the same as organised sport participation.

I find this to be very encouraging. In the busy lives we lead not all parents have time to take their children to sports practice or weekend sporting events. However if we can encourage children to be proactive and use their initiative to participate in physical activity themselves, such as riding to and from school, I believe this will have a great impact on the general health and wellbeing of our youth.

Overall the Ride2School Day initiative was an outstanding success. The event involved 140,000 children from 1,090 Australian schools. These figures represent formal registration of participation. However, there were numerous additional schools who participated in an informal manner. Although the focus of Ride2School day is about having fun and enjoying physical activity, there is also a serious side to the day. As we are all aware, preventable childhood diseases such as type 2 diabetes and obesity are becoming increasingly common in our society. Thankfully, the government recognises that there are increasing issues with preventable childhood diseases and is taking steps to improve the situation.

Obesity is a major contributor to the global burden of chronic disease and disability. Levels of childhood obesity have been rising for a number of reasons, including children eating more foods that are high in fat and sugars and spending less time participating in physical activity. Issues relating to children being overweight and obese are a major health concern. Studies have shown that once children become obese they are more likely to stay obese in adulthood. They are also more likely to have an increased risk of developing both short- and long-term health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and other heart diseases. This sends a clear message that, when it comes to a healthy lifestyle, we must begin educating our children at a very young age in order to ensure their continuing good health into adulthood. Obesity related health issues not only have a significant impact on the individual affected, but they also have considerable social and economic impacts.

In 2008, the total annual cost of obesity for both children and adults in Australia, including health system costs, productivity and carer costs was estimated to be around $58 billion. The recognition that these preventable diseases are having such a large impact on our society, health sector and economy has led to a number of programs being implemented by the government. As I mentioned, these programs include initiatives designed to educate Australian children about health, nutrition and good eating habits. 

An example of a program which focuses on good nutrition is the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Program, which is now becoming a part of many schools. The kitchen garden program has been hugely successful at a number of levels including re-engaging students with active learning and providing a practical approach for the literacy and numeracy skills that are taught in the formal setting of a classroom. For many students who find the parameters of formal classroom learning difficult or simply do not excel in this environment the kitchen garden program can offer them with a different avenue in which to excel and to gain confidence and self-esteem.

The school garden program has been adopted by many schools across Australia. I had the pleasure of visiting one of them last week in my home state of Tasmania. The Summerdale Primary School in Launceston has been working over the past six months to establish their kitchen garden and I see this as another successful step towards addressing the health issues I outlined earlier. There are separate stations throughout the kitchen garden including garden beds for vegetables, an orchard, outdoor learning areas and a working kitchen. The aim of this program is to teach students not only about growing and harvesting fruit and vegetables but also how to prepare and cook them, and to enjoy the nutritional value these fruits and vegetables provide.

In our contemporary society it is evident to me that fast and processed food is becoming more ‘normal’ and fresh fruit and vegetables are becoming a less common part of our diet. It saddens me to see young children who have never seen a pear, do not know what a tomato tastes like and cannot tell the difference between a zucchini and a cucumber. I am a strong supporter of ensuring that we do not let our future generations down by neglecting to educate them about the most basic of things—diet and exercise.

Although there are many factors in our lifestyles that contribute to increased health problems, I remain confident that through grassroots solutions such as school kitchen gardens we can begin to turn these problems around. Our schools are an excellent place to begin education about physical activity needs and healthy eating because not only does the information reach the children but also it goes home and reaches parents, grandparents, carers and other family members. The family participation and support was something I found very encouraging at this year’s National Ride2School Day. I was so impressed to see the strong support shown by parents. Not only were many of the students accompanied by parents who were also riding bikes but many mums and dads had gone to the effort of waking early to make sure their children were able to ride to school. If we can work together at all levels I remain confident that we will succeed in bucking the current trends associated with preventable disease, obesity and lack of adequate physical activity.

Last week on my visit to Summerdale Primary School in Launceston, I saw the establishment of their kitchen garden program. From talking to the teachers and the students, I heard how enthusiastic they are. I was able to donate their first apple tree to begin their orchard. I would also like to put on the record that Youngtown Primary School have had a kitchen garden program running for quite some time. Over the last six years, since I have been in the Senate, I have been to that school a number of times. Last week when the children were squeezing grapes to make grape juice, I saw joy in the eyes of the students. I commend the teachers for their initiative and leadership. I commend to the Senate and to the Australian community the kitchen garden program.