SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE BEGINS ITS INVESTIGATION INTO OBESITY - Media Release, Monday 6 August 2018
The Committee heard testimony from witnesses representing medical organisations, chronic health advocates, obesity researchers, consumer and parents’ bodies, food and beverage councils and advertising associations.
This inquiry will seriously consider the causes and implications of the obesity epidemic in Australian communities, and particularly on Australian children.
In 2017, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reported that nearly two-thirds of Australian adults and one-quarter of Australian children were overweight or obese
Childhood obesity is a key focus of the Committee. At the current rate, it is predicted that one-third of young Australians will be overweight or obese by 2020.
That is why the Committee is investigating a range of factors – including the food industry’s role in contributing to poor diets – that are increasing obesity and the short and long-term harm it is causing to Australian children.
Labor takes Australia’s obesity crisis very seriously, which is why we took a 5-point plan for healthy communities and chronic disease prevention to the 2016 election.
The Senate Select Committee will provide the Australian Parliament and public with a greater understanding of the health and economic burden of obesity on Australians and what must be done to improve the lives of the millions of Australians it harms.
The Committee will report on the 14 August 2018. More information about it can be found here.
MONDAY, 6 AUGUST
2018
MEDIA CONTACT:
TAIMUS WERNER-GIBBINGS 0429 820 344