GO THE DISTANCE

Mr SIBBONS (Mitchell) (15:50): Last week I represented the Premier at the launch of the new annual community fundraising initiative called go the distance, which raises funds and awareness of heart disease and cancer. It was fantastic to see four leading health organisations joining together in this wonderful initiative. My warm congratulations go to the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation, the Heart Foundation, the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia and the Little Heroes Foundation for their collaboration on this project.

This initiative, go the distance, encourages people to choose their own physical challenge. You can choose a seven-kilometre or 21.1-kilometre run (a half marathon), or a seven-kilometre walk or a 30-kilometre, 50-kilometre or 107-kilometre bike ride. The aim is to raise more than $2 million, and participants are required to raise a minimum of $1,500 as an individual or individual teams in a team. Families are required to raise a total of $3,000, with the money raised going towards research programs for improved treatment and cures.

It is also terrific to see the major sponsors, Foodland, Channel 7, Health Partners and The Advertiser, supporting go the distance. I am impressed that the fundraising is based around being active through walking, running or riding. Increasing participation in these activities by adults and children is consistent with preventing premature heart disease and cancer. This is just the sort of activity the state government wants to promote, and we want to make sure that South Australians are living healthier as well as longer lives.

Heart disease and cancer together account for nearly two out of three deaths in South Australia each year. The diseases have no boundaries and will touch every single South Australian at some stage of their lives. Personally, I lost my father way too early from heart disease. He was 56. In recent years my parents-in-law have both undergone treatment for a cancer-related condition. The good news is that we can cut down heart disease and cancer through health promotion and early intervention in the diseases.

Our success in lowering smoking rates in South Australia is part of that good news story. Of course, we still have a long way to go and we need to continue to make changes to deter people from taking up the addictive and poisonous habit of smoking. However, gains in community health from these sorts of efforts can be undone by a significant increase in other risk factors, such as being overweight or obese, being physically inactive or having poor diet and nutrition. These are all real and present factors that contribute to high levels of heart disease and cancers—factors we must find a way of tackling. This is why go the distance is so important.

We want more individuals and families adopting healthier lifestyles and more workplaces, schools, sporting clubs and community organisations getting behind messages to offer healthier diet, be smoke free, be active and to consume alcohol responsibly. There are social benefits, community benefits and economic benefits from increasing people's activity and improving their general health. The go the distance challenge is on Sunday 28 October, starting and finishing at West Beach, travelling along the coast and throughout the Adelaide Hills.

I have committed to go the distance and be part of this wonderful initiative, and would like to offer the challenge to my parliamentary colleagues to join me. If you do not wish to join me, you can simply sponsor me. To register, go to www.gothedistance.org.au and follow the step-by-step guide on how to become a challenger. This is a wonderful example of organisations working together and supporting each other's creative fundraising and research endeavours, building a critical mass of innovation, influence and respect. I wish the organisers the greatest success in attracting South Australians to participate in this important challenge and by doing so raise money for this worthy cause.