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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-06-05 Daily Xml
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Adjournment Debate

CHILDHOOD OBESITY

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (16:08): First, I want to make a brief comment about the budget in relation to South Australia and, more particularly, to my area, that is, the Barossa Valley.

The SPEAKER: Order! That is not in order.

Mr VENNING: I can't do that? No, I will not, sir. I was just disappointed to know that the Barossa missed out.

Also, I want to say that the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare estimates that somewhere between 20 and 25 per cent of children and adolescents are overweight or obese. As noted before in this house by the Minister for Health, the rate of obesity among four year olds is about 20 per cent and is growing at about 1 per cent a year, which is disgraceful and quite a serious matter. Being an overweight or obese child can lead to many health problems, including respiratory disorders and orthopaedic problems (arthritis, among others), consequently placing an enormous strain on our health services. Obesity is a preventable condition and, particularly with regard to children, it is completely avoidable.

Before I state the obvious, and before the minister states the obvious, when I was young I was not obese. You can see my condition now, so things have deteriorated. All I can say is, if I had been obese as a child, what would I be like now? I am very concerned about that.

Studies show that once a child or an adolescent is overweight they are unlikely to reduce their weight as they get older. It is clear that, if we continue like this, our future generations will face a massive health crisis, as we heard earlier today. Speaking from experience, and my own dilemma, obesity is becoming a massive problem right around the world, and the World Health Organisation has declared it a global epidemic. In this house on 9 April, the Hon. Jane Lomax-Smith said:

I think this shocking revelation is enough to shake everyone into action, and doing nothing is not an option.

I also note the work of the member for Unley in relation to canteen food programs. I commend him for that work, because he has highlighted and discovered some quite alarming facts about what is happening.

Given the magnitude of this problem, one must ask what the government is doing. I am aware that on 1 April this year the government launched the Eat Well, Be Active program, but what is it doing to increase the facilities available for people to use in order to get physically active?

Earlier this year, Jan Sutherland, Chief Executive of Sports SA (the state's peak sports body) said that a lack of physical activity is aligned with a lack of facilities. In January this year, the acting minister for recreation and sport (Hon. Paul Caica) said that the provision of local sporting and recreational facilities was the responsibility of local councils. He said that 'sporting organisations and councils should apply for funding under the state government's Community Recreation and Sports Facilities Program, where grants of up to $300,000 are available'. The acting minister went on to say that major projects are assessed on a case-by-case basis. I wholeheartedly agree with one Adelaide reader who wrote to The Advertiser, as follows:

Who is acting sports minister Paul Caica kidding? The state government's Community Recreation and Sports Facilities Program grants of up to $300,000 wouldn't buy any sports facility worth the name. The state government has effectively buck-passed the provision of community sports facilities to cash-strapped local councils, which find it very difficult to do anything effective.

I invite the minister—and his government colleagues—to visit the YMCA centre that serves the entire Barossa Valley and tell me whether he thinks the upgrade of this dated facility can be undertaken if the local council were to receive a $300,000 grant—because I am certain it could not be done. It would not pay for the floor, let alone anything else.

The government should be developing surplus parcels of land which are suitable to be turned into recreational centres and sporting ovals; instead they are selling them in order to meet the budgetary requirements of burgeoning bureaucratic departments. Jan Sutherland of Sports SA said:

We believe that there needs to be an audit of sport facilities. I don't think anyone has really looked at what is around at the local and regional level.

I agree. It is all well and good for the government to implement programs which educate youngsters about healthy eating and the need to exercise, but how can they put an exercise regime into practice if there are not enough sporting and recreational facilities for them to use (and those that are in place are run down, old and very unattractive)?

We all need to make a concerted effort to reverse the alarmingly accelerating trend of childhood and adult obesity. The state Rann Labor government must stop merely emphasising the need for exercise and become proactive in constructing new recreation and sporting facilities and upgrading the run-down facilities already in place; only then we might see this worrying trend slow down rather than grow at a rapid pace.

We need a program in schools to educate students on the value of good diet and regular exercise, and we also need to implement physical education programs as we used to see them years ago. It needs to be a public expectation that we all shall eat and work healthily because the alternative is a life of ill health and early death.

We could start in this place, particularly in view of the recent controversy in relation to the members' lounge. That money could have been better spent on equipment for members to use. We once had a gym in this place, which I did use. Now there is no gym here in the building, and members who spend many hours in this place have no opportunity at all to exercise, apart from using a solitary exercise bike at the top of the stairwell—which, incidentally, I own and which I do not use very much. I believe we should think about it and ensure that at least one room in this building has an exercise bike, a television and a walker so that members can do some exercise. I think it is a very serious matter. You only need to stand outside Parliament House and observe people as they go past, particularly the younger ones, some of whom are so grossly obese. It is a real worry. I commend these thoughts to the house. I speak with some conviction on the matter. I know that, when I am home on the farm for more than two or three weeks, the weight falls off me, no doubt about it. It is exercise that you need.

Mr Piccolo: It bounces back!

Mr VENNING: It certainly does. When you are the whip, you do not get a chance to get out of the place and exercise, and I am afraid that, being tired, you eat, and that is a bad habit. We have to instil in people the good habit of eating good, healthy food. If we do not address this, we will pay for it, anyway. We will pay a lot of money into the health system to look after these people. They will be a cost to the health system from a very young age, suffering from heart and cardiovascular problems and so on. I think a step in time certainly saves nine. I think we should spend that money right now. I ask the health minister to address this matter. It is a serious problem. We all know about it; we are all talking about it: it is time to do something about it.

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