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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-05-27 Daily Xml
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PREVENTATIVE HEALTH MEASURES

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (12:23): I move:

That this house—

(a) recognises the growing cost of health treatment in South Australia and Australia; and

(b) urges the state and federal governments to put more effort and resources into preventative health measures.

I am not suggesting by this motion that the state and federal government are not putting an effort into preventative health; that would be wrong. I have recently met with the state minister, the Hon. John Hill, and he is very aware of preventative health measures and of the cost of treating people, and the savings in terms of human suffering as well as in monetary terms if we can achieve a better outcome through preventative health measures.

I have written to the federal minister, Nicola Roxon, commending her for establishing the Preventative Health Agency; however, whilst there is a lot of focus and debate on medical treatments, hospital costs and so on, I think it is important that not just the government but the community—and all the components thereof—really get stuck into the preventative health side of things. As I have said in this place before, if we do not get a handle on the health and hospital costs, we will be spending every tax dollar in that area in the future. We are sitting on a time bomb in terms of what can and is likely to happen to us if we do not deal with the issues by way of preventative health.

Recently, the federal government put up the price of cigarettes. I personally think the price could have gone up even more, because smoking to me is a form of suicide and it is not something we should encourage. That is one aspect of preventative health, and I hope the recent increase in the price of cigarettes encourages people to give up smoking. It is a terrible thing, and it is a terrible way to die. My father, who was in the Navy, where they encouraged them to smoke, died from emphysema, and to drown in your own fluid is a horrible way to go. That is just one aspect of preventative health.

When I met with the Hon. John Hill, he indicated that his department had changed its stance somewhat. I have been arguing for a long time about in situ workplace health checks, and the department, I think, was not enthusiastic about it The minister might have been, but the department has now come on board, and I am delighted about that. I want in situ health checks in the workplace for all employees, certainly in the Public Service. As I have mentioned previously in this place, some organisations, such as the ANZ Bank, and some councils, such as the City of Onkaparinga and the City of Marion, already do it. Many corporations do it. Ironically, Fosters Brewery does it in Melbourne, and Victoria Police and other agencies around Australia do it, but not enough do it.

A study done by Foundation 49 found that, if you reduce the health risk factors per employee in an organisation of 1,000 employees with an average salary of $50,000 a year, the productivity gains are of the order of $3.48 million. To me, the human aspect is more important, but just the financial aspect shows the benefit of having a healthy workforce.

Places such as Marion and the City of Onkaparinga not only do blood sugar and blood pressure tests but they also do skin checks and so on. A lot of people do not realise that with things such as melanoma, one Australian dies every six hours. A lot of people are unaware of some of the risks and have little understanding that you can have melanomas in parts of the body, even internally.

People are not aware of some of the risks they take even by failing to have basic checks, such as having their blood pressure and cholesterol checked, and so on, and that is without getting into areas such as mental health and related areas. When we talk about health, we are talking about a whole spectrum of health issues.

One of the lessons nowadays—and this is increasingly the message from medical professionals—is that you cannot just talk about heart disease, prostate cancer or breast cancer, you have to talk about all of the human body, because we are more than just a heart or some other part of the body. I have been heartened to hear medical professionals, who have their own specialties, talk about the need for an integrated, total approach to aspects of preventative health.

I mentioned in this parliament yesterday the initiative of wellbeing checks for young infants introduced when Lea Stevens was minister for health. I would like to see that initiative extended through the school system. Many of us can recall years ago when we had to line up to be checked. Nowadays, it does not happen in primary and secondary schools as it used to, and I think it should. It can be done in a way that is not embarrassing. We now have children developing diabetes, which was considered to be pretty rare years ago. There are a whole lot of other things in terms of body mass and so on that need to be addressed early on. So, I think it would be a good investment through the school system that we have regular checks. Some doctors do it off their own bat in terms of assessing children in some country towns, but it should be a universal thing.

The argument that people can go and see their doctor sounds good, but it does not happen, particularly for a big section of the male population—they do not have a tradition of going for a check-up. I would urge every person in this parliament, not just the men but anyone and everyone, to have regular health checks. That is what saved my life. If I had not been aware of the possibilities, I would not be around. I know of so many people whose lives have been saved because they have got onto preventative health early on.

There are a lot of aspects to this topic. I want to see things move more quickly. I am not saying the government is not doing anything, I am saying: let us all do a lot more. I even use my newsletters to put out health messages, and I find that people respond very positively. I am not preaching to them but I just put in something like, 'Have you had a check-up lately from your GP?' I have had recent letters from people saying that some of those health messages have saved their life, because people just do not think about these things. I have been amazed when talking to people high up in the state bureaucracy who have said that they have not been to a doctor in 30-odd years; I have been absolutely amazed that we have people in that category.

I do not have to press the point too hard. What I want to see is everyone on board: more awareness, more understanding of risk factors and, importantly, people doing something about it. Ultimately, we are responsible for our own health but some people need a bit of assistance along the way, a bit of a kick-along, and sometimes, especially men but not just men, need to be urged to have a check-up so that remedial action can be taken sooner rather than later, so that we can avoid the unnecessary suffering and early death which occurs, unfortunately, to a lot of Australians, and that need not be the case. I commend this motion to the house.

Mrs VLAHOS (Taylor) (12:32): I move:

After paragraph (a) delete existing paragraph (b) and replace with:

(b) congratulates the state and federal governments on the additional resources into preventative health measures at both levels of government and through the recent Council of Australian Governments Agreement.

I rise to amend the member for Fisher's motion. More than half of South Australian adults and a quarter of South Australian children are either overweight or obese. Being overweight can lead to serious health consequences, as the member for Fisher has outlined, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. In fact, some health experts have warned that unless the obesity epidemic is addressed, the current generation of children could have shorter life expectancies than their parents.

A report on the prevention of chronic disease by Queensland's chief health officer undertaken in 2009, estimated that 16 per cent of premature death and ill health may be due to unhealthy diet. If left unaddressed, levels of obesity-related chronic disease will create a massive demand upon our health system in future years. In fact, the cost of obesity alone, including the burden of disease, is estimated to cost South Australia $4.4 billion each year.

All levels of government are acutely aware of this situation and that it needs to be addressed. Since coming to office in 2002, the Rann Labor government has highlighted the importance of good health, especially in children. We have run well-known health promotion programs such as the Go for 2&5 campaign, encouraging healthy heating, and the Be Active campaign to promote healthy activity.

We have targeted initiatives in schools and preschools such as: banning junk food in public school canteens; working with preschools and schools to encourage children to swap soft drinks and junk food snacks for water and fruit; introducing the Start Right Eat Right initiative for healthy food in childcare services, which is now situated in over 100 accredited sites across the state; and introducing the Premier's Be Active Challenge, which is encouraging children to be more active, more often, with nearly 28,000 students completing the challenge in 2009.

We are supporting community projects such as the Community Foodies initiative. We have recruited 10 healthy weight coordinator positions across the state as part of the Do It For Life campaign. In 2009, we announced a five-year, $22.3 million Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle (OPAL) program in partnership with the commonwealth and participating local governments.

OPAL is a groundbreaking program which has government and local communities working together to come up with community-wide solutions to health issues. We have also run programs targeted at adults, including the 'be active @ work' and the Active Transport programs.

Since 2002, the Rann government has worked hard to assist grassroots sports clubs to improve their facilities and equipment. We have introduced the Inclusive Recreation Inclusive Sport grants program for projects that create opportunities for people with disabilities to participate in sports and recreational programs. We have provided over $36 million in funding for grassroots sports facilities and equipment and contributed over $52 million to a variety of sporting organisations to help them run their sports.

The government has taken policy initiatives and actions to encourage a healthy and more active community. As a result of Thinker in Residence Professor Ilona Kickbusch's work on Health in All Policies, South Australia is leading the world in ensuring healthy outcomes are being considered across all levels of government.

The recently released 30-year plan recognises the importance of urban landscape on the health and wellbeing of South Australians. The 30-year plan also builds upon the more than $60 million the Rann government has invested over the past eight years to encourage local government and community groups to develop public spaces in their local area for recreation. These open space grants, sourced from the Planning and Development Fund, assist and encourage local government throughout the state to improve important public areas. Our government message on healthy eating and physical activity is being heard.

Measuring our Success, a report released in April 2009 as part of the parliamentary Social Development Committee investigation, found more than 990,000 South Australian adults reported seeing or hearing information about being active or the Be Active campaign and eating a healthy diet through 'Go for 2&5', and about 528,000 people (45 per cent) reported taking some action to change their lifestyle.

The Measuring our Success report also found that more than 184,000 students in South Australian public schools and preschools have increased access to healthy food and drinks as a result of the Right Bite Strategy and that almost 18,000 children are attending childcare centres with healthy food policies.

The childhood obesity rate has been increasing in the developed world, including South Australia, since the 1960s. As a result of greater public awareness and government action over the past eight years, the proportion of children who are overweight and obese in South Australia is no longer increasing. However, there is still much work to be done to reduce the proportion of overweight and obese children.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report, Health Expenditure Australia 2007-08, states that between 2002-03 and 2007-08 the average annual growth in recurrent health expenditure was 5.1 per cent for South Australia and 4.8 per cent for Australia. This report recognises that the ageing population and the ageing workforce, combined with the growing burden of chronic disease and demand for health services, necessitate change in the way that health care is provided, with increased investment in primary and secondary prevention.

Over the past three years, SA Health has allocated an additional $25 million to the prevention areas. Over $10 million per annum is allocated to support healthy eating, encourage physical activity and prevent obesity, as outlined previously.

Tobacco control investment is $4.3 million per annum, and $4 million per annum is allocated to the 'Do it for life' program, to address lifestyle risk factors and chronic disease. Funding through the Council of Australian Governments National Partnership Agreement on Preventative Health will provide $24.58 million to be directed to the Obesity Prevention and Lifestyle program (OPAL) and to healthy workers initiatives being planned now, with a further $23.5 million if targets are achieved.

The health investments announced in the recent federal budget include all previous announcements made under the recent COAG decisions, build upon the COAG national health and hospital package and provide an additional $2.2 billion, which includes:

$417 million investment to establish a nationwide network of primary health care organisations, to be known as 'medical locals', to improve access to the after hours primary care;

$355 million to improve access to primary health care, by establishing an additional 23 GP super clinics, and provide an additional 425 grants to expand existing general practices and primary care, community health and Indigenous health medical services, to deliver GP super clinics style services;

$523 million to train support nurses, including aged care and in rural and regional communities. This also includes $390.3 million to support the use of practice nurses in general practitioner clinics.

$467 million to modernise the health care system by providing personally-controlled electronic health records for every Australian who wants one.

The National Male Health Policy has also been announced, providing $16.7 million to assist in addressing male health challenges in Australia, and this is badly needed. This includes funding for the Australian Men's Sheds Association and funding to establish the first Australian longitudinal study into men's health. Other key initiatives include aged care, mental health, substance abuse, Medicare and blood products, and the National Cord Blood Collection Network.

Mr GRIFFITHS: On a point of order, whilst I respect the sentiment conveyed by the member for Taylor, the copy of the amendment to the notice of motion from the member for Fisher is incorrectly dated. It actually states it as being 27 October. Therefore, is the house actually able to consider it?

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I believe that the actual date is incorrect.

Mrs VLAHOS: I am sorry, that is a clerical error.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: It is an administrative error. These things occur. I am sure that you meant 27 May.

Mrs VLAHOS: I do in fact mean that.

The Hon. R.B. SUCH: I will accept the amendment.

Amendment carried; motion as amended carried.

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