1.1
The Select Committee into the Obesity Epidemic in Australia was tasked
with inquiring into and reporting on the prevalence and cause as well as health
and economic impacts of overweight and obesity in Australia, particularly
related to children. Further, the Committee was tasked with inquiring into and
reporting on the effectiveness of existing policies and programs to address
childhood obesity, with a focus on evidence-based measures and interventions,
among other things.
1.2
Labor Senators acknowledge the high health and economic impacts of
obesity and are pleased this inquiry recognises the complex challenges
confronting Australia in tackling the epidemic. We take this opportunity to
reiterate Labor’s commitment to tackling obesity and the record of the last
Labor Government, including the establishment of the Australian National
Preventive Health Agency and substantial investment through the National
Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health – both abolished by the current
Government.
1.3
It is clear that all stakeholders, including Government, need an ongoing
focus on these issues and that a comprehensive, multi-layered and
outcomes-focussed approach must be adopted to ensure progress is made.
Sugar tax
1.4
Chapter 6 of the report addresses a possible tax on sugary drinks.
1.5
Recommendation 10 calls for the Australian Government to introduce a tax
on sugar-sweetened beverages.
1.6
Labor Senators do not support Recommendation 10.
1.7
Labor Senators note that evidence on the impact of sugar-sweetened
beverage (SSB) taxes in other jurisdictions is still emerging, particularly in
relation to obesity rates.
1.8
Labor Senators are particularly concerned that an Australian SSB would
likely be regressive, meaning that it would impact lower-income households
disproportionately. For example, while supporting a SSB tax the Grattan
Institute submitted that:
Low-income households spend a higher
proportion of their disposable income on drinks (but less in absolute terms),
so an SSB tax will likely be regressive – they will pay a higher proportion of
their income in tax ... Modelling of the suggested sugar content tax (at the rate
of 40 cents per 100 grams) indicates the financial burden is modest because
spending on beverages accounts for a small share of household income ... but will
be slightly higher for people from lower socio-economic areas, meaning lower
socioeconomic households will pay a higher proportion of their disposable
income in tax. A recent analysis of SSB tax studies also found that an SSB tax
will likely result in a slightly larger tax burden for lower socioeconomic
groups (in dollar terms).
1.9
While Labor Senators accept the logic that a SSB tax is likely to reduce
consumption and accelerate reformulation efforts, the Committee received substantial
evidence that a SSB tax is only one option amongst many to address overweight
and obesity and would not be effective without other measures. Labor Senators
note that other interventions – including those introduced by the former Labor
Government and abolished by the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Government – would
have the same effect without a regressive impact, and without risking
unintended employment and industry consequences.
1.10
Labor Senators will continue to monitor the international evidence on
SSB taxes.
Marketing and advertising of discretionary foods
1.11
Chapter 7 of the report addresses marketing and advertising of
discretionary foods.
1.12
Labor Senators acknowledge the report of the World Health Organisation
(WHO) on Ending Childhood Obesity which recommends reducing the exposure and
influence of the marketing of discretionary foods as part of a comprehensive
approach to addressing childhood obesity. We note that Australia is a
jurisdiction that has a multi-layered regulatory framework in place to reduce
such exposure and influence. For this reason, we note that the Committee report
is simply not correct to state that the current system fails to reduce such
exposure and influence.
1.13
Labor Senators acknowledge the strong concerns expressed by submitters
about the inadequacies of the current regulatory system in reducing the
exposure and influence of discretionary food advertising and marketing campaigns
to children.
1.14
Labor Senators note that it has been a decade since the Australian
Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) conducted an evidence-based review of
the Children’s Television Standards, which had a key focus on the relationship
between advertising, children’s food and drink preferences and obesity.
1.15
Labor Senators note that in its Final Report of the Review, the ACMA
noted that ‘the relative contribution of advertising to childhood obesity and
overweight can be difficult to quantify’ and that ‘a causal relationship
between these may not be possible to determine’.[1]
The ACMA noted that factors influencing childhood obesity and overweight are
complex and that public health literature had identified a range of factors,
including hereditary, social, cultural and environmental factors.[2] Further, the ACMA noted evidence that ‘there are various nutrient profiling
tools currently available in Australia, which seem to vary in terms of the
criteria and/or method used to identify certain food categories’ and that
‘there is a lack of consensus on the definition of ‘unhealthy’ food’.[3]
1.16
Labor Senators note that, in the time since the ACMA Review, new codes
and initiatives have been introduced by the advertising industry to restrict
food and drink advertising and marketing to children, and that new evidence has
emerged on children’s viewing patterns, advertising and food preferences and
obesity, along with new advice and recommendations on tackling childhood
obesity.
1.17
Recommendations 11 and 12 call for the introduction of restrictions on
discretionary food and drink advertising on free-to-air television until
9.00pm, either as part of the review of the Commercial Television Industry Code
of Practice or by direct regulation by the Australian Government.
1.18
Recommendation 13 calls for the Australian Government make mandatory the
display of the Health Star Rating for food and beverage products advertised on
all forms of media.
1.19
Labor Senators note that Recommendations 11 and 12 focus on commercial
free-to-air television to the exclusion of other platforms where children are
increasingly viewing content, fails to address the definitional issue around
‘discretionary food and drink’ and fails to address the linkage between the
Free TV Code of Practice and the AANA Codes of Practice which may also require
review and updating to address latest evidence and advice, including changing
patterns of child viewing.
1.20
Labor Senators note that commercial free-to-air television is a free
advertiser-funded service to the public and that the ACMA, which administers
the Children’s Television Standards and registers broadcast industry codes of
practice, is guided by the regulatory policy set out in section 4 of the Broadcasting
Services Act 1992 which provides that:
The Parliament also intends that
broadcasting services ... be regulated in a manner than, in the opinion of the
ACMA, enables public interest considerations to be addressed in a way that does
not impose unnecessary financial and administration burdens on providers of
broadcasting services.
1.21
Without an agreed and implemented food and drink identification standard
to identify discretionary food and drink, it is challenging for the ACMA or the
media, advertising and marketing industries to implement a uniform approach, or
to undertake economic modelling to estimate the costs or benefits to the
prevalence of overweight and obesity, to broadcasters’ revenue, to media audiences
(associated with potential change in program quality), the advertising sector
and to food and drink manufacturers.
1.22
For these reasons, Labor Senators do not support Recommendations 11, 12
and 13 and, as an alternative, recommend that the newly established National
Obesity Taskforce conduct a comprehensive review of the regulatory framework
for food and drink advertising and marketing to children, in conjunction with
relevant health, media and advertising bodies, to ensure the framework is fit
for purpose in the contemporary media environment and recommends that a
food-identification standard be agreed to inform such review and facilitate
uniform implementation. Such review would be undertaken in conjunction with the
ACMA, the AANA and advertising industry, the broadcasting industry and relevant
health authorities to:
- ensure that advertising restrictions are based on an agreed and
implemented food and drink identification standard in Australia;
- ensure that children and their parents are better informed about
the nutritional value of foods and drinks advertised on all forms of media,
including through the Health Star Rating system;
- take account of latest evidence and advice on tackling obesity;
- take account of changing patterns of child viewing habits across
platforms; and
- take account of the administrative and financial burden of any
restrictions on the broadcasting sector.
Senator Lisa
Singh Senator Kimberley
Kitching
Senator
for Tasmania Senator for Victoria
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