Australia’s obesity statistics are well documented. We know the majority of us are overweight, that 27.9 per cent are obese and more than one quarter of our kids heavier than they ought to be.
Well, now a coalition of 34 major Australian health organisations says that unless we curb those unsettling numbers we’ll be faced with another: 1.75 million deaths in people over the age of 20 caused by diseases linked to overweight and obesity by the year 2050.
In an effort to tackle this “epidemic of weight-related illness”, the group (led by the Obesity Policy Coalition and Global Obesity Centre, and featuring Cancer Council Australia and Heart Foundation) today released ‘Tipping the Scales‘, an eight-part action plan they they are urging the Federal Government to adopt.
Among their suggestions: restrictions on junk food TV advertising, a mandatory health-star-rating system and increased funding for eduction.
But none has received as much attention as the so-called ‘sugar tax’.
What is a sugar tax?
Under the group’s recommendations, this would be a levy imposed by the Federal Government that would increase the price of sugary drinks by 20 per cent, with revenue directed toward a national obesity prevention strategy and support of healthy lifestyles.
According to the OBC, “the levy could apply to all non-alcoholic beverages with added sugar, such as sugar-sweetened soft drinks, energy drinks, fruit drinks, sports drinks and cordials, potentially excluding 100 per cent fruit juices and milk-based drinks.”
This would mean that your $2.00 can of Cola, for example, would cost you an extra 40c.
Similar taxes exist in several other countries. The UK’s, for example, will come into effect next year and will be applied to manufacturers, while Mexico’s 10 per cent levy achieved a 6.3 per cent reduction in soft drink consumption in its first year.
Jessica Beaten shares the secret to raising a kid that will eat EVERYTHING. (Post continues below).
Top Comments
Why punish everyone?? Tax the fatties!! Higher Medicare Levi if overweight/obese, higher premiums on health insurance, mandatory purchase of two seats on an airplane if you can't fit into one, more expensive clothing as more material is needed.
Maybe this would encourage them to stop eating so much, start exercising and lose weight.
forget the tax just make healthier options cheaper and scrap junk food advertising before 7:30pm
Healthy, fresh food is cheaper than fast food. With discount fruit and veg shops and the dramatic increase in quality of snap frozen fruit and veg and supermarkets such as Aldi with cheaper meat, there is no way fast food is cheaper per serve. The Australian Dieticians Association proved this earlier this year. Scrap junk food advertising before 7.30pm? What will that do? Nothing. It's not kids buying the food, it's the parents!!!! Lazy parents who don't care about their health or that of their child's. It's really not that hard to do a grocery shop once a week (even order online - what you spend in delivery you save by not buying impulse buys in-store), chop it up, even cook it and freeze it or pop in the fridge ready to eat. A sugar tax won't work. People have to want to change.
They don't want to be accountable. They want excuses and magic pills.
I feel sorry for people with genuine health problems that cause them to be overweight and obese. They are lost in the crowd nowadays.
yeah the parents buying it at the insistance of the kids seeing something shiny on tv and nagging until they get it