MEDIA RELEASE
THURSDAY 21 OCTOBER 2010
SA and WA governments joint ‘Gold Medal’ winners for obesity action
NT government awarded annual ‘Couch Potato’
The South Australian and Western Australian Governments have been awarded a ‘Gold
Medal’ for their action on obesity prevention at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the
Australian New Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS) in Sydney today.
In contrast, in a tight contest, the Northern Territory Government has the dubious honour
of receiving the annual ‘Couch Potato’ award for its lack of progress on implementing
obesity prevention initiatives - just pipping New South Wales.
The annual national ‘Couch Potato’ awards were developed by ANZOS to recognise
Australia’s best and worst performing state or territory in relation to obesity prevention
activities.
The awards are given on the basis of rating and comparing progress across a range of
obesity prevention priorities including enabling cheaper and easier access to healthy
food, reducing the marketing and promotion of unhealthy foods and creating
opportunities for exercise through better urban design and access to facilities.
Monash University public health researcher, Dr Anna Peeters, said that most states
appeared to have ‘upped the ante’ and had recognised the urgency of the obesity
epidemic this year and broadened the scope and increased the number of activities.
“What we’ve seen this year is that leadership is the vital differentiator; those states and
territories with strong commitment and buy-in across government are also those
jurisdictions which are leading the way.
“The South Australian and Western Australian Governments have made significant
progress this year to topple Queensland, which has won the Gold Medal for the previous
two years. What these three states share is strong leadership in policies to improve the
food supplied in various important settings. They’ve gone beyond healthy food policies in
schools, expanding into healthcare, government and sporting facilities. We would really
like to see the other states and territories following this lead,” said Dr Peeters.
Dr Peeters also commends two Governments for initiating the implementation of
progressive policies -Victoria’s kilojoule labelling in fast food outlets and the ACT’s
legislation to increase competition between supermarkets in order to lower food prices.
NSW is also recognised for its leadership in advocating for national restrictions on the
marketing of unhealthy foods to children.
Despite improvements across the board, the Society warned that nationally there were
still major holes in a comprehensive approach to obesity prevention. In particular, the
lack of progress in restricting junk food advertising to children was counter-productive to
the activities that the leading states and territories were undertaking.
How each state and territory measured up
The criteria checklist requires states and territories to score government action over a
number of categories including policies, law reform, food access, social marketing
campaigns, as well as state-wide monitoring and evaluation. These are assessed by the
ANZOS Public Health Sub-Committee which collates the responses from experts in each
state and territory and assigns the awards.
1.
Gold Medal Award – SA and WA
2.
Queensland
3.
Victoria
4.
Tasmania
5.
ACT
6.
NSW
7.
Couch Potato Award – NT
1. South Australia – Gold Medal Award
“South Australia’s leadership is demonstrated by a strategic and integrated approach
across government, from social marketing, through capacity building, to health services
and urban design,” said Dr Peeters.
Initiatives of note include: Eat Well Be Active Healthy Weight Strategy and the expansion
of the flagship Obesity Prevention And Lifestyle program - a community based childhood
obesity prevention project driven by the Health Minister with support from the Premier.
The new research and evaluation centre PANORAMA also informs the Strategy
implementation.
ANZOS highly commends South Australia’s new healthy food and drink choice policy for
healthcare facilities, and its involvement in three urban planning initiatives including the
NHF led ACTive living coalition in urban design and transport.
1.
Western Australia - Gold Medal Award
“Western Australia also has a strong bipartisan, whole of government approach,
extending its influence through a range of initiatives such as its Premier’s Physical
Activity Taskforce, monitoring and evaluation of population data and strong, evaluated
social marketing campaigns such as ‘Draw the line’, ‘Go for 2 & 5’ and ‘Find 30 every
day’,” said Dr Peeters.
ANZOS commends the Western Australian government’s excellent policy on food in
public facilities, which it is now looking to be expanded to sporting venues, and its model
of funding through the health promotion agency Healthway supporting reforms around
sponsorship and food supply in sports settings.
2. Queensland
“Queensland continues to demonstrate leadership with its Q2 strategy and sets the
standard around improving the food supply, from schools, to health services, to sporting
facilities. Queensland also has developed some novel approaches, such as development
of a land access strategy and regular monitoring of the healthy food basket price and
accessibility,” said Dr Peeters.
This year has also seen the development of Making Tracks, focused on closing the gap in
health outcomes for Indigenous Queenslanders. ANZOS commends the development of
the Food for Sport guidelines and the SEPAHE (Supportive Environments for Physical
Activity and Healthy Eating) Project.
3. Victoria
“Victoria’s improvement in the ranking is a reflection of a number of novel initiatives,
including Australia’s first kilojoule labelling on fast food menus,” said Dr Peeters.
Other important initiatives include the recently announced Pedestrian Access Strategy, the
inclusion of health as an objective in the Planning Act, and the establishment of the Inter-
Departmental Committee on Food Policy. ANZOS recognises the WorkHealth initiative
and hopes to see further linked initiatives to increase the capacity of the workplace for
prevention. The government will establish a centre for intervention research and policy on
chronic disease early next year.
4.
Tasmania
ANZOS particularly commends the establishment of the Food Security Council this year,
and Tasmania’s progress of policy around kilojoule menu labelling.
“Tasmania has progressed towards a more integrated government approach through the
Premier’s Physical Activity Council. Other areas of strength for Tasmania were their
extensive social marketing, and a focus on preventive health, including government
supported telephone health coaching,” said Dr Peeters.
5.
ACT
ANZOS commends the ACT’s policy on allowing access to schools on weekends and after
hours and their action with legislation to increase competition between supermarkets and
lower food prices. The whole of government Chronic Disease Strategy provides a solid
foundation for further actions. We look forward to seeing the development of a policy
around food supply in public health and other government facilities in the near future.
6. New South Wales
“New South Wales ranked sixth this year reflecting the potential to integrate a number of
excellent initiatives to provide a strong, state-wide approach. This would build on initiatives
such as the NSW Premier’s Council of Active Living which this year launched the NSW
Bike Plan and includes excellent monitoring and evaluation,” said Dr Peeters.
ANZOS commends the government’s role in supporting national food marketing
restrictions and the Premier’s advocacy for national mandatory labelling of fast foods
menus. ANZOS looks forward to seeing the realisation of an effective statewide initiative,
including a settings-based approach to prevention and building on their hospital food
policy to move into other government funded and/or operated facilities.
7. Northern Territory
Dr Peeters said that the Northern Territory had some unique attributes that limited its
ability to compete with other states in terms of scale and issues relating to regional and
remote communities; however it did have some programs in place which showed real
potential such as the Nutrition And Physical Activity Program and the establishment of free
access to the Leanyer leisure park in Darwin.
ENDS
Media contact:
Dr Anna Peeters – 0400 612 427
NEWS 
