28 October 2009
QUEENSLANDERS NOT THE BIGGEST COUCH POTATOES
The Queensland Government has won the Gold Medal Award for taking action to curb obesity
for the second year running at the National Couch Potato Awards by the Australia and New
Zealand Obesity Society (ANZOS). NSW is the winner of the Couch Potato Award as the worst
performer on obesity prevention.
Heart Foundation CEO, Mr. Cameron Prout, says, “The Heart Foundation supports the
Queensland Government’s whole of government approach to reaching the ambitious target of
reducing obesity by one third. We congratulate the Queensland Government for innovative
strategies which focus on issues outside of the health sector, such as how we can better
design our communities to make physical activity easier for the population’ rather than harder.”
The Queensland Government won the award based on innovative initiatives such as the
Supportive Environments for Physical Activity and Healthy Eating (SEPAHE) project. In
partnership with the Heart Foundation, the Queensland Government is developing a resource
for local government which includes guidelines on neighbourhood planning to support physical
activity, guidelines to modify the population’s travel behaviour; active transport infrastructure and
signage and advertising devices that do not promote fast food or unhealthy eating options.
The Queensland Government was, however, criticized by ANZOS for not taking action on the
proposal to ban junk food advertising to children on television. Although public comment was
called for 12 months ago, there has been no progress to protect children. Government
regulation in this area has strong support with more than 88% of Australians in favour of
banning junk food advertising when children are watching TV.
Despite winning the Gold Medal Award, Queensland still has a long way to go to see the
significant impact it needs on overweight and obesity rates to achieve the Q2 target. Current
statistics show that 63% of men and 51% of women are overweight or obese in Queensland.
“What the Queensland Government has in place is a good start,” says Mr Prout. “However,
there needs to be a sustained, well-funded, and comprehensive healthy weight strategy across
all sectors of government and the community, to turn this tide.”
Two critically important components for tackling obesity are building infrastructure that
supports safe, enjoyable active living and investing much more in active modes of transport.
“We are far too car dependent in Queensland and we need policies and investment that
prioritise public transport use, walking and cycling over the use of cars” says Mr. Prout. We
need people to get out of their cars and be active.”
“The Heart Foundation would like to see the Queensland Government to reassess their
proposal to greatly increase public transport pricing and bring in measures to reduce car use
such as a congestion tax,” urges Mr Prout.
Ends
Media contact:
Jill Sims, Media & Communications Manager 07 3872 2541 or 0421 911 116
NEWS 
