Page 3902 - Week 13 - Thursday, 17 October 1991
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Accordingly, I was pleased to see the Health Promotion Fund introduced in the Australian Capital Territory last year by the Alliance Government. I was particularly pleased that, up until the time we went out of power, over $400,000 had been given to sporting groups. I am certainly of the view that the most effective way to get to the community, especially young people, to promote to them the dangers, indeed the evils, of smoking is through sporting activities and sporting heroes. Mr Moore mentioned the Canberra Cannons campaign to promote the Quit for Life message. That is particularly effective because it goes out to the schools. Young people know who the Cannons are and they look up to them. The Cannons are excellent role models, and that is one of the most effective ways of getting the message across.
In the past year I have been very keen to see not 30 per cent of that Health Promotion Fund but 50 per cent spent on sports-related activities. That is the best way of getting across an anti-smoking message. That is the best way of pushing a healthy lifestyle. It is a most effective marketing tool. That is why the cigarette companies are so keen to sponsor sporting events. That is why the sponsorship of the Winfield Cup by Rothmans has been so terribly effective and why Rothmans are desperately keen to keep it.
That agreement is due to expire in 1993. It would have been interesting, given that our beloved Canberra Raiders did not win the grand final, if Norths had been in there and won it, because the president of Norths indicated that they did not want the Winfield Cup. That did not happen and, unfortunately, our team narrowly missed out on winning its third successive premiership. The same situation applies with Benson and Hedges cricket and the sponsorship of various motor races. It is an excellent vehicle for getting a sponsorship message across, and that is clear to the cigarette companies.
I am also interested to see moves being made at the Federal level in relation to these major sponsorships. The present Sport Minister is quite keen to come up with a national health promotion fund that will buy out these very large sponsorships. We are talking about a fair amount of money. We are talking about $20m to $30m a year in sponsorship for these major competitions, and a considerable amount of money would be required to buy them out. It would certainly be more than any State or this little Territory could find. So, we are talking big dollars and there is a need for concerted national action.
I doubt very much whether any government will ever ban smoking - certainly not in the foreseeable future. I would not be terribly upset if that did occur, but I doubt that it will. The educative campaigns are working, but they are working very slowly. There is certainly some heart to be taken from the way they are working; but it is a long, hard process. I wonder whether we will ever get to the stage where no-one smokes.
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