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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2003 Week 11 Hansard (22 October) . . Page.. 3896 ..

MS DUNDAS (continuing):

promote fitness in the ACT. The "Way to Go"program has been used only in some suburbs-and I think it needs to be extended-to help encourage people to walk to work and look at different ways of getting around town, as opposed to always using their car.

I think we can do more in the area of planning. A recent study by the University of Western Australia showed that people living in streets with no footpaths are 62 per cent more likely to be obese. Many of Canberra's newer suburbs have narrow streets with no footpaths. Because new developments are trying to fit as many houses in as possible, footpaths are being built only on arterial roads. We have to start thinking of the health impacts of the design of our suburbs, not just the short-term profits of building as many houses as we can.

People who live in cul-de-sacs, which are a strong feature of our newer suburbs, are also more likely to be overweight. Although cul-de-sacs have low rates of vehicle accidents, they may not really be safer once the health risks of obesity are considered. The link between cul-de-sacs and obesity shows how important it is for walking to be seen to be both pleasant and time efficient. If there is no direct or easily accessible route to walk to local shops, people will drive and hence do less exercise. This is something we need to be countering. We need to think about how people are doing exercise and encourage them to do more exercise in their day-to-day activity. As the ACT government is taking back land development from the private sector, it needs to address the health aspects of suburb design so we can really build healthy communities here in Canberra.

I would like to thank Ms MacDonald for initiating debate on how issues of fitness and health impact on everyone in the community. Rather than just looking at sporting activities, I think we need to be approaching this issue in a holistic way. We should be looking at how we can encourage people in the ordinary community to undertake fitness-related activity so that they can be healthier for longer.

MS MacDONALD (11.21), in reply: Mr Speaker, I will be brief. I would like to thank all members for their support of this motion. More importantly, I would like to once again thank Fitness ACT for having put on the expo and for continuing to strive to raise these issues. A number of things are being done in addition to what Fitness ACT do, but we need groups such as Fitness ACT to continually raise these issues.

I would like to address some of the issues that Mr Pratt raised-and Ms Tucker spoke about this, too-in regard to mandating a minimum number of hours of school sport. This matter has been discussed in this place. Indeed, it has been addressed in a committee report which is currently under consideration. It is my personal belief, and I think the belief of many people, that that is not the answer.

I spoke about how I had lost quite a bit of weight, having been in the obese category. I would say that my own personal experiences in childhood were in some ways bad experiences. I did not eat enough vegetables. I always ate plenty of fruit but I did not eat enough vegetables until I reached my twenties when I discovered how to cook them properly, but that is another issue.

Specifically, in relation to mandating a minimum number of hours for school sport, schools have tight timeframes and, as such, they will always take the simplistic and easiest option. They will choose team sports, which are competitive, rather than adopting

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