Page 2359 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 August 2006
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in the proposals to get the federal government to act, but that at best is only part of the problem. There is a lot that we can do.
When this matter was first raised several weeks ago I looked at my own two kids. Because of our job commitments we do not get to see our children watching television during peak viewing times. I suspect that whatever is advertised does not have a huge effect on them. My kids like McDonald’s but that appears to be more of a peer pressure thing, unless there are lots of advertisements on television.
Ms Porter was quite right when she said that obesity is a significant problem in this country. Australia is one of the leading nations in the rates of childhood obesity. It is second after the United States, which has the dubious honour of having the most obese population. Obesity is a real problem. I said earlier that there is much we can do in the territory. I commend the government for introducing a healthy food program in schools. That is a positive step but we must do more to ensure that our children are physically active.
Let me give members a bit of a history lesson. ACTSport was keen to see more done in schools. In 1994 I recall it making a number of representations to the then Labor government. Minister David Lamont was fairly receptive to its suggestions but the education department and bureaucrats resisted them. When the Liberal Party was elected to government in 1995 one of the first things I tried to implement was greater physical activity in schools.
Ms Gallagher: It is still in place.
MR STEFANIAK: I am glad to hear that. I hear a few things from time to time. At that time there was extensive consultation. Ms Tucker and Roberta McRae were members of a 35-person committee that came up with a good 150-minute program of compulsory physical activity for children from kindergarten to year 10.
Due to some industrial trouble the program did not commence in 1996 but it commenced towards the end of that year. It was a particularly effective program and in the end all sides somewhat reluctantly agreed to it. Teachers were trained to conduct physical activity lessons and some were really enthusiastic. Some schools had programs that ran for more than 200 minutes, which was fantastic.
When I was minister I received reports that some schools had not implemented the program. In about 2000-01 we cracked down on those schools. I still receive feedback on that program. As the Deputy Chief Minister no longer has responsibility for this area I ask her to remind her colleague of the need to ensure that schools maintain that program. I accept the Deputy Chief Minister’s statement that the program is still operational but there is some resistance to it. Schools must be made to enforce this important program.
We commenced assessing the physical fitness of primary students and during the change of government in 2001 we put out a tender. I was disappointed when the then education minister discontinued that tender. It might have been done for ideological or misconstrued reasons but it was a good program that I commend to the government. It does not matter who runs that program. I think de Castella ran one program and there was a possibility of the CIT running another.
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