Page 602 - Week 02 - Thursday, 14 February 2013
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
springs to mind, because I have had the most meetings about it with him, is Tony Stubbs from the Heart Foundation, but it has other members on it as well. I am happy to provide you with a full list.
MADAM SPEAKER: Supplementary question, Mr Hanson.
MR HANSON: Minister, what reports, strategies, publications or other work has the task force so far completed?
MS GALLAGHER: They are in the process of finalising a document for me, but they have also been progressing work under the national partnership of healthy futures—I think that is what it is called—which has also received some funding from the commonwealth and the ACT government.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Mr Doszpot.
MR DOSZPOT: Minister, what is the total annual cost of running the task force?
MS GALLAGHER: Running has been within budget. It has not had any special appropriation. It is really pulling across whole-of-government directorates. It has got representatives, I think, from the planning directorate and representatives from Education. This is bringing a whole-of-government perspective to how we manage all of our different programs. Probably Sport and Recreation are there as well. I think it is a recognition that a number of our health promotion and health prevention strategies sit within individual directorates. It is about pulling all of that together. But that has been done within existing resources. People like Tony Stubbs from the Heart Foundation have generously given their time.
MADAM SPEAKER: A supplementary question, Ms Porter.
MS PORTER: Minister, what benefits will this bring to the community, the work of the task force?
MS GALLAGHER: The job that I asked the group to do was to make sure that our effort across government was coordinated and that it was delivering the most efficient and effective strategies for the future. We also went to the election campaign with a strategy for zero weight increases, which was to make sure that we set ourselves a target that there are no further increases in the levels of obesity across the community. That is a very challenging target but I think it was important to set it as a goal for us all to meet.
I think there is no doubt that the biggest risk to the health budget and the health system is the increasing level of chronic disease, and a lot of that is coming from our young people and a lot of that is coming from unhealthy diet and unhealthy weight. It is in all of our data. It is all before us. So the strategy is to turn some of that around and to start doing it with the national agency that has been put in place and to work in a coordinated way across government.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video