Page 1268 - Week 04 - Wednesday, 3 April 2019
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everyone having to think that they must commit to a gym membership or something like that, which is perhaps not always the thing people most want to do. That is certainly where there is room for more creativity in bringing incidental exercise into people’s lives generally, particularly children and young people, where we are again creating those lifelong habits.
As someone who is involved in a lot of sport and physical activity, I often meet people who say, “It’s so great that you ride to work or do some of these things.” I think there is a perception in our community that only athletes or super-fit people can do it or you have to have done it all your life. Part of this is twofold, one being that that is not the case; you can start at any point in your life. But I think also—and, again, as is the focus of today’s motion—we should be making sure that young people have that understanding from the beginning so that it can be part of their life.
Drawing from my personal experience of living in the Netherlands, everybody rides a bike and it is perceived as something you do. Kids do it from even before they can ride themselves. They are ridden to places by their parents and it becomes a part of normal life. That is certainly a space where we have a lot of work to do in Canberra.
In terms of government programs, ACT Health funds the it’s your move initiative to support students to develop and implement a project that improves the health of their school community. I particularly like this one because it invites community participation; it invites student leadership. There is a lovely example at Mount Stromlo High School, which has promoted active lifestyles by developing a QR code tagging system with QR code signs installed in underpasses around the school.
Students are encouraged to scan the QR code on their phone when they walk or ride to school, and this is then linked to a Google form where students enter their information and are placed in a draw to win a prize each term. This is a great example of a simple idea that is student led and is encouraging the school community to change habits in a positive way. It is just one example, but we are seeing students develop some really creative and clever ideas across many of our schools.
It is great that these kinds of programs are already happening in our schools, but we know there is more work to do. The 2016 ACT Chief Health Officer’s report found that 88 per cent of ACT high school students are not getting enough exercise every day and one in four children in the ACT are overweight or obese. This is why we need to continue to do more.
I will be supporting Ms Berry’s amendment today. It retains all of the first part of the original motion and then adds information about the work that is currently happening in this space in her proposed paragraph (2). We support a slight extension in the reporting date to ensure that the Assembly can receive an update which includes the latest work happening through COAG ministers meetings and the future of education strategy. I look forward to receiving further information about the work that is occurring on this issue, in particular how we can attract and train staff with physical education expertise, and the review of the current sporting schools program.
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