5 March 2022

The RACP welcomes that the new National Obesity Strategy puts forward ideas to reduce the marketing of unhealthy diets to children and young people but says it lacks firm commitments.

RACP President Professor John Wilson says “While we support that the strategy raises the need to reduce the marketing of unhealthy diets to children and young people, we really need to see some firm commitments, including the regulation of marketing through legislation.

“This is one of the key asks of the RACP’s Kids COVID Catch Up campaign, which we’re calling on political leaders to publicly commit to ahead of the Federal Election.

“Without Government regulation, the National Obesity Strategy is unlikely to have significant impact on the food industry or on reduction of obesity rates.

“It’s not enough to consider policies to reduce the exposure to unhealthy products through digital marketing or reduce such advertising in places frequented by children – we need to provide kids with public and digital spaces free from unhealthy advertising.

“To be effective, the Strategy needs to commit to clear, specific, and timely actions that are evidence based and informed by expertise. These need to be supported by adequate funding, and we hope that the forthcoming Federal Budget will provide much needed support for this important area of health.

In the lead up to the Federal Budget, RACP calls on the Government to:

·      Commit to fully fund implementation of the National Preventive Health Strategy and the National Obesity Strategy.

·      Restrict marketing of unhealthy diets to children and young people through adequately resourced regulation with effective compliance strategies.

·      Implement a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.

·      Replacing the current Wine Equalisation Tax (WET) and rebate system with a volumetric taxation scheme for all alcohol products.

·      Raise the baseline rate of social support to increase recipients’ abilities to make healthy choices, particularly around preventive health issues such as positive diet and lifestyle changes.

The RACP has long called for restrictions on marketing of unhealthy diets to children and young people, including in its previous submissions to the recently released National Obesity Strategy.

In the lead up to the Federal Election, the RACP’s Kids COVID Catch Up Campaign is calling on political leaders to commit to regulation to reduce the marketing of unhealthy diets to children and young people.

For more on the campaign, visit: www.kidscatchup.org.au

Authorised by Peter McIntyre, CEO, The Royal Australasian College of Physicians, 145 Macquarie Street, Sydney NSW, 2000