ID :
77923
Wed, 09/02/2009 - 11:09
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/77923
The shortlink copeid
Cigarettes should cost $20: taskforce
(AAP) - Dearer cigarettes, junk food advertising bans and phasing out of alcohol advertising during live sports broadcasts are under consideration by the federal government.
The National Preventative Health Taskforce delivered its blueprint to make Australia
the healthiest country in the world by 2020 to federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon
on Tuesday.
The taskforce wants the government to boost tobacco tax to ensure the average price
of a packet of 30 cigarettes would rise from $13.50 to $20 within three years.
Junk food advertising on TV would be banned before 9pm and the use of toys, cartoon
characters and celebrities to appeal to children would also be phased out under the
recommendations.
Gym memberships could earn people a tax break, and families would pay less tax if
they enrolled their children in sports clubs.
Ms Roxon said the government would consider the report and put its reform plans,
which will also flow from reviews of primary care and hospitals, to the states and
territories at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in December.
"We hope they will sign on to our reforms but if they don't ... the government is
reserving its right to then go back to the community to seek, through a referendum,
at the next election if necessary, the power to take over responsibility for the
health system in terms of funding and policy settings," she told reporters.
"Prevention is not just a trendy idea of the moment.
"It's about saving people's lives."
More than 60 per cent of adults and one in four children are overweight or obese in
Australia. If current trends continue, three quarters of the adult population and
one third of children will be overweight or obese by 2025.
The taskforce views the tax system as a powerful weapon in battling the bulge.
It proposes tax breaks for families who register their children to play sport, as is
the case in Canada, and making gym memberships and sporting equipment tax
deductible.
It wants front-of-pack food labelling introduced and junk food marketing techniques
aimed at children, such as the use of celebrities and cartoon characters, to be
stamped out.
"The weight of evidence of the negative effects of inappropriate food advertising on
children's knowledge, attitudes, food preferences and consumption is now
sufficiently compelling to recommend ameliorative action," the taskforce said in its
report.
The taskforce wants liquor control laws to be tightened across the nation, including
restrictions on the number of alcohol outlets and opening hours.
The federal government spends $10 million a year on alcohol health-related
campaigns, while the industry's advertising expenditure in Australia is reported to
be $119 million, not including sponsorships.
The taskforce also wants an enforceable code of conduct requiring sporting codes to
take more responsibility for players' alcohol-related behaviour and health warning
labels on alcohol packaging.
Tobacco is also targeted, with smokers having to pay more for cigarettes if the
taskforce gets its way.
Taxes currently comprise 68 per cent of the cost of cigarettes and the taskforce
wants this level raised in several stages to ensure a packet of 30 cigarettes costs
an average of $20 within three years.
The taskforce has called on the government to introduce laws banning smoking in cars
carrying children.
The federal opposition has indicated it doesn't support increased taxes on
cigarettes and restrictions on junk food advertising on television.
"Under the Labor Party there are only two solutions to every problem: more
regulation or higher taxes," opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey told Sky News.
Mr Hockey said the coalition would "look carefully" at the health outcomes of any
policy change but likened the task force's recommendations to Labor's 70 per cent
tax rise on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks.
"You have to look at what the real impact is and let me tell you it's always
different to what they claim," he said.
The coalition backed the federal government's alcopops tax increase in the Senate in
August, which Treasury estimates will raise $1.6 billion in revenue during the next
four years.
The National Preventative Health Taskforce delivered its blueprint to make Australia
the healthiest country in the world by 2020 to federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon
on Tuesday.
The taskforce wants the government to boost tobacco tax to ensure the average price
of a packet of 30 cigarettes would rise from $13.50 to $20 within three years.
Junk food advertising on TV would be banned before 9pm and the use of toys, cartoon
characters and celebrities to appeal to children would also be phased out under the
recommendations.
Gym memberships could earn people a tax break, and families would pay less tax if
they enrolled their children in sports clubs.
Ms Roxon said the government would consider the report and put its reform plans,
which will also flow from reviews of primary care and hospitals, to the states and
territories at a Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting in December.
"We hope they will sign on to our reforms but if they don't ... the government is
reserving its right to then go back to the community to seek, through a referendum,
at the next election if necessary, the power to take over responsibility for the
health system in terms of funding and policy settings," she told reporters.
"Prevention is not just a trendy idea of the moment.
"It's about saving people's lives."
More than 60 per cent of adults and one in four children are overweight or obese in
Australia. If current trends continue, three quarters of the adult population and
one third of children will be overweight or obese by 2025.
The taskforce views the tax system as a powerful weapon in battling the bulge.
It proposes tax breaks for families who register their children to play sport, as is
the case in Canada, and making gym memberships and sporting equipment tax
deductible.
It wants front-of-pack food labelling introduced and junk food marketing techniques
aimed at children, such as the use of celebrities and cartoon characters, to be
stamped out.
"The weight of evidence of the negative effects of inappropriate food advertising on
children's knowledge, attitudes, food preferences and consumption is now
sufficiently compelling to recommend ameliorative action," the taskforce said in its
report.
The taskforce wants liquor control laws to be tightened across the nation, including
restrictions on the number of alcohol outlets and opening hours.
The federal government spends $10 million a year on alcohol health-related
campaigns, while the industry's advertising expenditure in Australia is reported to
be $119 million, not including sponsorships.
The taskforce also wants an enforceable code of conduct requiring sporting codes to
take more responsibility for players' alcohol-related behaviour and health warning
labels on alcohol packaging.
Tobacco is also targeted, with smokers having to pay more for cigarettes if the
taskforce gets its way.
Taxes currently comprise 68 per cent of the cost of cigarettes and the taskforce
wants this level raised in several stages to ensure a packet of 30 cigarettes costs
an average of $20 within three years.
The taskforce has called on the government to introduce laws banning smoking in cars
carrying children.
The federal opposition has indicated it doesn't support increased taxes on
cigarettes and restrictions on junk food advertising on television.
"Under the Labor Party there are only two solutions to every problem: more
regulation or higher taxes," opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey told Sky News.
Mr Hockey said the coalition would "look carefully" at the health outcomes of any
policy change but likened the task force's recommendations to Labor's 70 per cent
tax rise on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks.
"You have to look at what the real impact is and let me tell you it's always
different to what they claim," he said.
The coalition backed the federal government's alcopops tax increase in the Senate in
August, which Treasury estimates will raise $1.6 billion in revenue during the next
four years.
