2010 election priorities

Dear all Australian parents, grandparents and guardians,

Will you help us make preventative health for children an election priority?

Over the next four weeks, Australia’s federal politicians will be trying their hardest to win your vote for the election on August 21.

And with around 60% of Australian adults, and nearly a quarter of Australia children either overweight of obese, there is an urgent need for our next federal government to take strong action to support parents in raising healthy and active children. In fact, if current trends continue, it is predicted that our national figure will blow out to 75% overweight or obese persons by 2025.

So The Parents Jury is taking action to put children's health on the election agenda!

These are four areas that the incoming federal government must address in order to support Australian parents and overcome the unhealthy influences that contribute to our current rates of childhood overweight and obesity.

If you support our position, we want your help to make sure that your concerns are heard by the candidates.

You can also raise awareness in your community:

• Talk about the issues with other parents, your friends and family.
• If you see your local candidates out and about, talk to them about the issues. Ask them about their policies on improving the food and physical activity environments for children and families.
• Write to a letter to the editor for your local newspaper. Clearly and rationally talk about the barriers that you face in trying to give your children a healthy upbringing, and the social support that parents need from the federal government to make raising healthy and active children a more achievable task.

Don't forget to keep in touch with us at enquiries@parentsjury.org.au. You can send us a copy of any letters or emails you write, or just let us know how you are doing to your bit to advocate for healthier children's food and physical activity environments during this election.

The more support we can muster for The Parents Jury's policy priorities, the louder your voice will be heard in the lead up to August 21.

Let's make sure that the candidates can’t ignore our call to make children’s preventative health a priority.

Yours in good health,

The Parents Jury.

In the 2010 election, The Parents Jury is calling for:

1. A ban on the advertising of unhealthy foods and drinks on free to air and subscription television stations from 6am to 9pm daily.

TV ads use attention-grabbing visuals and persuasive techniques like celebrity endorsements, free giveaways, and misleading nutritional claims which can misrepresent the true healthiness of food. Advertising is a powerful motivator that influences children's desire for unhealthy foods, and relies on pester power in the home to undermine parents' authority.

There are various sets of regulations on foods and drink TV advertising to children in Australia, including some legally-enforceable government standards, as well as several codes of practice that are self-administered by the food, advertising and television industries.

Unfortunately these regulations tend to apply to specific times of the day, when few children are watching TV. They do little to reduce the total amount of food advertising shown during the evening prime time slot, when most under 14 year olds actually watch TV.

Overall, The Parents Jury argues that current regulatory system for food and drink advertising to children is too complex and does not adequately protect children from the large amount of persuasive food and drink advertising.

What parents want:

• 97% of respondents to our opinion poll support a ban on the advertising of unhealthy foods and drinks on TV when children make up a high percentage of the audience.
• 82% of respondents indicated that ‘unhealthy food advertising on TV' was one of their top two priorities.

Visit our Food Marketing to Kids section for more information.

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'Traffic light' labeling colour codes high, moderate and low levels of fat, saturated fat, sugar and sodium on the front of packaged foods, helping consumers to make an informed choice at a glance.

Traffic light labeling enables people to make a choice between similar items, and decide which is healthier, regardless of the often misleading nutrition information that's splashed across the packaging, or marketing spin.

It is an especially useful labeling method for children and busy parents, because it uses well-recognised colours to interpret the nutritional value of foods and drinks, without using any confusing percentages.

What parents want:

• When asked how the federal government could provide a ‘learning by doing' approach to overweight and obesity prevention, parents ranked traffic light food labeling as their #1 suggestion.

Visit our Understanding Food Labels section for more information.

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3. Nationally-consistent mandatory school nutrition guidelines in all public schools, which encompass all food environments.

Each state and territory has a set of school food guidelines which apply to all public schools. Unfortunately they are not all consistent, and do not all apply uniformly across all school food environments, such as the canteens, vending machines, fundraising, classroom rewards, excursions and food company sponsorship.

Children spend a significant amount of time at school, and schools have an opportunity and responsibility to provide supportive environments for healthy choices.

When unhealthy foods and drinks are readily available in school canteens, vending machines, classroom rewards and sporting activities, it undermines the healthy messages of the school curriculum and the family. Whereas offering children healthy foods and drinks in school makes selecting a nutritious diet much easier and it supports parents' efforts to create a healthy lifestyle for their children.

What parents want:

• 76% of respondents to a survey indicated that ‘quality of food in school canteens' was in their top two priorities. 
• When asked how the federal government could provide a ‘learning by doing' approach to overweight and obesity prevention, parents ranked nationally-consistent school nutrition guidelines as their third suggestion.

Find out more about your state's school nutrition guidelines.

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These companies promote to children through sport in a variety of ways. Some companies invest just a small sum of money to support local clubs, while others can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to sponsor professional competitions.

Some of the ways companies market unhealthy food and drink to children through sport include:

• Naming rights for teams and events
• Signage at sports club on billboards
• Logos on uniforms
• Branded merchandise giveaways such as hats and water bottles
• Food and drink samples and giveaways including discount vouchers
• Free meals at fast food outlet
• Promotional fliers for brand or specific products
• Logos on printed materials such as welcome kit or club handbook

Sports clubs and associations have a responsibility to children to provide positive messages about nutrition and exercise. By allowing unhealthy food and drink sponsorship they are giving out contradictory messages that encourage poor food choices and unhealthy eating behaviours.

What parents say:

• 94% say that government regulations are needed to limit [unhealthy food and drink promotions in sport] to children

Click here for more information on junk food in children's sports.

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