PM weighs in on sugar-tax plans

Prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has slapped down renewed calls for sugary drinks to be slugged with a 20 per cent tax this morning after a coalition of health and community groups released a national plan designed to tackle Australia’s obesity problem. 34 public health, medical academic and community groups have banded together to back an eight-point plan that’s calling on the government to establish a national obesity task force, introduce restrictions on TV junk food ads and mandate health star ratings on all food packaging by mid-2019. The changes would have an immediate and widespread impact on the FMCG industry, but Turnbull isn’t backing the move, telling the Nine Network on Tuesday morning that a tax isn’t the solution. “I think we have enough taxes and there are enough imposts on us all when we go to the supermarket and we go shopping,” he told the Nine Network on Tuesday. “The other thing is too where do you draw the line? There is a lot of sugar in a bottle of orange juice, are you going to put a tax on that?” The groups calling for a sugar tax include the Obesity Policy Coalition, Cancer Council, the Heart Foundation and several universities. They estimate that 63 per cent of Australian adults and 27 per cent of children are either overweight or obese, with the annual cost to the health budget coming in at around $8.6 billion.  In response to the calls the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC), alongside the Australian Association of Convenience stores (AACS), Australian Beverages and several other lobby groups released a joint-statement condemning the plan.

Source: www.insidefmcg.com