Turnbull government refuses sugary drinks tax

Sugary drinks should be taxed, the AMA has said today.
January 7, 2018
AAP
The Turnbull government won’t support a tax on sugary drinks despite Australia’s peak medical body insisting it needs to be a priority as more than half of Australians are at risk because of their body weight.
The call by the Australian Medical Association urges the government to make improved nutrition and eating habits a priority through education and food literacy programs, mandatory food fortification, restriction on food and beverage advertising to children and a sugary beverage tax.
In its statement on nutrition in 2018, the AMA said the government needed to put a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages as a matter of priority.
But, the coalition insists it’s taking the required action to tackle the challenge of obesity and won’t sweeten to making a deal that taxes sugary beverages.
“We do not support a new tax on sugar to address this issue,” a spokesman for Health Minister Greg Hunt said.
“Unlike the Labor party, we don’t believe increasing the family grocery bill at the supermarket is the answer to this challenge.”
He noted the government had taken action by backing labelling laws for ingredients and nutritional information and supported voluntary measures to restrict food marketing to children.
But, despite these measures, the AMA says junk food advertising to children needs to be stopped immediately.
“Advertising and marketing unhealthy food and drink to children should be prohibited altogether, and the loophole that allows children to be exposed to junk food and alcohol advertising during coverage of sporting events must be closed,” AMA president Dr Michael Gannon said in a statement on Sunday. The AMA’s biggest concern is the impact such advertising is having on children from a young age and the unhealthy habits they develop in early years. The group slammed junk food advertisements on radio, television, social media and at sporting events, saying they “undermined” healthy food education and made eating junk food seem normal.
It also called for a ban on vending machines at health care facilities such as hospitals, urging they be replaced with machines offering only healthy options.