Taking Preventative Action - Government's response to PHT Report
On 11 May 2010, the Minister for Health and Ageing, the Hon Nicola Roxon MP, released Taking Preventative Action, the Government’s response to the report of the National Preventative Health Taskforce. In their final report, the National Preventative Health Taskforce put forward 35 key action areas and 136 sub-recommendations. The Commonwealth Government supports or has taken action in 28 key action areas and addressed 63 of these sub-recommendations. More are currently under consideration.
The report is consistent with the advice that AANA has previously indicated to members which was that there would be no substantive moves to restrict advertising or sponsorship. Below is a summary of the key recommendations which are relevant to our industry:
Advertising to Children
• The Government makes positive mention of effective self-regulatory initiatives led by the AFGC, QSR and the Australian Association of National Advertisers’ Code of Ethics and Food and Beverages Advertising and Marketing Communications Code. The Government will continue to monitor the impact of these initiatives to ensure their effectiveness in reducing children’s exposure to advertising of energy-dense, nutrient-poor foods and beverages. This is consistent with the Taskforce recommendations which propose a staged and potentially escalating approach to change, allowing for voluntary measures to be trialed with action to follow if necessary.
• The Government notes its provision of additional funding over three years from 2009–10 to national broadcasters (ABS and SBS) to support, among other things, a dedicated children’s channel providing age-appropriate, advertising free programs.
• The response also acknowledges ACMA’s review and amendment of The Children’s Television Standards (CTS) in 2009 to clarify promotion and endorsement of commercial products by animated characters or celebrities during C program times.
Obesity
• The Government will fund social marketing campaigns to raise national awareness of the risks of obesity and smoking. For example, the Measure Up campaign, which raised awareness of the risks associated with waist circumference, will receive an additional $59 million in funding.
Alcohol
• The Government is committing $50 million over the next four years to extend the National Binge Drinking Strategy. This includes $25 million for a community sponsorship fund as an alternative to alcohol sponsorship for community sponsorship and cultural organisations.
• The $50 million funding from the Government will also include $5 million over the next four years to enhance alcohol helplines and possibly extend the National Binge Drinking Strategy social marketing campaign.• While the Government is supportive of limiting the exposure of children to alcohol advertising that may unduly influence them, the Government will not consider regulatory action at this time. Further action on alcohol will be informed by the Australian National Preventative Health Agency, evaluations of the National Binge Drinking Strategy measures, the results of the new Australian Health Survey and other existing data collection instruments.
In whole, AANA believes the Government’s response to the report of the National Preventative Health Taskforce is a measured approach and a good outcome for the advertising industry. We note that a key focus of the proposed National Prevention Agency is to take an evidence-based approach to research and social marketing to help deliver best-practice policy making in preventative health.
We look forward to working with the Government to help deliver policy outcomes to create a healthier Australia.