The Tasmanian Greens today said preventative health must be a priority in order to tackle Tasmania’s obesity epidemic and growing diabetes rates.

MP, who today addressed a meeting of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA) in Launceston, said the Greens would prioritise the development of a cohesive and integrated diabetes care model to replace the current fragmented approach.

“In the ten years between 2000 and 2010 more than 543, 000 Australians were diagnosed with diabetes, with those statistics worsening since then,” Mr O’Halloran said.

“This is a massive educational and care challenge facing us now and into the future.”

“Tasmania needs a long term integrated preventative health strategy to assist in providing targeted care for those Tasmanians with pre-existing type 1, and newly diagnosed diabetes, as well as education and prevention programs for type 2.”

“Currently professionals in the field are frustrated by the often fragmented approach to developing diabetes education and care strategies, and are calling for a more unified and equitable approach, which the Greens endorse.”

“Wherever possible prevention is the key. We know that the availability of sugar-high, nutrition poor pre-packaged food, combined with an increasingly sedentary life-style is resulting in an obesity epidemic of tsunami levels, which in turn makes people increasingly vulnerable to type 2 diabetes.”

“A coherent and integrated preventative health strategy will help tackle obesity rates and type 2 diabetes in our community.”

“We also need to get on with investigating a federal sugar tax, and limit junk food advertising targeting children.”

“Diabetes complications and obesity are extremely costly to our community, but we cannot rely on just increased funding fixing the problem. We require political leadership to also take on the fast –food and soft drink companies, and to invest in healthy active communities, and the Greens are prepared to stand up and deliver,” Mr O’Halloran said.
Greens Health spokesperson, Paul ‘Basil’ O’Halloran