‘HEALTH STAR RATING’ SYSTEM WELL OVERDUE

The long overdue decision to finally relaunch the Health Star system it sought to cripple in February caps off a disastrous year in health policy for the Abbott Government.
 
The Health Star website was taken down in February on the orders of chief of staff to Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash, Alistair Furnival.
 
The site had been in development for two years and had the backing of every state and territory health minister.
 
Mr Furnival, who had been a director of a company that lobbied on behalf of the food and beverage industry, was subsequently forced to resign.
 
This debacle was followed by the May Budget which saw hundreds of millions of dollars ripped out of preventative health programs designed to tackle obesity, diabetes and other preventable health conditions.
 
The absurdity of these cuts was highlighted by the Sax Institute 45 and Up Study which revealed obesity is costing the hospital system $4 billion a year.
 
The study found obesity accounted for one in every eight hospital admissions by people aged 45-79 highlighting the stupidity of the Budget decision to rip more than $360 million from programs that were tackling obesity, increasing physical activity and improving healthy eating for adults and children around Australia.
 
The study confirms the Abbott Government’s health policy is shambles. The programs it cut could have saved almost four times the amount it wants to raise from its disastrous $7 GP Tax.
 
Australians deserve access to clear and accurate information about the food they purchase and that is what the Health Star Rating System will now, belatedly, deliver.
 
The process to establish the Health Star Rating System was initiated by Labor following a comprehensive review of food labelling and demands from consumers for a simple front of pack labelling system that would make choosing healthier food options easier.
                            
With the relaunch of the web site, and the star system, consumers now will finally start to have access to the information they need to choose a healthier diet.
 
But it will do little to undo the damage caused by the Abbott Government’s disastrous cuts to preventative health programs, and its plan to stop people seeing a GP through its $7 GP Tax.