November 18, 2024:

I rise today to introduce the Broadcasting Services Amendment (Healthy Kids Advertising) Bill 2024. The aim of this bill is to reduce the amount of junk food marketing that children are exposed to. Australia, like many other developed nations, is facing an obesity epidemic. This in turn is causing Australians to develop type 2 diabetes mellitus at rates never before seen and at younger and younger ages.

Currently, 1.3 million Australians are living with type 2 diabetes, a deadly yet preventable disease. Two-thirds of adult Australians and one-quarter of our children are above the healthy weight range. These figures are even higher in regional Australia and amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and other minority communities. This is a problem because obesity is a major cause of not only type 2 diabetes but many other chronic diseases, including heart disease, stroke, dementia and some types of cancer. Diabetes in turn can cause blindness, kidney failure and amputations. And, according to the National Obesity Strategy, obesity costs Australia nearly $12 billion a year. With such a high proportion of our population affected and with rates growing so rapidly we know quite clearly that obesity is a societal problem requiring a societal response. It is not, as the junk food and advertising companies would have us believe, the fault of the individual. Instead, at the heart of the problem is the obesogenic environment that we live in. And a very critical part of the obesogenic environment is the constant junk food marketing that we are exposed to. Australian children see at least 15 ads for unhealthy food every day.

They see junk food ads when they watch the telly with their family, they hear them on the radio in the car on the way to school and they are deluged with unhealthy food ads in their bedrooms whenever they are on social media or online. And research does show that there is a direct link between unhealthy food ads, the dietary decisions of children and families and childhood obesity. And yet in Australia the average child aged five to eight years old is exposed to more than 820 unhealthy food advertisements on TV alone every year. Children are also seeing at least 100 junk food ads and promotions online every week. Powerful social media algorithms are used to individually target our children. Their online activity is mined, thousands of 'interest labels' are attached to them, and this information is onsold to thousands of companies. Susceptible people, particularly children, are identified, and then they are served up these harmful ads relentlessly.

Simply put, our children are being preyed upon by companies that seek to profit at the expense of their health. So what can be done? Already more than 40 countries around the world, including the UK, Ireland, Chile and Norway, have restricted or are planning to restrict junk food marketing on TV, radio and online, with positive results. In the UK, a ban on junk food adverts being shown on TV before 9 pm will come into force on 1 October next year. This will occur alongside a total ban on paid-for online adverts. Both measures are aimed at tackling childhood obesity.

My healthy kids advertising bill is similar to this. I'm proposing an amendment to the Broadcasting Services Act. The objective of the healthy kids advertising bill is to protect our greatest resource—our children—from the harmful impacts of junk food advertising. This bill is not about telling people what they can and can't buy or eat. It's about creating environments that support our kids' health as they live, play and learn. If implemented my bill would restrict junk food advertising from appearing on TV, radio and streaming services between the family viewing hours of 6 am and 9.30 pm. It would also introduce an end to all paid junk food marketing on social media and other online environments.

Under the terms of my bill, 'unhealthy food' is defined as food and drink not recommended for promotion to children in the 2018 guide published by the health council of COAG. Under the regulations, substantial fines would be imposed on broadcasters, internet service providers, and food companies that fail to adhere to the guidelines. It's important to note that this bill is just one part of a suite of measures that are needed to tackle the obesity and diabetes epidemics facing our nation. The National Obesity Strategy, the National Preventive Health Strategy, and the National Diabetes Strategy all recommend that the Australian government introduce broad marketing restrictions on unhealthy food.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport reported on its inquiry into the state of diabetes mellitus in Australia this year. It too recommended restrictions on junk food advertising. Our government has a duty to protect Australian children, and the obesity epidemic is the major preventable public health challenge of our times. With millions of Australian children already on track for a lifetime of chronic disease, it's well over time for this parliament to act. I urge all members of the House to step up and give our children the chance to live a healthy life by backing in this healthy kids advertising bill. I would like to cede the rest of my time to the member for Kooyong.