I would like to question the government today about a critical area of health reform—our national approach to preventive health. For many years successive governments' approach to health funding has been reactive rather than proactive. State and territory health systems around the country are now dealing with the financial consequences of this, and many are in crisis. Hospitals and emergency departments remain under pressure with too-frequent ramping of ambulances and bed block, and surgery waitlists continue to grow. The five-yearly National Health Reform Agenda to fund hospitals is being renegotiated right now. State and territory leaders claim that the federal government's proposed funding changes leave them tens of billions of dollars short of agreed-upon public hospital cost-sharing commitments.
As our population ages and chronic disease prevalence grows, our demand on the health budget will continue to expand unless something changes. That change must be increased investment in prevention of chronic, non-communicable diseases. It is the key both to better population health outcomes for Australians and to reducing our health expenditure. The National Preventive Health Strategy sets a clear target. Five per cent of the health budget should be dedicated to prevention by 2030. Despite this, Australia currently only allocates two per cent of its health budget to prevention, accounting for roughly 0.2 per cent of GDP. This is a fraction of what the UK and Canada dedicate to illness prevention initiatives, which are at five to six per cent and seven to eight per cent respectively.
Failing to act comes at a cost in terms of both our health and our wealth. Chronic conditions are the biggest killer in Australia, making up to 85 per cent of the burden of disease and contributing to nine in 10 deaths. Chronic conditions contribute to around 6.4 million hospitalisations per year. That's 55 per cent of the total, which costs the government approximately $82 billion a year. People with chronic disease are 60 per cent more likely to not participate in the labour force, are less likely to be employed full time and are more likely to be unemployed than those without a chronic disease. In 2024 over one-third of the total burden of disease in Australia could have been prevented by reducing exposure to all the modifiable risk factors.
Obesity and diabetes, in particular, have become pressing public health problems in Australia. Rates of obesity have tripled since 1980, and the prevalence of diabetes has nearly tripled since 2000. Australia is now among the countries with the highest obesity rates worldwide. Currently, 24 per cent of Australian children are overweight or obese, placing them on a trajectory to chronic disease. Among adults, these figures rise to 63 per cent, revealing a systemic challenge that begins in childhood and compounds over time.
This escalating burden underscores the critical importance of prevention as the most effective strategy to halt the rising tide of obesity and related chronic disease. The recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry into the state of diabetes mellitus in Australia in 2024 called for more diabetes prevention measures, including food labelling and a levy on sugary drinks, and for the Australian government to consider regulating the marketing and advertising of unhealthy food to children.
The time for action is now, and we have the evidence and the policy frameworks. The cost of inaction is mounting. By increasing investment in preventive health to five per cent of health spending, the Australian government can reduce long-term healthcare costs, enhance productivity and improve community health and wellbeing now and for future generations. So my question to the Minister for Health and Ageing and the government is this: what is the government doing to ensure Australia is on track to dedicating at least five per cent of the health budget to prevention by 2030, as outlined in the National Preventive Health Strategy? And will the government implement the recommendations of the inquiry into diabetes mellitus in Australia—specifically, the introduction of a tiered levy on sugar-sweetened beverages and the regulation of the marketing and advertising of unhealthy food to children?
8 October 2025