The head of the Australian Medical Association has questioned the federal government’s commitment to meaningful reforms to tackle diabetes in Australia.
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen expressed disappointment it had taken the government almost two years to provide a response to an inquiry into the state of diabetes in Australia.
She said “the government chose” the same day the federal budget was released, May 12 to publish its full response, describing the timing as a “deliberate attempt to avoid media and public scrutiny” rather than acknowledge and respond to concerns.
Dr McMullen said while waiting for the government’s response to the Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport inquiry, ‘The State of Diabetes Mellitus in Australia in 2024’, an estimated 2,500 lives had been lost to Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.
“The federal government supports many of the recommendations on diabetes but has still not committed to new and meaningful reforms,” she said.
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“We need to see impactful prevention measures, including food labelling reform, restrictions on marketing to children, and our long campaigned for tax on sugar-sweetened beverages.”
The government response was ‘in principal support’ for nine of the report’s 23 recommendations, including that it undertake a comprehensive economic analysis of the direct and indirect cost of all forms of diabetes mellitus in Australia.
Its response stated that the National Obesity Strategy 2022-32, agreed by all health ministers, outlined a framework for action to prevent and reduce overweight and obesity in Australia.
“Additional Government expenditure to address diabetes beyond that referred to in the Government Response is a matter for consideration in future Budgets,” it read.
The remainder of recommendations were ‘noted’ by the government, including the recommendation it implement food labelling reforms targeting added sugar to allow consumers to clearly identify the content of added sugar from front-of-pack labelling, separate from the nutritional information panel.
The government stated a Food Standards Australia New Zealand review determined that introducing an additional front-of-pack labelling system for added sugars may displace the Health Star Rating from a food label.
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“This is inconsistent with the World Health Organization (WHO) overarching guiding principes for front-of-pack labelling which state that a single system should be deployed.”
The government’s reply to the diabetes report was not the only health matter response to be released on budget day according to the AMA.
“The government published its response to the late Peta Murphy-led inquiry ‘You win some, you lose more: Online gambling and its impacts on those experiencing gambling harm’ 1,095 days after the committee tabled its report,” the association noted in a press statement.
“Gambling harms contribute to mental illness, suicide risk, family violence, and financial hardship but the government has failed to enact the committee’s central recommendations for a comprehensive ban on gambling advertising and establishing an independent national regulator,” Dr McMullen said.
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