Thirty-four leading community, public health, medical and academic groups on Tuesday united for the first time to call for urgent Federal Government action to address Australia’s serious obesity problem.

In the ground-breaking new action plan, Tipping the Scales, the agencies identify eight actions they say the Australian Federal Government must take to reduce the enormous strain excess weight and poor diets are having on the nation’s physical and economic health. 

Led by the Obesity Policy Coalition and Deakin University’s Global Obesity Centre, Tipping the Scales draws on national and international recommendations to highlight where the groups believe action is required.

In addition to a sugar tax, demands for action from the government include time-restrictions on TV junk food advertising to kids, the establishment of a national obesity taskforce and the development and monitoring of national diet, physical activity and weight guidelines.

The group also wants the development of a national active transport strategy, the health star rating system for food made mandatory by July 2019 and the funding of weight-related public education campaigns, along with the setting of clear food reformulation targets.

"We have a generation of children that could die younger than their parents,” Obesity Policy Coalition executive manager Jane Martin said.

Ms Martin said the eight definitive policy actions in Tipping the Scales addressed the elements of Australia’s environment which set individuals and families up for unhealthy lifestyles, rather than just focusing on treating the poor health outcomes associated with obesity. 

“Sixty-three per cent of Australian adults and 27 per cent of our children are overweight or obese,” she said.

“This is not surprising when you look at our environment – our kids are bombarded with advertising for junk food, high-sugar drinks are cheaper than water, and sugar and saturated fat are hiding in so-called ‘healthy’ foods. Making a healthy choice has never been more difficult.

“The annual cost of overweight and obesity in Australia in 2011-12 was estimated to be $8.6 billion in direct and indirect costs such as GP services, hospital care, absenteeism and government subsidies.

“But Australia still has no strategy to tackle our obesity problem. It just doesn’t make sense.”

“Without action, the costs of obesity and poor diet to society will only continue to spiral upwards.

“The policies we have set out to tackle obesity therefore aim to not only reduce morbidity and mortality, but also improve well-being, bring vital benefits to the economy and set Australians up for a healthier future.”

Professor of Epidemiology and Equity in Public Health at Deakin University, Anna Peeters, said the 34 groups behind the report were refusing to let governments simply sit back and watch as growing numbers of Australians developed life-threatening weight and diet-related health problems. 

“For too long we have been sitting and waiting for obesity to somehow fix itself. In the obesogenic environment in which we live, this is not going to happen,” Professor Peeters said.

“In fact, if current trends continue, there will be approximately 1.75 million deaths in people over the age of 20 years caused by diseases linked to overweight and obesity, such as type 2 diabetes, cancer heart disease, between 2011-20501.”

“Obesity poses such an immense threat to Australia’s physical and economic health that it needs its own, stand-alone prevention strategy if progress is to be made.

“There are policies which have been proven to work in other parts of the world and have the potential to work here, but they need to be implemented as part of a comprehensive approach by governments. And they need to be implemented now.”