My bill to ban junk food ads is about protecting our kids

Every time I see junk food advertising targeted at kids, my heart sinks. Our children are being preyed upon every time they turn on the TV, listen to the radio or go online – by companies that seek to profit at the expense of their health.

As a parent, I feel frustrated that my efforts to get my kids eating healthily is constantly undermined. As a former GP, I am too well aware of the health risks. As a country, we are facing an obesity epidemic with all its consequences. As an MP, I’m bitterly disappointed by decades of inaction from successive governments in the face of overwhelming evidence and community and professional desire for change.

It should be an easy fix, yet nothing has been done, with governments being too timid to take on the junk food giants. This is despite 40 countries around the world having implemented, or about to implement, regulation around junk food advertising. That’s why, as an Independent MP free from the restrictions of party politics, I wanted to put this issue firmly on the political agenda. So in June, I put forward my own Private Members Bill, The Healthy Kids Advertising Bill 2023.

In a nutshell, my bill would:

• Restrict ads on TV, radio, and streaming services between the family viewing hours
  of 6am to 9:30pm
• Ban junk food marketing on social media

and online outright:

• Impose substantial fines on advertisers breaking the regulations.

It is not about telling people what they can or cannot buy or eat. It’s about protecting our kids’ health as they live, play and learn. Research shows there are direct links between unhealthy food ads, dietary decisions and childhood obesity, and yet our children are bombarded with unhealthy food ads all day, every day.

Australian children see at least 15 ads for unhealthy food every day. The average child aged five to eight years old is exposed to more than 800 junk food ads on TV each year and over 100 promotions for unhealthy food online every week. Powerful algorithms individually target our children, while companies pay influencers to promote their unhealthy products. Almost 40 per cent of an average Australian child’s daily energy intake is now from so-called ‘discretionary foods’ – unhealthy, highly processed foods high in salt, sugar or trans fats with little or no nutritional value. 

A quarter of children are above the healthy weight range, and obesity is a leading cause of chronic disease costing at an estimated $12 billion a year in Australia. We need legislation because it is clear that industry self-regulation has failed. For too long, Australia has given those that profit from unhealthy foods the ability to set their own rules and influence government policy.

66% of Australians are in favour of banning junk food ads according to research conducted by the Australia Institute and my Bill enjoys the support of the Australian Medical Association, Dietitians Australia, Diabetes Australia, the Cancer Council, and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and College of General Practitioners.

We should be joining the 40 countries worldwide that have regulated or are planning to regulate junk food marketing. We know it works. Quebec’s restrictions reduced fast food consumption by 13 per cent. Legislation is just one step in tackling obesity, but it is an easy fix. With millions of Australian children already on track for a lifetime of chronic disease, it won’t be an easy fix if we wait.