9. SUE KEDGLEY (Green) Link to this
to the Minister of Health
Does New Zealand have any targets for how much it aims to reduce obesity rates in the next 5 to 10 years?
Hon TONY RYALL (Minister of Health) Link to this
No, but the health sector aims to reduce the growth of unhealthy weight through efforts that target a balance between increased physical activity and better nutrition.
When poor diet is the leading cause of ill health in New Zealand, when obesity rates are skyrocketing, and when our children are amongst the fattest in the world, why did the Government scrap the school food guidelines, which aimed to reduce obesity rates by encouraging children to eat healthy food in schools?
I need to be clear with the member that the Government believes that school boards of trustees, not some heavy-handed central bureaucracy, should decide what they sell in their school tuck shops. The Government will not be reinstating tuck shop controls.
Can the Minister confirm that now that the Government has scrapped the school food guidelines, schools are free to sell as much junk food as they like—things like soft drinks, chips, sausage rolls, and doughnuts, all of which may be bought, I might say, at a school canteen 5 minutes away from here? Does he think it makes sense from a public health perspective for schools to sell unhealthy food in their canteens every single day when we know it contributes to obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dental decay; if so, why?
The Government is quite clear that it trusts boards of trustees and parents to make decisions about what they sell in their school tuck shops. I tell the member that a quite considerable number of reports indicate that schools are maintaining and improving healthy options in their school canteens.
Dr Paul Hutchison Link to this
What contribution is the health sector making towards increasing the level of physical activity of our young people, given the reports that our children are much less physically active than children were 20 years ago?
The health sector has contributed about one-third of the $20 million a year that is going into the new Kiwisport initiative, which aims to encourage more and more children to take up more and more physical activity. It is correct that children are increasingly less physically active than children were 15 or 20 years ago. The Kiwisport initiative is part of this Government’s balanced approach to dealing with unhealthy weight.
I seek leave to table two things. One is a Green Party school food survey that found that out of 50 schools, the majority are selling chippies, fizzy drinks, sausage rolls—
Mr SPEAKERSecondly, I seek leave to table these three items of food, which were purchased in a school canteen yesterday, 5 minutes from Parliament.
Yes, absolutely seriously, because this gives evidence that the Minister was quite wrong when he said that this is not the staple food in the school canteens. We bought this food 5 minutes away from here.