Flood of cheap frozen drinks ‘like crack’, says Health Minister

The explosion of cheap frozen sugary drinks for sale in Queensland shops has been likened to “flooding our suburbs with crack cocaine”.

THE explosion of cheap frozen sugary drinks for sale in Queensland shops has been likened to “flooding our suburbs with crack cocaine”.

Health Minister Steven Miles yesterday put the food and beverage industry on notice, telling a national obesity summit blaming individuals for being fat ignored “the root causes”.

“It lets the fast food industry and sugary drink manufacturers off the hook,” he said.

“You have flooded our suburbs with dollar frozen drinks. Within 500m of my house, there are three outlets selling dollar frozen drinks. One has 37 different flavours.

“This is literally the sugar equivalent of flooding our suburbs with crack cocaine.”

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Health Minister Steven Miles says the food and beverage industry should take more responsibility for people’s health. Picture: AAP/Josh Woning

Dr Miles, who has made tackling obesity a priority during his term as health minister, called for a comprehensive national obesity policy “beyond blaming individuals”.

“While I accept that we all have some responsibility for our own health, I don’t see any evidence at all that in recent decades waves of people have woken up and decided to be fat,” he said. “Our society is doing that to them.”

Dr Miles warned food and beverage industry representatives they needed to do more to address Australia’s obesity crisis or face further regulation.

“Public sympathy for multinational companies making big profits off the misery of fat Queenslanders won’t last forever,” he said. “There is ample evidence that with marketing and store placement, some companies are exploiting the socio-economic status of … people for profit.

“The social determinants of overweight and obesity are the same as the social determinants of many of the other illnesses people struggle with — poverty, poor housing, insecure and poorly paid work.”

The Minister says there has been an explosion in the amount of outlets selling cheap frozen sugary drinks near his own home. Picture: Brendan Radke

Last October, the Council of Australian Governments’ health council, which includes federal, state and territory health ministers, agreed to develop a national strategy on obesity.

Two-thirds of Australian adults and a quarter of children aged from five to 17 are overweight or obese. More than 1.2 million Queenslanders are classified as obese.

Dr Miles, the member for Murrumba, which takes in suburbs on Brisbane’s northern outskirts, said the obesity crisis was more than “just about the costs to our health system and who should pay for what”.

“It’s about the 1.26 million Queenslanders who, every day, struggle to run around and play with their kids, who struggle to fit on a bus seat or an airline seat,” he said.

“Many of them spend three half days a week trapped on a dialysis machine. Many of them struggle to find and maintain work or find and maintain a healthy relationship.

“When I visit my local shops, medical centres and schools, I’m struck by how being overweight or obese impacts on people’s lives every day, not to mention the number of days that they can expect to live.”