Queensland’s new Healthy Futures Commission to tackle obesity crisis

UNHEALTHY habits will be targeted at the source – the family home – by a new $20 million body tasked with turning the obesity crisis around.

Childhood is a crucial time for setting lifelong behaviours around healthy eating.

UNHEALTHY habits will be targeted at the source – in the family home and the school playground – by a $20 million state body tasked with turning Queensland’s obesity crisis around.

Grants will be paid for ideas to help kids move more and eat better, and to help parents buy and prepare healthier meals.

But the new entity, the Healthy Futures Commission, will have to work hard for its money, with its goal to reduce childhood obesity by 10 per cent by 2026.

It will also need to increase the physical activity of Queenslanders by 20 per cent in the same time frame.

The Sunday Mail can reveal Health Minister Cameron Dick will introduce new laws in Parliament this week to establish the commission, making good on a commitment Labor made to voters before its shock election win in 2015.

The body, to start work early next year, will be funded to the tune of $20 million over three years, with 55 per cent of the funding to provide grants to local businesses, community organisations, academic institutions and government agencies to come up with targeted interventions to turn poor eating and unhealthy habits around.

Potential options include funding programs in schools to make healthy food cheaper, and to ensure the food provided to families receiving food relief is healthier.

Ideas to get the community to move more could also be funded by the body.

Diabetes Queensland CEO Michelle Trute says the new Healthy Futures Commission needs to “go hard”. Picture: Adam Armstrong

“We know obesity continues to be too high in Queensland. One in four children and two in three adults are overweight or obese,” Mr Dick said.

“Childhood is a crucial time for setting lifelong behaviours, so the more we can do to ­empower and help young Queenslanders and families, the better chance we have at reducing obesity rates across the state. The commission will focus on targeted interventions and projects to enable children and families to make healthy ­choices.

“By investing in innovative ideas through local community partnerships, the commission will create environments and opportunities that support the health and wellbeing of children and their families.”

The commission will have a six-member board, a CEO, and up to 15 staff, with Mr Dick vowing to ensure it did not ­resemble just another health bureaucracy. Board appointees will serve four-year terms.

The commission will focus on vulnerable groups in a bid to reduce health inequity. It has the backing of Diabetes Queensland, with CEO Michelle Trute calling for it to “go hard”.