Life Education Australia’s Healthy Harold saved from fatal funding cut

OUTCRY has forced the government to rethink a funding cut that would deny Australian school kids their visits from the nation’s favourite giraffe.

A FUNDING backflip by the government has saved an Australian icon from certain death.

News that the face of Life Education Australia, the van-dwelling, fluffy puppet giraffe affectionately known by schoolchildren across the nation as Healthy Harold was facing the axe, devastated generations of Australians.

The federal funding agreement for LEA, which runs the travelling health education program that Harold is the face of, is due to end on June 30 and was not renewed in the May budget.

The small puppet has taught about 720,000 Australian students about health.

The organisation’s chief executive David Ballhausen yesterday released a statement drawing attention to the quiet funding cut.

“This is quiet ... remarkable given the compelling need that exists across our community for strong, sustained and effective preventive health education,” he said.

Labor accused the government of slashing the program without anyone noticing, but a barrage of online backlash appears to have swayed the government into a rethink.

Budget cuts meant the Life Education Australia would have been taken off the road - but the government has now backflipped.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham last night tweeted his assurance that Healthy Harold would stay on the road, with government funding.

“We support #HealthyHarold & will work with Life Education Australia to ensure the funding & the program continues,” he said.

The form the government’s commitment to the program will take however remains unclear.

Opposition health spokeswoman Cathering King questioned the government’s commitment to resurrecting Healthy Harold on Twitter saying it was unclear what the government commitment would be.

#healthyharold responds to the Turnbull Government... #auspol pic.twitter.com/FJFxpyYX2i

— Catherine King MP (@CatherineKingMP) May 30, 2017