Archive
Nikki Kaye – playing politics with children’s health
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It is a given that most politicians will do whatever it takes to win voters to get elected. It’s pretty much why their reputation is often at the same level as telemarketers and sex-workers (which, fair to say, is a slight on sex workers and telemarketers).
The responsibility for our perceived untrustworthiness of politicians is generally laid directly at their feet, when they often say things that are;
- a manipulation of facts/statistics
- cherry-picks facts, omitting the whole picture
- promises that are eventually watered-down or dumped entirely (eg, as with National’s policy to include agriculture in the ETS scheme in 2008, 2014, and 2015
- convenient “memory lapses”
- an outright, obvious lie
Our previous prime minister, John Key, could be flexible with the truth – and the public knew it.
The latest piece of self-serving political grandstanding came recently from National MP, Ms Nikki Kaye.
Usually one of National’s more sensible and mature MPs, she took a swipe at Green Party MP, Gareth Hughes’ call to restrict unhealthy foods sold in schools and instead opt for healthier options;
“Last year we saw 29,000 kids have their teeth pulled, obesity is going up – we are facing an epidemic – and our schools are still selling pies and cokes and chips and lollies.
I think we’re a food bowl in New Zealand. We could be providing nutritious, affordable food for every kid.”
Ms Kaye’s response was to drag out the old “Nanny State bogeyman;
“We need to acknowledge the world’s moved on since 10 years ago, so we need to acknowledge many more schools are providing healthy options and it is a bit nanny state.”
Her snide dismissal of addressing this crisis in our children’s health flies in the fact that obesity is a growing epidemic in our country. According to a recent statement from the Ministry of Health;
New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD, and our rates are rising. Almost one in three adult New Zealanders (over 15 years) is obese, and one in ten children.
Ministry of Health statistics show a grim increase in our obesity levels – including for our children;
Adult obesity statistics
The New Zealand Health Survey 2017/18 found that:
- around 1 in 3 adults (aged 15 years and over) were obese (32%)
- 47% of Māori adults were obese
- 65% of Pacific adults were obese
- adults living in the most deprived areas were 1.6 times as likely to be obese as adults living in the least deprived areas*
- the adult obesity rate increased from 27% in 2006/07 to 32% in 2017/18.
Child obesity statistics
The New Zealand Health Survey 2017/18 found that:
- around 1 in 8 children (aged 2–14 years) were obese (12%)
- 17% of Māori children were obese
- 30% of Pacific children were obese
- children living in the most deprived areas were 2.1 times as likely to be obese as children living in the least deprived areas*
- the child obesity rate increased from 8% in 2006/07 to 12% in 2017/18.
The increase in child obesity occurred under National’s watch and was not helped by then-Minister of Education, Anne Tolley and then-Minister of Health, Tony Ryall, who scrapped the previous Labour government’s Healthy Food in Schools policy;
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By 2038, an estimated two million New Zealanders will be obese, according to Otago University. The additional pressures on our health system with increased diabetes, heart disease, etc, will be staggering.
Even National could no longer ignore our worsening obesity epidemic. In October 2015, the Ministry of Health launched a Childhood obesity plan. The policy appeared largely ineffective as obesity levels grew.
And even Nikki Kaye understood the looming crisis, when she stated in April last year;
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“Physical inactivity cost New Zealand’s health care system over $200 million in 2013 and some research indicates that around 20 per cent of young Auckland children are overweight.
The Education Minister needs to continue the Auckland Education Growth Plan which was being worked on by the previous Government and was due to be considered by Cabinet last November. It is important to look at the work done so far to factor in potential opportunities around sport and recreational infrastructure.
We must prioritise sport and recreation in our communities and Auckland Council and the Government must front up with more funding to support Auckland’s sporting infrastructure.”
Nowhere does she address the grim reality that we are feeding crap “food” to our children.
National MPs would be hysterical with rage if marijuana, alcohol, tobacco, etc, was made legally available to children. Not for one moment would they accept the nonsensical proposition that banning children from accessing such drugs (whether legal or not) would be “Nanny Statish”.
But when it comes to crap food with high levels of salt, fat, and sugar – then it’s acceptable to National MPs. It becomes a “free choice” issue. That’s despite a supposedly intelligent, well-informed person like Ms Kaye being cognisant of the fact that “… around 20 per cent of young Auckland children are overweight”.
Referring to plans to combat rising obesity in our children should be a social responsibility, just as preventing drink-driving and smoking in restaurants and bars became the norm.
Labelling anything that reduced child obesity as “nanny state” is reprehensible because it plays politics with our young people. Invoking “nanny state” to win a few votes is self-serving.
A politician who casually parrots and throws around catch-phrases like “Nanny State” exploits the health of our children for personal gain.
Ms Kaye should reconsider her stance on healthy food in our schools. Or consider changing professions to something equivalent to political activity – but not likely to be a liability to our children’s health.
Try telemarketing.
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References
Bay of Plenty Times: So, just how trusted is your profession?
Scoop media: ‘Carbon neutral’ policy added to scrap heap
NZ Herald: Agriculture ruled out in Emissions Trading Scheme review
TVNZ: Defiant John Key defends Cameron Slater texts: ‘I haven’t been caught out’
Mediaworks/Newshub: Public sides with Dotcom in poll
Mediaworks/Newshub: Green Party calling for return of food in school guidelines to keep kids healthy
Ministry of Health: Obesity
Ministry of Health: Childhood obesity plan
Ministry of Health: Obesity statistics
NZ Herald: Greasy school tuckshop food on way out
Fairfax/Stuff media: Schools’ healthy food rule scrapped
NZ Herald: Two million obese New Zealanders by 2038, study finds
National: Council & Govt must prioritise sport infrastructure
Previous related blogposts
Can we afford to have “a chat on food in schools”?
National’s Food In Schools programme reveals depth of child poverty in New Zealand
Children’s Health: not a high priority for Health Minister Tony Ryall
Why did the fat kiwi cross the road?
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This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 11 February 2019.
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We don’t want to send the wrong message – John Key
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One morning, on Monday, 15 August, Radio NZ’s Guyon Espiner briefly interviewed our esteemed Dear Leader for the Checkpoint programme;
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Subject; a recent poll showing that 64% supported possession of a small amount of cannabis for personal use should be legal (33%) or decriminalised (31%). Only 34% of the 1,029 respondents supported the current status quo of prohibition.
Espiner pointedly asked Key whether he thought cannabis should be decriminalised or legalised.
Key responded that he “was not a fan” of making cannabis legal.
Key referred to Parliament “sending a message” to society;
@ 0.38
“…Y’now, one of the things that Parliament does is send a message to people about, um, activity we want to see or not want to see. And, um, in the case of drugs, um, I think if we were, as Parliament, were to decriminalise then one of the messages we’d be sending is that increased drug use is ok.”
@ 1.20
“…We see longer sentences for instance for domestic violence because we’re, um, trying to send a message as a Parliament that we’re deeply opposed to the domestic violence statistics in New Zealand [and] we’re going to do something about it.”
Dear Leader stuck to his spin-doctored script, using the phrase, “sending a message”, three times.
So the National-dominated Parliament was “sending a message”?
Key’s rationale, as he stated at around 0.38 into the interview was “ were to decriminalise then one of the messages we’d be sending is that increased drug use is ok“.
Really?
Are “messages” from Parliament to the rest of New Zealand critically important?
The previous Labour Government also intended that a “message” was sent from Parliament to our children, back in 2008;
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As I wrote back in November 2015;
As with taxing tobacco products in New Zealand – a method proven to work – increasing the price of an unhealthy product reduces consumption. Especially amongst the poor, who are particularly susceptible to pernicious marketing and supply of cheap, unhealthy ‘foods’. A Parliamentary report here in New Zealand showed that obesity was especially prevalent in lower socio-economic areas;
In 2012/13, a Ministry of Health-led survey estimated that three out of ten New Zealand adults were obese (31.3%), an increase of 2.7% from 2011/12 and an increase of 18.6% in the 25 years since 1989 Obesity rates were highest amongst Pacific adults (68%) and Māori adults (48.3%).
The same survey found that after adjusting for age, sex, and ethnicity, adults living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas were 1.5 more times as likely to be obese as those living in the least deprived areas.
However, our esteemed ‘Health’ Minister, Dr (!) Jonathan Coleman was/is not convinced.
On 28 June, last year, speaking on TVNZ’s Q+A, Dr Coleman said;
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Not necessarily. No, the evidence doesn’t show that. If you look at the evidence for sugar tax, right, it shows actually it’s very low in terms of disability-adjusted life years lost, so that’s basically saying that, look, there’s no evidence that it’s going to end up with people living longer, healthier lives. What there is evidence for is actually eating less and exercising more, and so I’m focusing my efforts on education, getting people to actually live more healthy, active lifestyles. Sugar taxes get a lot of attention. No evidence that it works.
Four months later, in an interview with Dr Jonathan Coleman, on TV3’s The Nation, on 24 October;
Patrick Gower: Looking at a soft-drink tax –why not?
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Because, actually, there’s not the conclusive evidence, right? There might be a correlation in those Mexican studies, so they put a 9% tax on soft drinks.
Patrick Gower: And consumption dropped. That’s evidence, isn’t it?
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Sales decreased, but it’s not clear if that’s a correlation or a causative effect, so there were other things going on – a tanking Mexican economy, $30 billion drinking-water programme. It’s also not clear if there’s substitution to other beverages. So we’re saying, look, you know, there’s some evidence that’s being assessed – it’s going to be reported on in 2017 at Waikato University as well as the University of North Carolina – but there isn’t any direct evidence of causation that anyone can point to.
Patrick Gower: Well, the World Health Organization, which put out that major report recently, led by our own Sir Peter Gluckman, you know, that has said, and I will quote it for you, ‘The rationale and effectiveness of taxation measures to influence consumption are well supported by available evidence.’
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Well, they might be talking about a decrease in sales. But what we want to know about is – is there a link to obesity directly? So, for instance, there might be a decrease in consumption of soft drinks, but are people drinking more flavoured milk? Are they drinking beer as a substitution? What is says in that report is that, actually, there isn’t clear evidence. On balance, they recommend it, but, look, that’s the WHO, you know? You would expect that they would take a very purist view. And I met with the commissioners personally. I talked to Sir Peter Gluckman.
Patrick Gower: What about this for evidence? If a tax doesn’t work or there’s no evidence for it, what about with cigarettes? Because your own government’s putting up the price of cigarettes and saying that that is working to stop smoking.
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Well, that’s a different issue. So, yes, if you put a tax on something, it will decrease consumption, but what I’m interested in is – will that decrease obesity? So say, for instance, we tax something. You might drink less Coke, but are you drinking beer or flavoured milk instead?
This was an interesting exchange between Gower and Coleman. Note that his first contention is that sugar taxes do not work;
“Because, actually, there’s not the conclusive evidence, right? There might be a correlation in those Mexican studies, so they put a 9% tax on soft drinks […] Sales decreased, but it’s not clear if that’s a correlation or a causative effect […] but there isn’t any direct evidence of causation that anyone can point to…“
But only a few seconds later, Coleman makes this startling admission;
“So, yes, if you put a tax on something, it will decrease consumption…”
That was a slip on his part. The National Party politician in Dr Jonathan Coleman was instructed to parrot the official line: ‘there is no evidence that sugar taxes work‘ (even though that is precisely the same mechanism used to reduce tobacco consumption).
As I then asked;
What could be wrong with providing healthy food options for our children? Who could possibly object to fighting obesity in our youngest citizens, who are vulnerable to the highly-processed, addictive, sugary and fatty foods that are a plague on Western (and increasingly developing) contries?
Who indeed…
Need we ask? And are we surprised?
It was 2009, and National was in power;
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Two and a half years later, the consequences were predictable, dire, and costly;
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By April 2016 – seven years after National scrapped Labour’s healthy-foods-in-schools legislation, the cost of weight-loss surgery has continued to escalate;
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Which raises the fairly obvious question; what message was Parliament (ie; National) sending to our children in March 2009, when it abandoned the campaign to implement healthy food options in our schools?
What “message” was Parliament (ie; National) sending to all New Zealanders?
To paraphrase John Key’s statement to Guyon Espiner on 15 August;
“…Y’now, one of the things that Parliament does is send a message to people about, um, activity we want to see or not want to see. And, um, in the case of unhealthy, disease-causing foods, um, I think if we were, as Parliament, were to permit unhealthy foods in schools then one of the messages we’d be sending is that increased obesity use is ok.”
That would be a good message to send.
I look forward to it.
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References
Radio NZ: Morning Report – Is there appetite for change on legalising cannabis?
Radio NZ: Majority back decriminalisation of cannabis use, poll suggests
NZ Herald: Greasy school tuckshop food on way out
NZ Treasury: Increase in Tobacco Excise and Equivalent Duties
Parliament: Research papers – Obesity and diabetes in New Zealand
Fight the Obesity Epidemic (FOE): NZ: National reversal on healthy food in schools “incredible”
TVNZ Q+A: Coleman – We’ll tackle obesity but no tax or legislation
TV3 The Nation: Health Minister Jonathan Coleman
World Health Organisation: Healthy diet
Fairfax media: Schools’ healthy food rule scrapped
Radio NZ: More weight loss surgery funded
Sunday Star Times: Dollars up as pounds go down for funded weight loss surgery
Other Blogs
Politically Corrected NZ: Keywi integrity at it’s finest
Previous related blogposts
Can we afford to have “a chat on food in schools”?
10 August: Unhealthy Health Cuts
When is ‘Nanny State’ not a ‘Nanny State’?
From “Nanny” State to “Natzi” State?
You’ll have a free market – even if it KILLS you!
Why did the fat kiwi cross the road?
Weekend Revelations #1 – Dr Jonathan Coleman
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This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 17 August 2016.
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Weekend Revelations #1 – Dr Jonathan Coleman
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2008
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In June 2008, the then-Labour government – realising that child obesity was becoming a major health and social problem – moved to reduce the availability of unhealthy foods from schools;
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What could be wrong with providing healthy food options for our children? Who could possibly object to fighting obesity in our youngest citizens, who are vulnerable to the highly-processed, addictive, sugary and fatty foods that are a plague on Western (and increasingly developing) contries?
Who indeed…
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2009
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Yes, folks, evidently ensuring that the next generation of New Zealanders do not die prematurely from heart disease, stroke, diabetes, etc, etc, from eating processed sugar/fat/salt-laden “food” is now officially “nanny statism“. Apparently, then-Education Minister, Anne Tolley*, was suffering deep angst over sausage sizzles;
“There was a great deal of angst about things like, when you’re having a school gala, can you have a sausage sizzle on site, can you lay down a hangi?”
Which raised the obvious question; were schools holding sausage sizzles every single school day, and feeding charcoalled ‘bangers’ to kids?
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2011
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As National maintained a hands-off stance to our growing obesity problem, the consequences became obvious;
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According to the Ministry of Health;
New Zealand has the third highest adult obesity rate in the OECD, and our rates are rising. Almost one in three adult New Zealanders (over 15 years) is obese, and one in ten children.
This is unsurprising. Doing nothing about obesity and refusing to act decisively on combating a torrent of cheap, unhealthy “food”, has it’s natural consequences.
What is surprising to this blogger is that National has not tried to curtail or ‘massage’ Health Ministry data-collection on this problem, as it has done with child poverty. Or Crime statistics (more on this in an up-coming blogpost).
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2015
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One of the best strategies for reducing consumption of unhealthy food such as sugary carbonated drinks is to tax the product.
Mexico implemented a 10% tax on ‘fizzy’ drinks on 1 January 2014. This was was enacted as Mexican authorities realised the gravity of growing obesity and related problems amongst their people;
Campaigners and public health experts are watching closely to see what impact Mexico’s tax has on consumption. Mexico, where 32.8% of the population is obese, is now the country with the biggest weight problem in the world, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organisation, overtaking the United States. The impact on health has been serious – 14% of the population has diabetes. Rates of high blood pressure, which can lead to stroke and heart attacks, are also high.
It worked.
A year and a half later, and the consumption of ‘fizzy’ drinks has dropped by 6% to 12% in the first year;
A tax on Coca-Cola and other sugar-sweetened drinks in Mexico has succeeded in bringing down sales, which experts hope will help curb the nation’s obesity problem.
The 10% tax was implemented on 1 January 2014 after a battle with the beverage industry. More than 30% of the Mexican population is obese and a love of Coca-Cola and other sugary drinks has been held at least partly responsible. The average Mexican drinks the equivalent of 163 litres of Coca-Cola a year, or nearly half a litre a day.
The Mexican National Institute of Public Health and the University of North Carolina have now carried out an evaluation of the impact of the tax, which shows it cut purchases by an average of 6% across 2014, and by as much as 12% in the last part of the year.
The effect was greatest on lower-income households, who cut their purchases by an average of 9% across the 12 months, and by 17% in the later months. The impact appears to be similar to that of taxes on tobacco and other goods that are hard to give up, where the drop in sales increases over time.
As with taxing tobacco products in New Zealand – a method proven to work – increasing the price of an unhealthy product reduces consumption. Especially amongst the poor, who are particularly susceptible to pernicious marketing and supply of cheap, unhealthy ‘foods’. A Parliamentary report here in New Zealand showed that obesity was especially prevalent in lower socio-economic areas;
In 2012/13, a Ministry of Health-led survey estimated that three out of ten New Zealand adults were obese (31.3%), an increase of 2.7% from 2011/12 and an increase of 18.6% in the 25 years since 1989 Obesity rates were highest amongst Pacific adults (68%) and Māori adults (48.3%).
The same survey found that after adjusting for age, sex, and ethnicity, adults living in the most socioeconomically deprived areas were 1.5 more times as likely to be obese as those living in the least deprived areas.
However, our esteemed ‘Health’ Minister, Dr (!) Jonathan Coleman was/is not convinced.
On 28 June, speaking on TVNZ’s Q+A, Dr Coleman said;
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Not necessarily. No, the evidence doesn’t show that. If you look at the evidence for sugar tax, right, it shows actually it’s very low in terms of disability-adjusted life years lost, so that’s basically saying that, look, there’s no evidence that it’s going to end up with people living longer, healthier lives. What there is evidence for is actually eating less and exercising more, and so I’m focusing my efforts on education, getting people to actually live more healthy, active lifestyles. Sugar taxes get a lot of attention. No evidence that it works.
Four months later, in an interview with Dr Jonathan Coleman, on TV3’s The Nation, on 24 October;
Patrick Gower: Looking at a soft-drink tax –why not?
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Because, actually, there’s not the conclusive evidence, right? There might be a correlation in those Mexican studies, so they put a 9% tax on soft drinks.
Patrick Gower: And consumption dropped. That’s evidence, isn’t it?
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Sales decreased, but it’s not clear if that’s a correlation or a causative effect, so there were other things going on – a tanking Mexican economy, $30 billion drinking-water programme. It’s also not clear if there’s substitution to other beverages. So we’re saying, look, you know, there’s some evidence that’s being assessed – it’s going to be reported on in 2017 at Waikato University as well as the University of North Carolina – but there isn’t any direct evidence of causation that anyone can point to.
Patrick Gower: Well, the World Health Organization, which put out that major report recently, led by our own Sir Peter Gluckman, you know, that has said, and I will quote it for you, ‘The rationale and effectiveness of taxation measures to influence consumption are well supported by available evidence.’
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Well, they might be talking about a decrease in sales. But what we want to know about is – is there a link to obesity directly? So, for instance, there might be a decrease in consumption of soft drinks, but are people drinking more flavoured milk? Are they drinking beer as a substitution? What is says in that report is that, actually, there isn’t clear evidence. On balance, they recommend it, but, look, that’s the WHO, you know? You would expect that they would take a very purist view. And I met with the commissioners personally. I talked to Sir Peter Gluckman.
Patrick Gower: What about this for evidence? If a tax doesn’t work or there’s no evidence for it, what about with cigarettes? Because your own government’s putting up the price of cigarettes and saying that that is working to stop smoking.
Dr Jonathan Coleman: Well, that’s a different issue. So, yes, if you put a tax on something, it will decrease consumption, but what I’m interested in is – will that decrease obesity? So say, for instance, we tax something. You might drink less Coke, but are you drinking beer or flavoured milk instead?
This was an interesting exchange between Gower and Coleman. Note that his first contention is that sugar taxes do not work;
“Because, actually, there’s not the conclusive evidence, right? There might be a correlation in those Mexican studies, so they put a 9% tax on soft drinks […] Sales decreased, but it’s not clear if that’s a correlation or a causative effect […] but there isn’t any direct evidence of causation that anyone can point to…“
But only a few seconds later, Coleman makes this startling admission;
“So, yes, if you put a tax on something, it will decrease consumption…”
That was a slip on his part. The National Party politician in Dr Jonathan Coleman was instructed to parrot the official line: ‘there is no evidence that sugar taxes work‘ (even though that is precisely the same mechanism used to reduce tobacco consumption).
But the other part of Dr Jonathan Coleman – the doctor part – knew deep in his soul that a tax on anything will affect consumer behaviour. There is a part of Jonathan Coleman that, as a doctor of medicine, wants to help people, and National’s luke-warm, ineffectual “22 initiatives” will not placate that desire in him.
As bad as those “22 initiatives” are, National has heaped insult upon injury by funding the policy “from within existing health, sport and education budgets“.
Millions will be taken from health, sport, and education, to fund a policy of “initiatives” that are a sop to the sugar and food industry, and not designed to address the problem at it’s core; the widespread availability of cheap, unhealthy, sugar/fats/salt-laden ‘food’.
How many hip replacement operations or classroom re-builds were sacrificed or postponed, to fund this rubbish “initiative package”?
It is interesting that Dr Coleman has rejected implementing a tax on sugary drinks and other foods because of a “lack of evidence”.
In March 2009, National scrapped the previous Labour governments healthy-food-in-schools programme. This allowed school cafetarias/”tuck” shops – many run by private companies – to again return to the practice of selling unhealthy foods to children.
When Corin Dann challenged Dr Coleman on Q+A on 28 June, he said;
“You reversed the rules on the tuck shops, on the canteens at schools, so there’s sugary foods and all that sort of stuff gone back in there.”
To which Minister Coleman replied;
“That’s because they weren’t working.”
If that is the rationale used by Jonathan Coleman to justify wrecking the healthy-food-in-schools programme, then the Minister should be deeply, deeply ashamed of himself.
The policy had been in effect only nine months (see above screen-grabs, 2008 and 2009). There was simply insufficient time to assess the programme. Of course there was “no evidence” – the programme was aborted before it could be gathered!
By comparison, the Mexican sugar tax has been in effect since 1 January 2014 – nearly two years. Consumption of carbonated sugar drinks has fallen dramatically.
The evidence exists: sugar taxes, like tobacco taxes, work.
But this is not about “evidence” at all. If National was keen on gathering evidence, it would have permitted Labour’s healthy-food-in-schools programme to continue until it could be properly evaluated.
If National was interested in evidential-based policies, it would be studying the Mexican result keenly.
And if National valued the advice from it’s own science-advisor, Dr Peter Gluckman, it would listen. As Dr Gluckman pointed out on 30 July, on TV3;
“The issue around these taxes is, how much tax would you have to put in to change behaviour? I think they’re a really important signal, and it does look from the preliminary evidence from Mexico that taxes on sugary beverages do reduce consumption.
No, evidence does not factor in National’s actions.
This is about corporations; profits; and free-market ideology. As former-NZ Herald columnist, Dita De Boni wrote in her excellent piece on obesity, on 3 July;
“If we are intent on reducing health spending on obesity, it will come – but only when political ideologues like Jonathan Coleman and the food lobby are comprehensively uncoupled.”
In this instance, evidence is not only not welcome by National, it is downright embarrassing.
Parents throughout the country should be alarmed at what this government is doing. Or, more accurately; not doing.
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Postscript
Former-NZ Herald columnist, Dita De Boni wrote an incisive piece on obesity, on 3 July – “Giving us a fat chance against obesity“. Ever insightful, and a master at prose and skilled, liberal use of facts, Ms De Boni’s column was scathing of National’s do-nothing stance on our growing obesity crisis.
Further down the online page, in the Comments section, was this chilling, prophetic comment left by “Cathy”;
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Ms De Boni was dumped from NZ Herald on 10 August. “Budgetary considerations” were given as the official reason.
“Cathy” would do well with Lotto or putting bets on horses.
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References
NZ Herald: Greasy school tuckshop food on way out
World Health Organisation: Healthy diet
Fairfax media: Schools’ healthy food rule scrapped
Radio NZ: More weight loss surgery funded
Ministry of Health: Obesity
Scoop media: Combating poverty more important than measuring it
NZ Herald: ‘Ghost crime’ stats may be probed
The Guardian: Mexico enacts soda tax in effort to combat world’s highest obesity rate
The Guardian: Mexican soda tax cuts sales of sugary soft drinks by 6% in first year
NZ Treasury: Increase in Tobacco Excise and Equivalent Duties
Parliament: Research papers – Obesity and diabetes in New Zealand
Fight the Obesity Epidemic (FOE): NZ: National reversal on healthy food in schools “incredible”
TVNZ Q+A: Coleman – We’ll tackle obesity but no tax or legislation
TV3 The Nation: Health Minister Jonathan Coleman
National Party: Dr Jonathan Coleman
Facebook: Dr Jonathan Coleman – 22 health initiatives
TV3: Don’t rule out sugar tax – PM’s chief scientist
Additional
NZ Herald: Dita De Boni – Giving us a fat chance against obesity
Other Blogs
The Pundit: Children’s Commissioner fronts for Nats on food in schools: Corporate agenda rules
The Daily Blog: Has the Government manipulated Corrections statistics as well?
Brooking Blog: Corrections cuts crime with the selective use of statistics
Previous related blogposts
Can we afford to have “a chat on food in schools”?
10 August: Unhealthy Health Cuts
When is ‘Nanny State’ not a ‘Nanny State’?
From “Nanny” State to “Natzi” State?
You’ll have a free market – even if it KILLS you!
Why did the fat kiwi cross the road?
*Also on Anne Tolley
Anne Tolley’s psycopathy – public for all to see
A fitting response to National MP’s recent personal attacks on Metiria Turei
On ‘The Nation’ – Anne Tolley Revealed
“I don’t know the details of that particular family” – Social Development Minister Anne Tolley
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This blogpost was first published on The Daily Blog on 27 October 2015.
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High milk prices? Well, now we know why…
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I guess this explains why milk, other dairy products, tomatoes, etc, are so expensive.
And the Minister for Agriculture, David Carter, can save taxpayers the expense of a Parliamentary inquiry into why milk is so expensive here in NZ…
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I guess it wasn’t such a bright idea to allow supermarkets to buy each other up, until we had only two, nation-wide chains remaining. Duopolies are not noted for promoting competition and keeping prices down.
New Zealand’s supermarket duopoly:
Chalk up yet another cock-up for the free market, unregulated economy?
I think so.
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+++ Updates +++
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Parliament’s Commerce Select Committee inquiry into milk prices gets under way,
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Related issues
Why did the fat kiwi cross the road?
Hey, People! Leave our kids alone!
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