Federal MPs should 'lead' the fat fight

The fight against obesity should be led by federal parliamentarians and funded out
of the superannuation coffers, a health expert says.
Gordon Fyfe, a Hobart-based director of Be Well Australia, told a parliamentary
public hearing into Australia's obesity problem on Friday that early intervention,
rather than waiting for people to become overweight, was the key to beating obesity.
He told the House of Representatives health committee hearing in Melbourne, that
Australia's workforce should be regularly screened for illnesses such as
hypertension, cardio-vascular diseases and obesity.
"Obesity is one of the primary causes of many diseases and unless we work at the
risk group - the 34 to 54 year age group - in terms of their health, our workforce
will have less and less activity - we will have sick workers," Mr Fyfe said.
He said the lead should come from federal politicians, who should undergo regular
screening.
"We need federal parliament (politicians) to say, 'we will screen ourselves - we
will be the first people in Australia to make sure we are well and healthy'," Mr
Fyfe said.
"We have to change this whole paradigm that says we wait until people get ill in
order to fix them."
Mr Fyfe said that instead of using medical benefit fund rebates to pay for
illnesses, the superannuation industry should be providing health cover.
He said employers and employees had a mutual obligation to keep themselves healthy.
"I would think all employers would like to have a healthy and well-balanced
workforce," Mr Fyfe said.
"In my view that's a mutual obligation."
Outside the hearing he told AAP that taxing employers who provided their staff with
gym memberships was crazy.
"They are taxing you to keep well," Mr Fyfe said.
"What we need is a system where we get the risk right, reducing the risk, and not
waiting until we get ill."