Sweet incentive for Australians to ditch sugary drinks
This week we called on the government to introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages to curb the nation’s escalating obesity crisis.
We released our preventive health pre-budget submission this week with extensive modelling showing the economic sense of implementing a tax on sugary drinks, to curb the nation’s escalating obesity crisis.
Our ”Sickly Sweet” chapter of our pre-budget submission warns obesity has overtaken tobacco as the major cause of preventable death in Australia.
AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen told Channel 9 News Australia was "so far behind the eight ball, it's not funny" on taxing sugar.
A tax on selected sugar-sweetened beverages at a rate of 50c per 100g of sugar would raise the price of an average 375mL can of soft drink by 20c. This would encourage consumers to choose healthier options, while creating a strong incentive for beverage manufacturers to reformulate their products to contain less sugar.
Australia’s obesity crisis will cost the health system $38 billion over the next four years if nothing is done.
A tax on sugary drinks would drive down annual sugar consumption by 2kg per person while raising $3.6 billion in government revenue over the forward estimates. The revenue could then be used to fund preventive health strategies.
