The format of the meetings was similar to ‘speed dating’ where business leaders were able to meet with Ministers across various portfolios for between 15-20 minutes each. The Ministers were well briefed by their advisors as to the purpose of each meeting.
In between meetings, I was able to network and share
discussions with other association and business leaders from various industries
including Clubs Australia, the Pharmacy Guild, and industry sectors such as
pharmaceutical, information technology, mining, banking and finance.
Lunches were held on each day and keynote speakers
included the Hon. Wayne Swan MP (Treasurer & Deputy PM) and the Hon. Tanya
Plibersek MP (Minister for Health).
As the representative for Fitness Australia, my
objective was to provide each Minister with a briefing on the contemporary
fitness industry and highlight the important role that the industry plays in keeping
over 3 million Australians active, fit, strong and healthy. Each Minister was
provided with the Australian Fitness Industry Report 2012. Click to download AFIR 2012.
The meetings also provided an opportunity to remind the
Ministers of the importance of the health of the nation’s citizens in building
a strong future for Australia, both economically and socially. This includes moving
from the current health model that is primarily focused on acute care and
treatment of health conditions to one that proactively addresses primary care
prevention and ‘wellness’ of the community. I was also seeking a response from
the Ministers on a number of suggested policy reforms that will assist
government with their stated preventative health objectives.
Fitness
Industry Role in Preventative Health
Using the Lift
for Life strength and resistance training program information and data, I
was able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the delivery of grass-roots,
practical exercise and lifestyle improvement programs directly into the
community, especially in areas of socio-economic disadvantage and/or where the
majority of participants are at risk of chronic disease. The physical and
mental health benefits reported by the participants of this particular program
made a compelling argument for a greater share of preventative health funding
to be directed into these types of programs, which are delivered by accredited
exercise professionals.
The Health Minister has acknowledged the failure of
costly social marketing campaigns such as ‘Measure
Up’ to influence behaviour change at the population level and funding for
these campaigns has been cut back. Fitness Australia will now advocate strongly
for more targeted and effective use of the government’s preventative health
budget funding in a follow up meeting with the Health Minister in November
2012.
The
Preventative Health Strategy
The Australian National Preventive Health Agency
(ANPHA) is tackling three main health priorities – smoking, alcohol and
obesity. The Government has experienced considerable success in reducing the
incidence of smoking and is now focused on strategies to reduce excessive
alcohol consumption. Other preventive measures such as cancer vaccines and
bowel cancer screening programs have also received considerable government
investment. It appears that obesity-related prevention is proving to be a
challenge for government and much of the federal funding in preventive health
is being provided to the State and Territory Governments for development and
implementation of a range of different programs and strategies. Part of Fitness
Australia’s campaign will be to continue to lobby for investment in initiatives
that encourage more Australian’s to be active and actually enable them to
participate in exercise and lifestyle improvement programs that deliver
positive health outcomes.
Proposed
Legislative Reforms
Just prior to the event, the Treasurer launched the
Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). The objective of the Labor
Government is to continue to deliver a budget surplus and so, any proposed
reforms that impact on the budget either as an additional cost or as a
reduction in tax revenues will be difficult to achieve. Fitness Australia has
been lobbying the government for reforms to the Fringe Benefits Tax (FBT)
legislation as a way to provide greater access to structured and supervised
exercise programs for millions of Australian workers, especially those engaged
in the small business sector who generally do not have access to onsite fitness
and recreation facilities where an FBT exemption for the provision of fitness
services to employees is allowed. Given the current fiscal climate, this type
of reform will be difficult to achieve, but it is worthy of continued focus as
it will tackle inactivity in the workplace, improve productivity and save
millions of dollars in avoidable health-care costs in the future. A further
submission on FBT reform will be made by Fitness Australia to the Treasury for
the 2013-2014 budget.
Perceptions
of the Fitness Industry
The Ministers all had a positive perception of the
fitness industry and of Fitness Australia as the peak industry association and
were genuinely interested in and appreciative of the work that is being done to
improve the health and wellbeing of the community. Government regulation of the
fitness industry is not being considered at present as the government is
satisfied with the self-regulatory mechanisms that are currently in place and
the balance between the ‘public good’ and ‘public harm’ that the industry may
generate is tipped in favour of the public good i.e. the industry has a good
reputation. The government is aware of and encourages the continued development
and implementation of consistent industry standards and quality improvement,
especially with regard to professionalism, professional education, risk
management, client care and injury prevention. These are the areas of industry
development that Fitness Australia will continue to invest in.
E-Health
opportunities
The fitness industry has an opportunity to have an
important place in the national e-health strategy. The implementation of the
National Broadband Network (NBN) across Australia and e-health records for
individuals creates a potential platform for integration of health and fitness
related client data into personal e-health records. This will also enable
greater connection between fitness industry service providers, medical and
allied health professionals and the client/patient. Some more research will
need to be done in this area in order to understand the potential opportunities
and to develop an action plan.
Follow
up plans
Several key Ministers have expressed interest in
continuing a dialogue with Fitness Australia and following up on some of the
strategic initiatives that are planned or underway. A private meeting with the
Health Minister is scheduled for mid-November 2012. Fitness Australia will also
meet with Opposition Leaders and the Shadow Ministers in the lead up to the federal
election year.
No comments:
Post a Comment