Public health preview

It’s always good to have a look-in when public health groups have big get-togethers, because the policies they float at their conferences have a way of turning up in party platforms later on.

The forum held in Melbourne last week by the Victorian branch of the Public Health Association of Australia attracted heavy hitters from Premier Daniel Andrews’s state government as well as the opposition. Parliamentary Secretary for Health Mary-Anne Thomas was there, as was the Shadow Minister for Health, Mary Wooldridge and Greens health spokesperson Colleen Hartland.

Of the wish-list items discussed, two that were roundly endorsed by the panel were limits on promotion of alcohol in sports and a ban on smoking in all outdoor eating areas. Regarding the latter, the Greens representative said, “It should just happen, I don’t understand why it doesn’t.” The Liberal representative replied, “I completely agree.”

In the case of sports advertising, Wooldridge voiced her support for “sustained investment” to achieve sporting environments free of alcohol promotion. Advocates in the room went further, according to a Crikey reporter who was present. They called for a government “brave enough” to ban such ads outright.

The language of “It should just happen, I don’t understand why it doesn’t” is characteristic of the way many people in public health think. These are the nannies who don’t think voters can be trusted to choose what to have for lunch, much less what their government’s policies should be.

Contrary to what the activists in the room suggested, banning promotion of alcoholic drinks-legal products enjoyed by millions of sports fans-would be a step too far. If this policy finds its way onto the political agenda the way so many of their previous ideas have, then the day may soon be coming when citizens with common sense will need to stand up and say so.