The n Medical Association (AMA) is seeking to tax out of its dueling obesity and diabetes epidemics.
A sugar tax could be placed on soft drinks, sweetened juice and cordial if the government were to adopt the AMA’s latest advice released this week.
Macarthur MP Michael Freelander previously said he believes the new tax should be introduced alongside a broader public education effort about the harms of excess sugar.
The association has called for a new tax at a rate of 50c per 100g of added sugar for each of these drinks to be paid by beverage manufacturers.
This means a 375mL of normal Coke with 39.8g of sugar would be hit with a tax of 19.9c.
A 600mL bottle of Berry Ice Powerade with 34.8g of sugar would incur a 17.8c levy.
Some government officials have already begun championing the new suggestion and even pushing to take it further.
Dr Freelander, who is a practising pediatrician, hoped the new tax would prompt drink companies to put less sugar into their drinks going forward.
Labor however has shut down any idea of itself helping to push these measures forward.
‘What we’re now seeing is children presenting with obesity and with type two diabetes. And we should not be seeing that,’ Dr Freelander said.
‘We do now see lots of societal changes that are causing health problems and one of the issues is the access to highly processed foods.’
‘So it’s not just about drinks, it’s also about making people aware of the dangers of high calorie highly-processed foods.’
The Parliamentary Budget Office found in 2024 that a 20 per cent tax on sugar-sweetened beverages would boost revenue by more than $1.3bn in two years.
Dr Freelander requested the costings as a means to garner support but stressed that any policies should be trialled before they were implemented.
Alongside the proposed tax Dr Freelander suggested alterations to future town planning which would make it easier for children to walk to school.
This combined with greater access to healthy food and less fast food outlets would go a long way towards making the country healthier, he said.
AMA Vice President, Julian Rait, agreed these measures would guarantee the ‘best chance’ at reducing rates of obesity and chronic disease.
The proposal would drive down consumption by as much as 2kg per person and increase the bottomline budget by $3.6 billion, Mr Rait said.
These savings could be ‘invested in other crucial preventive health measures’, he added.
‘For people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, reducing sugar intake through swaps like drinking water over soft drinks can make a profound difference to their long-term health,’ he told news.com.
‘Last year it was revealed the sugar content in popular soft drink Fanta had increased by 60 per cent, despite industry assurances that sugary drinks were being reformulated.’
Thus far Labor itself has ruled out any potential levy or tax and said it will instead seek to implement ‘front-of-pack labelling’ on sugary items.
It will also work with companies to reduce the amount of sugar in foods, Health Minister Mark Butler said.
‘There is no plan in our government for a sugar tax. We’re instead focusing on education and also working with food manufacturers to reduce the amount of sugar that they put into their products,’ he said in May.