Jamie Oliver has told the Australian government to “pull your finger out” and follow British lawmakers who have just introduced a sugar tax on soft drinks sold in the UK.
In a bid to battle the UK’s obesity crisis the Conservative government’s new levy will see food and drink manufacturers hit with tariff from 2018 if they fail to reduce the level of sugar found in their products.
Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne announced the tax at Wednesday’s budget with an impassioned speech about improving the health of British children.
“I am not prepared to look back at my time here in this Parliament, doing this job and say to my children’s generation… I’m sorry. We knew there was a problem with sugary drinks. We knew it caused disease. But we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing,” he told the House of Commons.
The sugar tax will be limited to soft-drinks, not milkshakes or other sugary foods like lollies, and will see targeted beverages with more than 8 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres taxed at a higher rate than drinks with less than 5 grams of sugar per 100 millilitres.
On his Facebook long time anti-sugar campaigner Jamie Oliver released a video which highlighted his excitement about the new legislation.
“I’m shocked but in all the right ways, I’m humbled actually,” Oliver said.
“This is bold and brave and this will send ripples around the world as far as how these weak, pathetic governments combat the rise in childhood obesity and diet-related disease,” he said.
“It’s about time your governments got on this. I know you’re all talking about it but you’re all scared of industry.”
Echoing Oliver’s sentiments are Australia’s own home-grown anti-added sugar crusaders, filmmaker Damon Gameau and his actress and author wife Zoe, who have been outspoken about the harmful effects of sugar since making 2014 documentary That Sugar Film – a Supersize Me-style sugar experiment that became a runaway success and went on to become Australia’s highest grossing documentary film of all time.
They followed up that success with two books, That Sugar Book and the newly released, That Sugar Guide.
Obviously passionate about getting healthy food messages out there Damon told The Weekly that our government doesn’t seem to be in any great hurry to follow the UK’s tax strategy.
“I think [the new UK law] will certainly make the politicians here notice but I think they will need to see some kind of tangible results before they actually act,” said Damon. “I only say that because we have had quite a few dealings with [Australian politicians] during the making of the film, meetings and stuff, and there is a reticence there to take action because sugar is a very powerful industry in Australia – we are the third biggest exporter in the world – so they’re certainly not going to be in a hurry to make any changes.”
Damon and Zoe Gameau.
According to the Australian government we are the second largest raw sugar exporter in the world, meaning it’s a huge revenue maker.
But if tangible positive results are what the government is looking for to challenge Big Sugar and impose a sugar tax they could look to Mexico which reportedly brought in $1.3 billion USD in revenue in 2014 and lowered sugary drink sales by more than 12 per cent, according to research published by the British Medical Journal..
Since the UK’s announcement health experts have come out in support of some kind of taxation.
“Taxes such as the one proposed by the UK are likely to have the additional benefit of promoting reformulation by the beverages industry,” Deakin University’s Professor Anna Peeter told The Sydney Morning Herald.
“The public health consensus is that introducing a sugary drinks tax in Australia is an important piece of a comprehensive obesity prevention approach.”
National Heart Foundation of Australia’s CEO, Professor Garry Jennings also told the outlet government has to move with “decisive policy action” to halt Australia’s growing obesity crisis. This involves ideas like a “health levy” on sugar-sweetened drinks, with money raised going toward health promotion.
Earmarking areas of spending is important because according to reports only $900,000 of Mexico’s soda tax revenue has been assigned to installing water fountains in public schools — one of the soda tax advocates’ key demands.
And for Damon where the money generated from a sugar tax would be spent is a crucial point for his endorsement.
“I personally would only support a tax if we knew where the money was going,” says Damon. “If it’s going to schools and hospitals and making fruit and vegetables cheaper absolutely I’d support it but my fear is that we wouldn’t get that.”
Despite the levels of Australian obesity growing with 63 per cent of adults and 25 per cent of children overweight or obese, and with it being the 2nd highest contributor to burden of disease, the Australian government doesn’t seem to be interested in a tax on sugar any way.
Health Minister Fiona Nash.
As predicted, after being approached by News Corp for comment Health Minister Fiona Nash ruled out following in the UK’s footsteps to introduce a sugar tax to combat childhood obesity, telling the publication the issue was not “open to discussion”.
“I believe people have the right to make their own choices,” Ms Nash said.
“The role of government is to ensure that people are well informed but people have a responsibility to make their own choices when it comes to food.”
Trade Minister Steve Ciobo was also quick to shut down any sugar-tax discussion.
“If you ask what’s my personal view, I’m not a fan of that, I think the more you get in and distort these types of things, the more government causes havoc across the system,” Mr Ciobo told ABC TV.
Such reactions from the government are to be expected says Damon who insists Big Food is taking its lead from Big Tobacco in order to delay any government legislation that would definitively wed sugar with obesity.
“This is exactly what the tobacco companies did – they delayed for 30-40 years and the food industry is no different… There is playbook that they adhere to,” Damon explains.
However he says not all hope is lost if there isn’t a sugar tax soon – there are some tactics governments could use to educate people about their sugar consuming habits like clearer food labeling.
“[Food companies] don’t want people [working out how much sugar is in their products] because the more ambiguous the better and people are not going to take the time to understand what is it is.
Adding: “[People] are just going to take one look the picture of the bee and the grape and the lovely sunset on the front of the packet and think that it must be healthy and that’s how they make money.”
And Zoe, who was most recently seen on Seven’s Winners and Losers , says the message shouldn’t be that sugar is evil but what is wicked is the way some people consume it with an “all or nothing” approach.
“We would encourage people to approach [sugar] from a balanced stance rather than an extreme kind of stance because there is more longevity it that,” says Zoe.
The passionate home cook says the way she and her husband take to raising their daughter Velvet in a world hell-bent on bombarding her with sweet food is a “flexible” approach.
“You need to be flexible because children by their very nature need to experience a lot of things and try a lot of things but they do need your guidance about keeping things on the healthier side,” she explains.
In the book, That Sugar Guide, Zoe accounts for times when “polite sugar” is essential to maintain a normal attitude toward food.
“There are certain situations where it is more polite to go along with the status quo – y’know at the great aunty’s 100th birthday you can have the Pavlova – but it’s no longer ‘polite sugar’ if you are doing it every day,” says Zoe. “So choose you moments, choose them wisely and be willing to compromise but create a healthy home environment.”
Damon and Zoe have been collaborating with Jamie Oliver to create a teaspoon labeling system that would essentially show an illustration of how many teaspoons of sugar are inside particular products but it has been criticised by food lobbyists – a move Damon says is because the packaging would be “too effective” in educating the consumer.
“Someone representing the food industry in the UK said it won’t work because no one knows what a teaspoon is,” he said.
Go figure.
THAT SUGAR GUIDE by Damon and Zoe Gameau is published by Plum, RRP $39.99
VIDEO: WATCH JAMIE OLIVER’S REACTION TO THE SUGAR TAX…
