The Hodgman Majority Liberal Government is committed to reducing rates of preventable illness in Tasmania.
Working together, we can reduce long-term and chronic diseases and their effects on individuals, families and communities, by helping Tasmanians improve their lifestyles.
There is no better time to learn about, and start leading, a healthy lifestyle than when you are young, so schools are the perfect places to foster that.
Our Healthy Tasmania Strategic Plan focuses on working with communities to reduce tobacco consumption, improve nutrition and increase physical exercise across the state.
As part of that plan, the Hodgman Liberal Government is providing $2 million over four years to the Student Health Initiative, which includes physical activity, food and nutrition, emotional health and wellbeing and drug education programs. This is designed to foster school and community partnerships, and Hansen Orchards is today displaying a perfect example of that.
Inspired by our Healthy Tasmania Plan, Hansen Orchards set itself the ambitious task of giving away 100,000 apples to school children across Tasmania. Today it reached that goal with students at Mount Nelson Primary School the target of their generosity. Hansen’s vision was to provide students with high quality eating apples in the hope it would inspire them to eat one more often, and perhaps even develop a life-long habit of choosing an apple as a healthy snack option.
Also through our Healthy Tasmania Plan, the Tasmanian School Canteens Association has encouraged 160 schools to participate in the canteen accreditation program, with 72 schools having achieved accreditation in June this year and we are on track to see all schools accredited by 2020. This program responds to the nutritional needs of Tasmanian children and encourages canteen menus that offer ‘everyday’ food and drinks from the five food groups.
By encouraging students to change their habits by eating healthy foods and exercising, we will not only set them up for a healthy life, but this will also have a flow-on effect with their own families and communities.
Our health targets include:
- Reducing emergency ambulance response times to national average waiting time by 2025
- Reducing smoking rates to below the national average by 2025, and halve the gap between State and national youth smoking rates (for under 25s)
- Reducing Tasmania’s rate of obesity to below the national average by 2025
- A 20% reduction in the suicide rate by 2022
- 90% of Tasmanians being treated within clinically recommended timeframes for their elective surgery by the end of the next four year term of Government
- 90% of emergency presentations being in and out of the Emergency Department within four hours by 2022
See all our targets at https://www.tas.liberal.org.au/sites/default/files/BuildingYourFuture.pdf
