Submissions
The Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance (ACDPA) develops submissions to government inquiries, public and targeted consultations.
2024
Consultation on the Refresh of National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions (April/May 2024)
The 2024 refresh of the National Strategic Framework for Chronic Conditions can update and revitalise a coordinated approach to improve Australians' health and reduce chronic disease burden by integrating more recent chronic disease prevention-relevant strategies, action plans, targets and goals.
ACDPA recommends robust marketing restrictions to reduce the health consequences linked to marketing of unhealthy food.
2023
Consultation on National Sport Plan Proposed Vision, Principles and Priorities
ACDPA commends the proposed vision, principles, priorities and measures of success of the Plan, particularly encouraging participation to support health and wellbeing of Australians. Our consultation response recommends that the plan ensures partnerships, governance and approaches to financing be coherent with the vision and government priorities to promote health and wellbeing.
Consultation on industrially produced trans fats in processed foods
ACDPA strongly supports prohibition of the use of partially hydrogenated oils in the Australian food supply as outlined as the preferred policy option in the Regulation Impact Statement for the Food Regulation Standing Committee’s consultation on industrially produced trans fats.
Submission to Inquiry into Diabetes (August 2023)
ACDPA recommends a package of food policy reforms alongside complementary actions in other areas of primary prevention to reduce the impact of diabetes, obesity and other chronic diseases in Australia.
Submission to consultation on Defining added sugars for claims
ACDPA prepared a submission on FSANZ proposal P1062 - defining added sugars for labelling claims.
2022
Submission on the Food Regulation System Horizon Planning (Aug 2022)
ACDPA recommends that food regulation developments must be government-led and ensure that public health is prioritised. We support a continuation of Priority 2: Supporting the public health objectives to reduce chronic disease related to overweight and obesity. This priority must remain a crucial objective for the food regulation system to counter the impact of unhealthy diets on overweight and obesity and chronic diseases.
2021
Submission to the Primary Care 10-Year Plan (Nov 2021)
ACDPA supports the development of the Primary Care 10-Year Plan, including reforms to shift the system towards patient health and wellbeing through funding for prevention.
Submission to the National Obesity Prevention Strategy (Nov 2021)
ACDPA supports the development of the National Obesity Prevention Strategy with a focus on creating healthier food and physical environments. Obesity is a major risk factor for chronic diseases, and the strategy needs to enable environments that support people to live well.
Consultation on Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) Strategy and Priorities
ACDPA highlights the future challenges of chronic disease and supports investment in prevention and primary care research and translation into practice.
Recommendations for Primary Health Care Reform
ACDPA supports the suite of recommendations to shift primary care towards an integrated, person-centred approach that supports health and wellbeing.
Draft National Preventive Health Strategy (2021)
ACDPA strongly supports the development of the national prevention strategy and the commitment to increase investment in prevention to 5% of the health budget by 2030. We also think there needs to be a greater focus on chronic disease risk assessment & early detection in the strategy.
Consultation on Aspirations for the Food System
Poor nutrition and obesity are leading causes of chronic disease. ACDPA recommends that public health should be a priority issue in the review of our food system.
2020
Review of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act
ACDPA supports expanding the definition of 'public health protection' in the FSANZ Act to include the long-term health of Australians in recognition that unhealthy diets are major risk factors for chronic disease.
National Prevention Strategy (2020)
ACDPA strongly recommends including risk assessment and early detection of chronic disease as a focus area in the National Prevention Strategy. Vascular conditions like heart attacks, stroke, kidney disease and diabetes are enormous causes of mortality and morbidity in Australia. However, much of this burden is preventable and there are significant opportunities for early intervention.
Health Star Rating system five year review - implementation of changes
ACDPA supports a stronger approach to sugars and sodium in the Health Star Rating calculator, as well as increased uptake of the star rating on products. Implementation of changes should occur from October 2020 to improve the Health Star Rating system, build consumer trust and support decision making.
Senate inquiry into the Australian Government's response to COVID-19
ACDPA supports the swift actions taken by the Australian Government in responding to COVID-19 and highlights the importance of early detection, access to telehealth and consistent communications across the nation.
NHMRC Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol
ACDPA supports the purpose of the guidelines – to inform consumer decision making and alcohol policy. We recommend consumer testing to enhance understanding of guideline recommendations and we recommend investment in dissemination, communication and community awareness of guideline recommendations.
Policy guideline for food labelling
ACDPA advocates for improvements to food labelling to enable informed choices by consumers and ultimately reduce the impact of unhealthy diets on overweight/obesity and the development of chronic disease.
2019
National strategy for obesity prevention
ACDPA supports the development of a national strategy for obesity prevention and recommends policy solutions to create healthy food and physical environments.
Pregnancy warning labels on alcoholic beverages
ACDPA strongly supports mandatory pregnancy warning labels on alcoholic beverages to provide information to consumers on the potential risks of alcohol during pregnancy and to remind women not to drink while pregnant.
Review - Practice Incentives Program Indigenous Health Incentive
ACDPA supports the provision of a Health Check (MBS item 715), including cancer screening and the assessment of absolute cardiovascular disease risk, diabetes and kidney disease as core components, in line with screening programs and national guidelines.
Mental health inquiry - Productivity Commission
People with a mental illness are at an unacceptably higher risk of chronic disease compared to the general population. Together, ACDPA and Quit recommend addressing risk factors to prevent the development of chronic disease in people with a mental illness.
National Action Plan for the Health of Children and Young People
ACDPA supports the development of this Action Plan. This could be further strengthened through clearer targets, as well as designated responsibilities, implementation detail and timeframes.
Health Star Rating - five year review
ACDPA supports a range of recommendations to the Health Star Rating system and algorithm to improve its accuracy and enable consumers to make informed healthier choices.
MBS Review Taskforce - General Practice and Primary Care Clinical Committee: Phase 2 report
ACDPA recommends an Integrated Health Check for vascular diseases, including heart disease,
stroke, type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease. These diseases share common risk factors
and often common therapeutic approaches, and also interact to increase risk.
2018
AIHW potentially preventable hospitalisations indicator for general practice
ACDPA supports the proposed definition of potentially preventable hospitalisation to capture hospitalisations that may have been avoidable through general practice activity, such as screening for chronic diseases and management of chronic disease risk factors.
National Men's Health Strategy
ACDPA welcomes the focus on prevention and suggests a greater focus on early detection and management of risk. Investment in prevention and early intervention provides a cost-effective avenue to improve health and reduce long-term costs.
National Women's Health Strategy
ACDPA welcomes the focus on priority populations, recognising the need to address the disparities in risk factors and health outcomes across populations. We support the focus on prevention and recommend a greater focus on early assessment and management of disease risk.
Voluntary food reformulation targets
ACDPA strongly supports food reformulation as a public health measure and recommends setting stronger targets to reduce saturated fat, salt and sugar in foods.
ACDPA recommends that added sugars labelling be improved through mandatory changes to the ingredients list to group added sugars together and quantifying added sugars in the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP) to enable informed choices on sugars intake.
Medical Research Future Fund Priorities 2018-20
ACDPA recommends that, given the burden of chronic disease and prevalence of modifiable risk factors, the 2018-20 MRFF priorities should continue to support initiatives that prioritise prevention of chronic diseases and related risk factors at the population level.
Senate Select Committee inquiry into the Obesity Epidemic in Australia
ACDPA recommends that a national obesity strategy be prioritised to reduce the impact of childhood and adult obesity in Australia, including other initiatives recommended in the Tipping the Scales consensus report to improve food and physical environments.
Review of fast food menu labelling schemes
ACDPA recommends increasing consistency in fast food menu labelling legislation for a nationally consistent approach, in order to maximise the reach and impact of nutrition labelling, and support consumers to make informed healthier choices.
ACDPA supports the development of a much-needed National Alcohol Strategy, including cost-effective interventions from the World Health Organization’s “Best Buys".
2017
World Health Organization Global Action Plan on Physical Activity
ACDPA strongly supports the development of the global action plan on physical activity to demonstrate leadership and provide an opportunity to generate political interest in physical activity on an international scale.
Health Star Rating 5-year review
ACDPA is supportive of front-of-pack interpretive labelling to encourage healthier food choices. ACDPA recommends making the Health Star Rating system mandatory at the five-year review; incorporating fresh fruit and vegetables into the system; adapting the algorithm to ensure the system's credibility; and continued consumer education campaigns to improve awareness and uptake.
National Sports Plan consultation
ACDPA supports the inclusion of Prevention through physical activity as a key pillar of the National Sports Plan. However, physical activity encompasses much more than participation in organised sports and ACDPA encourages the government to develop a funded National Physical Activity Plan in tandem with the National Sports Plan.
The form of the food (as prepared) rules for the Health Star Rating system
ACDPA supports amendments to the ‘as prepared’ rules, with ratings based on products as sold as the default, and rehydrated or drained if required for consumption, with no exemptions.
Energy labelling on alcoholic beverages
ACDPA recommends consistent mandatory energy labelling on alcohol containers to assist in educating consumers about the impact of alcohol on daily energy intake and to enable consumers to make informed choices.
View ACDPA archived submissions
