Recommendation 18

The Committee recommends that the Minister for Health and Ageing encourage private and public employers to adopt programs and incentives that will promote active and healthy lifestyle choices by all Australians within the workplace.

Agreed

The Australian Government is making a significant investment in health promotion in workplaces through the National Partnership Agreement on Preventive Health (the National Partnership). Through the National Partnership, the Australian Government is providing up to $294.3 million over seven years for the Healthy Workers initiative. Of this, up to $289.1 million will be provided to states and territories to deliver healthy living programs and activities in and through the workplace. Funding has now been allocated and activities, which are detailed in state and territory implementation plans, have commenced. These plans can be accessed at: Federal Financial Relations website.

Effort will focus on decreasing rates of overweight and obesity, increasing levels of physical activity and intake of fruit and vegetables, as well as reducing harmful levels of alcohol consumption and increasing smoking cessation.

The Commonwealth is using $5.2 million to provide soft infrastructure to support workplace health promotion programs under the initiative. This infrastructure includes:

• a national healthy workplace charter which was launched in August 2011 and sets out the principles of how workplaces can promote and support healthy lifestyle choices. The Joint Statement of Commitment: Promoting Good Health at Work was agreed by the Minister for Health and Ageing, Unions and Employer Representative Peak Groups;
• a workplace health promotion information portal and toolkit for employers that will bring together a wide range of resources, including those in jurisdictions;
• a national quality framework for workplace based healthy living programs and activities; and
• national awards for excellence in workplace health programs which will be implemented by the Australian National Preventive Health Agency.

Performance benchmarks for the National Partnership relevant to the Healthy Workers initiative and Weighing it up – Obesity in Australia include measures of the proportion of adults at unhealthy weight, daily fruit and vegetable consumption and the proportion of adults participating in physical activity.