Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Nanny State on the rampage

Dear God, the Preventive Health Task Force wants the government to control our lives at unprecedented levels:
New tax breaks worth up to $500 for parents who enrol children in sports were also proposed, while schoolchildren should be forced to do two hours of physical activity each week at school.

The task force also proposed a series of sin taxes on alcohol, tobacco and junk food. It wants to cut the proportion of the population smoking daily to just 10 per cent, halt the rise in overweight and obesity rates and reduce binge drinking to save almost a million lives by 2020.

The task force wants tougher restrictions on the number of venues selling alcohol and their opening hours to combat binge drinking.

The price of a pack of cigarettes would rise by about $7 to $20 in a bid to slash smoking.

It wants the crackdown on junk food at school canteens extended to the work canteen and said employers should face a workplace activity levy similar to the training levy to encourage work-based fitness programs.

Restaurants would be required to list the calorie content of the foods on their menu under another task force recommendation.
I think reports like this shows we spend far too much money of tertiary education. The nation would be better served in the people on the committee did something useful, like flip burgers. Luckily its only a report which I hope will just gather dust. In the meantime I will be investigating home brewing its.


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