Jamie Oliver tells government to ‘grow some balls’

Jamie Oliver wants to bring the sugar tax he successfully helped introduce in the UK, across the pond to Australia. 

“I think governments need to grow balls,” he told the Today show on Thursday. 

The father of five said children’s health needed to be put first in the booming food industry as obesity and diabetes rates in young people continued to soar. 

“We know that when a kid is overweight and obese as a youngster, it tracks into teenage (years) to 20 and 30 year olds and early deaths,” he said. 

“We need to stop that pattern.”

The famous chef predicted the move would happen in at least five or six years but claimed politicians wouldn’t make those kinds of commitments to protect children because they’re “too close” to industry.

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare reports 25 per cent, or one in every four Australian children are overweight or obese.  

In adults, the number is as high as 63 per cent, or two in three. 

 Oliver said “not one party” were taking the figures seriously.

However he said once the cost of type two diabetes and diet-related disease were analysed and the realisation set in that the single largest source of sugar comes from sweets and sugary drinks, introducing the tax would be a no-brainer. 

“The only reason I’d ever look an Aussie in the face and say (the sugar tax) is a good idea, is because we re-fence that money and we put it all into schools, and we put it into sports and we put it into food education,'” he said. 

“And I don’t think you’d get many Aussie parents thinking a few cents here, to put billions there, could be a bad thing for Australia.”

The UK sugar tax will roll out next year and will be applied only to soft drinks due to their excessive amount of sugar.

After hearing the tax would be introduced, Jamie urged other countries to follow suit. 

“Pull your finger out, Australia,” he said at the time. 

 Do you agree with Jamie that a sugar tax needs to be introduced to combat childhood obesity and promote healthy living?