Australia’s health, wellbeing and productivity is being threatened by an epidemic of weight-related illness. Most Australian adults (63.4%) are above a healthy weight with 27.9% obese and 35.5% overweight. More than a quarter (27%) of Australian children are overweight or obese. If current trends continue, there will be approximately 1.75 million deaths in people over the age of 20 years caused by overweight and obesity between 2011 and 2050, with an average loss of 12 years of life for each Australian who dies before the age of 75 years. If obesity rates could be halted in this period, half a million premature deaths could be prevented.

Here the Obesity Policy Coalition go into detail on eight actions for the Australian federal government to take, established by a comprehensive consensus process as agreed elements to underpin a national obesity prevention plan.