For immediate release 3 June 2013

MEDIA RELEASE

Greens caned over sugar attacks

The Greens tonight copped a caning for their attack on sugar as Federal Member for Dawson, George Christensen defended the sugar industry. Mr Christensen presented a motion to parliament, condemning calls for a tax on sugar and recognising the importance of the industry for the nations economy. Mr Christensens motion came just days after the Greens made a public call for the introduction of a federal sugar tax. In the last few days, a Greens MP was publicly calling on the Gillard Labor government to introduce a sugar tax, Mr Christensen said. And wherever you see the Greens pushing for a bad policy that will destroy industry and jobs, Labor is soon to follow. But it seems Labor wont need much pushing as a sugar tax was promoted by the former Labor Member for Dawson, James Bidgood. The Greens call for a sugar tax stems from a range of high -profile yet spurious claims in books and journals that sugar is a poison that it is toxic and addictive and is linked directly to obesity. Despite those claims, the National Health and Medical Research Council conducted a recent scientific review for the Australian Dietary Guidelines and found no conclusive link between sugar intake and obesity. The Dietitians Association of Australia has also slammed those who blamed sugar as the root of all evil in Australias obesity crisis. According to their website the Dietitians Association of Australia (DAA) believes it is simplistic and unhelpful to blame sugar alone for such a complex issue.

The Australian Diabetes Foundations head of research Dr Alan Barclay has also been a critic of those who demonise sugar. "Sugar is not the issue, it is far more complicated than that," Mr Barclay said. "We are finding out more and more about the importance of refined starch and specific fatty acids and the average Australian can do a lot to improve their diet ... but casting sugar as the ultimate villain and calling for regulation is misleading, unfounded and unnecessary." In his speech to parliament, Mr Christensen cited a University of Sydney report entitled The Australian Paradox which detailed the substantial decline in the consumption of sugar over the same timeframe that rates of obesity have increased in Australia. Australias obesity levels have been climbing but the nations sugar consumption has been declining, he said. Mr Christensen said facts like these destroyed the arguments of those who sought to demonise sugar. These dietetic dictators preach selective, and mostly anecdotal, evidence to demonise sugar, Mr Christensen said. Their arguments are based not on sound evidence but on opinion and conjecture. Mr Christensen said Australia was the third largest exporter of sugar in the world, with the sugar industry encompassing some 6,000 farmers mostly made up of family farming enterprises, supporting 40,000 direct and indirect jobs. He said these family farms and the jobs created by them were under threat from the sustained attack on sugar. ENDS
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