This morning David Penberthy wrote about how worryingly effective health minister Nicola Roxon has been in office. He argued the preventative health agenda has taken hold of public policy, with millions of dollars of taxpayers’ money being directed towards stopping people doing some things that are generally seen as pleasurable, like eating bacon, sitting on the couch or having four middies of beer.
As part of this program the government will take a snapshot of the nation’s health by surveying 50,000 people about their lifestyle. Today it’s reported the survey will be compulsory. If you are selected and don’t answer the questions, you will be fined, $110 a day, until you agree to surrender information about your personal lifestyle choices to the government. You may also get a knock on the door at 3am from clipboard-wielding statisticians.
Here’s an excerpt from today’s story:
The Australian Health Survey announced in last week’s Budget will be the most comprehensive research on the health of Australians ever undertaken and will be jointly funded by the National Heart Foundation.
But the 50,000 people chosen to take part will be compelled to do so.
Participants will be weighed and measured and will be asked to give a blood and urine sample.
They will also be asked detailed questions on what they drink and eat and their physical activity.
The ABS said participation “is ultimately compulsory for those chosen by random sampling to ensure the survey accurately represents the Australian population as a whole”.
Why does the government need to collect this information?
The medical industry and health policy makers already have, at their fingertips, a staggering array of information on the health of the public. There is no field of study that is better funded and researched than the health sciences.
Where do you start? The information available includes causes of death, obesity rates, smoking rates, diabetes prevalence, instances of individual types of cancer, usage of prescription medicines, and alcohol consumption per capita.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, a federal government agency, already has a vast array of information on public health. Rates of heart disease, cancers, osteoporosis, depression, asthma, and various cancers are tracked over time.
There are all manner of longitudinal studies including Growing Up in Australia, which is following the development of 10,000 children and families around the country. This, too, is a federal government initiative. The CSIRO recently surveyed over 2500 people on their lifestyle and consumption habits.
And this is before you get to university-run and privately-funded research which, from small, volunteer testing groups to large-scale longitudinal studies, look at every conceivable aspect of healthcare delivery and public health policy. There is at least one, sometimes many more, academic journal for every established branch of the medical profession.
Some of the journals indexed by the National Library include the Australian Journal of Music Therapy, the Australia and New Zealand Continence Journal, the Australian Journal of Oto-Laryngology, and Gecko: a Journal of Deconstruction and Narrative Ideas in Therapeutic Practice.
Add to this the vast wealth of information about the population from research in social science - which captures information about people who might not necessarily come into contact with the health system - and it’s hard not to conclude that the government already has available to it all the information it needs on the health, wellbeing, and lifestyle choices of Australians.
And yet here is the government saying it needs more information on the health of Australians and is willing to fine people actual money if they refuse to say what they typically have for breakfast.
Roxon, you don’t have to put on the green light for this one.
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@AndrewCatsaras Agreed. Kills more people than AIDS. Yet tolerated. Meanwhile: Good Insiders piece again Andrew.
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