'Your body belongs to the nation' & other public health lobby errors

Governments have begun to act as if your body belongs to them. They have become a parent, telling child-like citizens how to behave: instructing, forbidding, taxing and berating citizens about their personal choices.

On public health - "There is no inoculation for bad choices."

On public health researchers - "more interested in health inequality that any health benefit."

On food taxes - "To achieve modest gains in health among the poor, food taxes would cause riots in the streets."

On soft drink taxes - "Households that bought beer bought even more beer."

On alcohol taxes - "increases in excise rates to maximise net benefits are well above changes observed in practice."

On obesity and harm to others - "Does an obese person turn violent after a big night on the burgers?"

On the public health lobby - "It might be an idea to keep an eye on the public health lobby. No politician should be giving away taxpayers' dollars for their schemes, without solid proof of what they get in return."

Gary Johns served in the House of Representatives from 1987-1996 and was Special Minister of State and Assistant Minister for Industrial Relations from 1993-1996. He served as an Associate Commissioner of the Commonwealth Productivity Commission 2002-2004. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science) University of Queensland, Master of Arts (Geography) Monash University, and a Bachelor of Economics Monash University. His other books include 'Right Social Justice' and 'Aboriginal Self-Determination: The Whiteman's Dream'. His latest book is 'Recognise What?' (Connor Court 2014).

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