Mayor Chris Homer, councillors Mitch Ellis and Robert Petreski, acting CEO Wayde Peterson and Infrastructure Services executive director Ben Stewart at the 2025 NGA in Canberra. Photo: Shellharbour City Council.
A Shellharbour City Council initiative pushing for the Federal Government to commit a further five per cent of its health budget to preventative health measures has gained national support.
During heated discussions at council’s March meeting, councillors voted 5-3 to take the motion to Canberra in a bid to increase federal funding targeting preventative health education initiatives and promote clearer food labelling.
At the Australian Local Government Association’s (ALGA) National General Assembly on 26 June, Mayor Chris Homer represented council when the motion was put forward.
He was joined by councillors Rob Petreski and Mitch Ellis who were both instrumental in bringing the motion to council.
More than 1300 mayors, shire presidents and councillors from across the nation attended the NGA to engage with federal politicians, build partnerships between councils and advocate for better funding.
In March, Cr Homer said the Federal Government’s health spending budget was $112.7 billion for the 2024-2025 period.
“Further to that, the Australian Federal Government is investing $1.1 billion of that budget in preventative health,” he said.
“That turns out to be just under one per cent.”
He said organisations like Healthy Cities Australia, formerly Healthy Cities Illawarra, which fostered health initiatives, education and preventative measures, were underfunded and an increase to six per cent would help similar organisations across the country.
“What I see out there today is far too much chronic illness that could be prevented when we enable organisations like Healthy Cities Illawarra to go ahead and do their job,” he said.
Cr Ellis said councils played a vital role in the community health initiatives.
“Improving nutrition and awareness supports local health programs, reduces strain on council-run services and enhances community wellbeing,” he said.
Part of Cr Petreski’s original motion was also championing mandatory Health Star Rating on food packaging, with endorsements from multiple health organisations.
“We all support ‘Buy Australian’ and we all support the country of origin labeling,” Cr Petreski said.
“When things are mandated, nearly 95 per cent of product packages are updated to display the new mandatory code of origin label in Australia.
“Yet, because the Health Star Rating is only a voluntary system, it’s plateaued to about 40 per cent [support].”
After the Canberra visit, Cr Homer said increasing the spend on preventative health was one of the most important ways to improve community health.
“By intervening early, we know this will help to prevent the onset of chronic illness, which leads to our hospital emergency departments and GP offices being unable to keep up with demand,” he said.
“This is something that can make a difference to people’s lives and to have support from our fellow local government mayors is absolutely amazing.”
