Walk safely to school
WITH only half of Australia’s children and young people using active transport at least once per week to travel to and-or from school, and only one third of Australian children and young people using active transport daily, parents and children are being called on to take part in National Walk Safely to School Day this Friday.
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Only one in five Australian kids are meeting the recommended national physical activity guidelines of accumulating at least 60-minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity every day. Active transport (defined as walking, using a scooter or riding) is one of the key behaviours that contributes to the overall physical activity levels of Australia’s children.
Children who use active transport to get to or from school are not only more physically active than those who do not, but also accumulate more daily minutes of health enhancing activity – take more steps, expend more energy over the day and generally have better health-related fitness.
Kids accumulate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity minutes when engaging in all forms of active transport to or from school including trips that incorporate the use of public transport.
In Australia there are a number of factors that have potentially attributed to the decline of active transport participation.
In particular, increasing safety concerns among parents; and the distances kids need to negotiate becoming greater (with two kilometres seen to be the tipping point), even though 57 per cent of parents report the distance to school is actually only three kilometres or less.
National Walk Safely to School Day is an important initiative that brings communities together to teach road safety with the hope of alleviating the fears parents and children have about using active transport to and from school.
It raises awareness of the health, road safety, transport and environmental benefits that regular walking, riding or scooting (especially to and from school) can provide for the long term health of our children.
New strategies need to be adopted to overcome safety concerns and get children to become more engaged with active transport. Participation rates as they are raises the question, have we set the bar too low and should we be aiming for the majority of Australian kids to be active (in some part) to and from school on most days?
Dr NATASHA SCHRANZ
Active Healthy Kids Australia
Support fund
VICTORIAN farmers applaud Coles’ decision to set up a support fund for farmers hit by processor cuts to their milk price.
Last week, I contacted Coles managing director John Durkan to discuss a range of support measures, including delivering a share of milk sales revenue to a support fund for dairy farmers.
It’s great to see Coles responding to the call with a practical move that shows they appreciate the need to support farmers.
It’s a credit to Mr Durkan that he’s stepped up to the mark and acted quickly to establish the fund, injecting $1-million of Coles’ money to get it started.
The federation and its dairy section, the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria, look forward to sitting on the fund’s advisory committee. The dairy industry, like all agricultural industries, is vitally important to the Australian economy, so this initiative is about consumers and industry coming together to support farmers.
PETER TUOHEY
Victorian Farmers Federation
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