Dr Haikerwal discussed Family Doctor Week and Physical Activity

Dr Mukesh Haikerwal is the AMA President. Hello, Doctor.

DR HAIKERWAL: Madonna, good morning. How are you?

KING: Well, thank you. Now, you want the Federal Government to provide the same amount of funding to the general community as it does now to elite athletes. Why?

HAIKERWAL: We think that the Government's done a remarkable job over the years with the Institutes of Sport, and the $250 million that goes to elite athletes keeps us in the top echelons of many different sports at many different international levels. And I think that's …it's splendid. But we really need to use that expertise, that knowledge that we have, which keeps our elite people up the top, to improve the general health of our nation, which is actually slipping behind and slipping behind especially where exercise is concerned.

KING: You say in last year's budget, I think you just mentioned it; $250 million is allocated to elite athletes. Any indication of how many million is actually set aside for community sport and facilities and the like?

HAIKERWAL: There's around $67 million set aside for the rest of the 20 million Australians that are out there.

KING: But what do you think that says about the Government's commitment to fighting obesity?

HAIKERWAL: Well I mean, I think that it's an ongoing battle to get support in this area, I suppose, to get some consensus about how to do it best. Nutrition is very important and we've seen a lot of work that we've put into that and I suppose many things are still in the pipeline. We hope to try and deal with that side of things. But, you know, we talked a bit more about that today here in Brisbane as part of Family Doctor Week. We're off to one of the schools and meeting some of the doctors later on to talk about our part in the fight against obesity and the nutrition part of it.

But the exercise part is really very important, too, and obviously we'd like to see that equal funding for community type activities to, as you say, get safer bike tracks, safer walking tracks, funding community groups, small groups, small amounts to get people together and do exercise and so on. But in order for that to happen, we've actually got to have access and good access to those facilities at a reasonable cost and that they are safe. Because what's happening now is, especially with the younger people, they don't really want to go out where it's unsafe and certainly our kids, when they're doing sport and so on, we want to make sure that the environment that they're in is safe. And that's something that we want to try and encourage.

KING: You just mentioned subsidising gyms to provide childcare or family exercise classes, providing more bike and walking tracks. I think another element of your recommendations to the Government is a national schools exercise program. What would that involve?

HAIKERWAL: Well, you know, physical education and organised sport for many years have been part of school activity, but as the curriculum's got bigger and bigger, one of the things that often gets squeezed out is sport and certainly activity within that school time.

Children spend a significant amount of time of their lives in school and if they learn good physical activity whilst in school, hopefully they'll be able to take some of those things that they've learnt into their adult life and beyond. So it needs to be part of the normal part of life, just like eating and drinking and studying and work - exercise should be built in. And it doesn't mean if you've got a hard heavy job, that you know you're working manually or you're doing lots of walking up and down the warehouse of a factory. That's not enough. It's got to be isolated time for you, your time to do exercise, and I think that's an important message that schools can instil into kids.

KING: Should it be a compulsory element of the school curriculum as opposed to a voluntary one?

HAIKERWAL: Look, I personally think it probably should be. I think that obviously compulsory seems to try and avoid and you can understand why but if it's actually part of the curriculum…schools should be provided access to good school playgrounds and facilities. You know, they got given a flagpole. I don't see why they shouldn't be given some money to improve their facilities for sporting activities and other exercise facilities.

KING: Any indication of how Tony Abbott will receive your recommendations tomorrow?

HAIKERWAL: Well, I suppose we'll find out tomorrow but he's sort of been a little immune to some of the ideas around, you know, being compulsory. And I can understand that. But I think he's a very keen sportsman himself as are many of the other government ministers in Federal and State politics and I think a little bit of that enthusiasm perhaps for their own sport and the time they devote to that to help others that aren't so fortunate or don't have access to facilities or need encouragement would certainly be beneficial, and they'd be great role models of course.

KING: Have a good day in Brisbane.

HAIKERWAL: Thanks Madonna.

KING: That's Dr Mukesh Haikerwal. He's the AMA President. Elite athletes are funded to the tune of $250 million a year, the amount set aside for community sport and facilities, only $67 million a year.