One in four Australian children are overweight or obese. Photo: Ellen-Maree Elliot

A producer has defended an advertisement to highlight the problem of childhood obesity that equates parents giving their children junk food to injecting them with heroin.

Precinct ad agency managing director and producer Henry Motteram says his agency created the ad to “spark discussion” and was “happy to be the enemy”.

“I don’t think we would have got a quarter of a million hits in two weeks if we hadn’t done something shocking,” he said.

“I know the analogy towards heroin and junk food is very strong – but both kill.

“Junk food kills a lot more people than heroin does in this country every year.”

Mr Motteram says the Breaking the Habit ad was made for “purely philanthropic” reasons.

“What we’ve done is drawn attention to something that really needed attention drawn to it,” he said.

‘Hard-hitting’

Cancer Council NSW nutrition program manager Colleen Glasson says the ad’s concept is “very hard-hitting” but she has “major problems” with it.

“We all need to eat – we don’t all need to take heroin,” she said.

“It’s okay to have a little bit of junk food – it’s not okay to have a little bit of heroin.”

She says one in four Australian children are overweight or obese.

“Many of those children will grow up to become obese adults, increasing their risk of chronic diseases, like certain cancers, heart diseases and diabetes.” she said.

“It’s a huge problem.”

Unhealthy food advertising

Junk food advertisements directed at children are self-regulated by two separate bodies, the Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC) and the Quick Service Restaurant Industry (QSRI).

Both bodies have voluntary “initiatives” that outline guidelines for responsible food advertising to children.

A report compiled by the University of Sydney and the Cancer Council found there was a significant reduction in “non-core” food advertising to children by AFGC signatories between 2007 and 2009.

However, the report found the voluntary nature of the self-regulated codes limited their effectiveness and did not “adequately protect children”.

Ms Glasson says there ”are a lot of loopholes”.

She says although parents need to be educated about the link between too much junk food and obesity, the “real problem is the environment and the volume and the nature of unhealthy food advertising for children”.

“Everywhere they turn, children are being confronted by junk food ads,” she said.

Stronger regulation needed

Ms Glasson says the Cancer Council believes self-regulation does not work.

“The government needs to impose stronger regulations on junk food marketing to children,” she said.

She says restrictions need to:

• Be effective for children under 16 years old across all media;
• Have a standard definition of unhealthy foods across the board;
• Be effective for whenever children are watching television (for example, the children peak viewing time of 6-9pm);
• Restrict pervasive marketing techniques (for example, no promotional characters, sporting figures or premiums);
• Be monitored by an independent statutory body;
• Have meaningful penalties for non-compliance.

However, a spokesperson for the Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing says they take childhood obesity “very seriously” and are taking steps to address it.

“Food marketing is but one element of what is a complex challenge in addressing obesity,” the spokesperson said.

“Effectively tackling this issue in Australia will require collaboration across industry, the community, families and individuals.”

Education environment

University of Sydney Associate Professor Dr Margaret Allman-Farinelli says encouraging an environment where children can make good food choices is just one aspect of combating childhood obesity.

“One thing is always education, perhaps for parents and communities as a whole, as to what constitutes a healthy diet,” she said.

Dr Allman-Farinelli says healthy food needs to be more accessible to busy families.

“It might be difficult to get public transport to and from getting the source of fresh food, but it might be only a walk to get some form of takeaway food,” she said.

She says community and local councils can improve and implement infrastructure like parks, footpaths and cycle ways, that are safe for children to use.

Dr Allman-Farinelli says everyone needs to pitch in.

“It’s not just a health issue – it’s an issue that goes across society if we’re going to be really serious about addressing it,” she said.

Related Links:

• Cancer Council’s website – Junk Busters
• 2010 International Journal of Pediatric Obesity: Industry self regulation of television food advertising: Responsible or responsive? – Joint research project by University of Sydney and Cancer Council NSW.
• AFGC Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative Core Principles
• QSRI Initiative for Responsible Advertising and Marketing to Children

A swollen Brisbane River at Dutton Park as more clouds roll across the city. Photo: Clare Hunter

Locals have experienced the first of many La Nina events forecast this summer, the latest weather bringing 100 km/h winds,  flooding and power cuts across Brisbane.

Senior forecaster for the Brisbane Bureau of Meteorology, Brett Harrison said the weather we have experienced this week is something we should get used to.

“High winds and generally wetter than usual weather is to be expected over the summer.”

The  La Nina weather cycle occurs every six years and affects the  east coast of Australia.

Motorists Stranded

The town of Kilcoy was cut off for almost 12 hours as flooding blocked the D’Aguiliar Highway late on Monday night.

More than 150 motorists and tourists were stranded east of Kilcoy, with many unable to get through until as late as midday Tuesday.

“Some people spent the night in the Town Hall, while many motorists preferred to camp out in cars and wait it out,” a police spokesperson said.

Early on Tuesday morning police were unsure when the highway would be reopened and were relying on the rain to cease before taking further action.

“Unfortunately there is more rain forecast this afternoon which could mean more flooding so we don’t know how long people will be stranded for, we really just have to wait for the water to stop” the police spokesperson said.

Police report that nobody was in any danger.

Clean up Begins

The clean up around Brisbane is well underway with rainfall and floodwaters easing , the State Emergency Service said.

State Emergency Service (SES) crews worked through the night on Monday to clean up in the Moreton Bay area. However, with more rain due this week it is unclear how much will get done.

“We’re continuing to monitor the situation, but about 140 SES volunteers remained on the ground [Monday] night in Brisbane City and Moreton Bay Councils,” an SES spokesperson said.

The SES received more than 650 jobs in southeast Queensland in 24 hours earlier this week, and despite  weather conditions easing now they are urging people to avoid driving, walking or riding through any flood waters they may come across in the area.

“Storm damage, sandbagging and leaking roofs have been the majority of the call outs,” the SES spokesperson said.

“Even though conditions are easing, we don’t know the full extent to some of the flood waters around northern Brisbane.”

Road Closures and Power Cuts

Several roads were cut by rising floodwaters and power was out after rains dumped up to 300 mm in some areas over the weekend.  

Many roads opened up on Tuesday afternoon, but roads in the Brisbane suburbs of Mt Crosby, Clayfield, Petrie and Brookfield remained closed until late on Wednesday, according to Traffic and Travel Information, Queensland.

Winds up to 100 km/h ripped tress from branches and pulled down power lines, keeping Energex crews busy as they restored power to up to 2000 homes during the latest storms.

Energex reports that most power has been restored in Brisbane but there are still over 72 residences in the Sunshine Coast region that experienced power shortages due to the storm as late as Wednesday.

The  Bureau of Meteorology said Brisbane received 92mm of rain since 9am Monday morning and forecasts suggest that while rain may ease by Thursday, the weekend may see another thunderstorm.

Kara Cerneka was sentenced on October 4 at the Supreme Court in Brisbane. Photo: Jessica Uhlmann.

Kara Jane Cerneka was given a nine month sentence after pleading guilty to assaulting a police officer, supplying Buprenorphine in aggravated circumstances, and possessing Buprenorphine.

The nine month sentence consisted of a six month sentence, a three month sentence, and another three month sentence which was to be served concurrently. 

But the sentences were suspended after Supreme Court judge Ann Lyons heard Ms Cerneka had battled financial troubles, homelessness and an abusive relationship.

The 21-year-old single mother was on a four month good behaviour bond when she was caught smuggling Buprenorphine to a friend in Wacol prison in exchange for $400.

Sniffer dogs detected the drug and when police started to search her, Ms Cerneka unsuccessfully attempted to swallow the packet containing the powder.

A police officer tried to stop her, but Ms Cerneka fought back by biting the officer on the hand.

Ms Cerneka clamped her teeth down firmly on the officer’s fingers and would not let go.

The assault resulted in swelling and pain that lasted for several days.

Defence barrister Tony Entriken described his client’s behaviour as “irrational” and said Ms Cerneka had assaulted the police officer out of panic.

“Why she did resist could only be put down to concern for her son and the position she found herself in,” Mr Entriken said.

Mr Entriken said his client had smuggled the drug into jail out of desperation because she was facing financial hardship and needed money to care for her three year-old son.

He stated that Ms Cerneka had previously been homeless, was having difficulties paying her rent and had several years’ worth of accumulated debt.

The crown prosecutor also acknowledged Ms Cerneka’s difficult circumstances, but recommended she serve some of her sentence to help her understand the gravity of her actions.

Justice Lyons held that a suspended sentence was the best option because it reflected the “seriousness of the offences” but gave Ms Cerneka an opportunity to turn her life around.

But Justice Lyons stated that Ms Cerneka’s difficult circumstances were “no excuse” for breaking the law and said she would serve actual jail time if she re-offended.

Ms Cerneka told court she was sorry for her behaviour and apologised to the police officer.

Young parliamentarians set to battle over important issues. Photo: YMCA Youth Parliament Blog.

Ninety-two members of the YMCA Youth Parliament took over the Queensland political headquarters last week to show the State Government how it’s done.

Representatives aged 15 to 25 from each of Queensland’s 89 state electorates debated policy issues relating to young people and judging by the intense debate on show at Parliament house the future of politics is in good hands.

Aspiring politicians came head to head on a diverse range of issues including the school curriculum, obesity, agriculture, daylight saving and the controversial issue of women serving in the front line.

The young parliamentarians argued each side of important topics, ensuring most passed, but were equally split over the contentious issue of women in front line defence.

Louis Paul Franks, YMCA Queensland Youth Parliament coordinator, says it’s a great way to see what young people think about certain issues and provides a way to influence the State Government.

“The Youth Parliament has been providing an apolitical environment where young people can engage with community issues for more than a decade,” he said.

“I think the government needs to take an active role understanding that young people are going to deal with these issues and they need to actually invest in young people and get young people engaged in the political process.”

The future leaders are shaping up to fill big shoes as government MPs and officials forward on their wisdom as they mentor the young parliamentarians.

Karen Struthers, Queensland Community Services Minister, was also there to pass on some of her experience to the political rookies and says it’s a powerful way for young people to learn about democracy in action.

“We’ve got to actually reward young people for their efforts and encourage them to have their say and Youth Parliament is one of those very important opportunities,” she said.

“Through the debates, we’re learning about what young people think about issues important to them.”

Important Issues on Show

In the Legislative Assembly of Queensland’s Parliament House youth members argued for and against the eight Youth Bills they felt needed to be tackled.

The passed Bills, recorded in Hansard, are signed by the Youth Governor and passed to the state Government for consideration.

The Battle Begins in Queensland Parliament house. Photo: YMCA Youth Parliament Blog.

Members of the YMCA Youth Parliament have mixed opinions over the Queensland Government but agree more should be done to include the needs of young people.

Ricky Marcourt, Member for Kurrungal, believes not all people need to follow society’s favourable university direction to become successful after high school.

“I think that needs to be extended to up skilling young people who don’t want to go to uni,” he said.

Member for Lytton Ellen Desmarchelier believes it is important to know about the political process, and the State Government should listen to younger generations.

“It’s not more about government telling young people what they need but young people telling government what they need,” she said.

Torres Webb, representative for the Torres Strait region, points out the government has done a lot in terms of giving a voice to the people of Torres Strait but could do more to ensure their future success.

“Economic development, job opportunities and training are really important for our people to succeed,” he said.

In the next coming weeks members of the YMCA Youth Parliament will again come together to look back on their recent debates and forward their concerns to key decision-makers of the State Government.

Readers want magazines that form more direct connections to their lives. Photo: Tijana Jaksic

In August 2010 magazine and pop culture blog, Girl With a Satchel, reported a 43.3 per cent circulation increase of the lifestyle niche magazine, Frankie, between June 2009 and June 2010.

Brisbane-based “green fashion magazine” Peppermint says its circulation quadrupled in the two years since its launch.

Girl With a Satchel also reported magazines Cosmopolitan and Cleo had circulation losses of 9 per cent and 10.6 per cent respectively.

Ms Bartle, founder of Girl With a Satchel, said the two glossy magazines were falling because mass marketing to women as one group is no longer effective.

“My generation and the generation below have grown up seeing ourselves as much more individual than my mother’s generation,” she said.

“What we’re looking for now are magazines that appeal to particular interests.”

Building a relationship

Sahil Merchant, co-founder of specialty magazine retailer Magnation, says Frankie is still a niche magazine even though it could now be considered more mainstream because circulation has “gone through the roof”.

“I still think of it as a niche magazine because of the passion and the loyalty that Frankie has managed to create,” Mr Merchant said.

“The defining characteristic of a niche magazine is that they tend to generate a lot more passion about their magazine and the contents than the average mainstream magazine would.”

Kelley Sheenan, founder and editor of Peppermint, agreed building a relationship with readers was an important factor in a magazine’s success.

“I think readers have taken to Peppermint so well because they are wanting more from their media,” Ms Sheenan said.

“By more, I don’t mean more shoes, more sex, more celebrities … they are wanting more soul, more depth and more realistic role models.

“I also believe that readers want to feel more connected with their media and have it reflect their actual lives.”

Related Link: Girl With a Satchel Mags: State of the (mag)nation – June 2010 circulation

Related Video: ABC 7.30 Report Frankie Magazine beats the odds

The Australian film and TV industry is yet to use neurocinematics.

Some experts say neurocinematics studies, which monitors how an audience engages in a movie, are important to film marketing, but the Australian film and TV industry are unlikely to use it.

A report in New Scientist magazine says neurocinematics studies used functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) scanning to assess audience responses to a film.

The study found neurocinematics can show directors and editors the level of engagement an audience has with a scene by showing fear or emotional responses, among other reactions, within brain activity.

Neurocinematics progress

Film expert and University of Queensland professor Tom O’Regan says although these studies are an important part of movie marketing techniques, the Australian film and TV industry is yet to be involved.

“[Neurocinematics] is perhaps [an] improvement on other techniques, but this kind of thing has been around for several years,” he says.

“What is probably the most interesting issue is whether we are moving towards an agreed metric in this area.

“I certainly think we will see an increasing use of this sort of technology.

“I know that Disney puts a lot of emphasis into this area … feedback is often useful particularly for identifying issues prior to a film’s release.”

New Scientist journalist Jessica Hamzelou says the study is one of only a few in the world and many filmmakers are interested.

The study was conducted by Dr Uri Hasson, an Assistant Professor of Psychology at Princeton University in the US.

“Film clips are used a lot in science to help neuroscientists understand the brain, [but] there are very few places looking at this from a commercial point of view,” she says.

“[US-based company] Mindsign have already used fMRI to improve trailers and storyboard clips.”

Mindsign used the technology to create the trailer for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Scenes were chosen and eliminated in the trailer, based on how engaging they were shown to be on an audience, by using neurocinematics.

Creative interference?

But some film experts say they do not believe neurocinematics will become commonly used in the Australian industry.

Director and producer Geoff Portman, discipline leader at Queensland University of Technology, says technology like neurocinematics is not able to achieve as much as a filmmaker can.

“What they can measure is very different from what we can dramatically create,” he says.

“As all creative processes come from within the individual, we would naturally steer away from something external dictating to us what is a very internal process.”

Independent producer Dr Jonathon Silver, a former general manager of marketing at Greater Union, says the technology is very unlikely to have an impact on the industry.

“It is the latest in a long list of psychological experiments relating to audiences that began 70 years ago … they didn’t have any impact on how Hollywood operates, so I doubt this new technology will,” he says.

“High levels of audience engagement come from a good script, well acted and well directed … technology is just a facilitator.

“Creatives don’t like to be directed by market research findings, or by technology.”

Related Links:

• New Scientist article
• Harry Potter Trailer
• Mindsign: What is Neurocinema?

Thousands of people walked backwards to send a message to Australia's politicians. Photo: Phoebe Clark

Around 8,000 protesters walked backwards at King George Square in the city on  Sunday, August 15, with Toby Hutcheon, the executive director of the Queensland Conservation Council, saying the rally represented Australia’s politicians attitude to climate change.

“We have a situation where two of [the] major [political] parties don’t have a price on carbon pollution as a key part of their climate change – they’re going backwards,” Mr Hutcheon said at the event.

‘Call to action’

Colman Ridge, executive director of Greensfest, said one of the main points of the event was to encourage political parties to use the democratic vote to get a mandate from the Australian people.

“One of the main calls to action on stage [is] for all parties to provide a policy [on carbon tax] that people can vote for,” he said.

“We have no idea how the Prime Minister thinks a focus group of 150 people provides a greater census than an entire election.”

Mr Ridge says while the Liberal party and the Greens have made their policies regarding carbon tax clear, the Labor party has not put forward a clear policy.

“[Federal Opposition Leader] Tony Abbott and [Greens leader] Bob Brown are actually putting out there what they believe – ‘I don’t want a carbon tax’ or ‘I do’,” he said.

“The most pathetic position in the election is the Labor Party – ‘this is what we believe, but we won’t put a policy on it until after the election’.”

Labor ‘committed’

Steven Miles, Labor candidate for the Brisbane seat of Ryan, says the Labor Party is committed to action on climate change.

8,000 people walked in the protest in Brisbane's CBD. Photo: Phoebe Clark

“Labor is the only major party that remains committed to doing what it will take to [bring] Australia’s emissions down,” he said.

“That means putting a cap on our pollution and forcing polluters to pay for the carbon that they emit.”

He said the reason the policies had not gone ahead was because the Liberal party would not allow them to pass in Federal Parliament.

“We’d have those [policies] in place right now if not for the Liberals and Tony Abbott in particular [who] voted against the wishes of the Australian people and against the mandate that both Labor, and the Liberals under [former prime minister] John Howard, had from the last election,” he said.

Related Links:

• Walk Against Warming Heats up Election
• The Greensfest Organisation
• Walk Against Warming Campaign

Around 200 people attended the public forum fronted by Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott in Brisbane.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard emerged well from some questions at the public forum at the Broncos Leagues Club in Brisbane on Wednesday night, speaking after Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott.

Each candidate took one hour to answer questions from a 200-strong audience.

Some seemed disenchanted with Labor, after a drop in support for Queensland Premier Anna Bligh and the dumping of local Labor candidate Kevin Rudd as prime minister.

One audience member called Ms Gillard a hypocrite and another said she had failed to listen to the needs of Queenslanders, but she preferred to talk about jobs.

“We’ve stepped up to support jobs, we’ve got the economic plan to keep jobs going,” she said.

On her pledge to return the budget to surplus by 2013, she said “failure is not an option”.

National Broadband Network

Earlier at the forum, Mr Abbott called the National Broadband Network (NBN) “bad policy”, saying it was too expensive and one-dimensional, but Ms Gillard said it was in the best interests of Australian businesses.

As well as promoting the employment benefits, Ms Gillard said the NBN would be “a transformation for health and a transformation for education”.

Mr Abbott also drew early applause after promising a smaller government and a reduced level of bureaucracy, particularly in the health department, if the Coalition gets elected.

“We’ll tackle debt and deficit and spend $11.5 billion less,” he said.

“We’ll stop these big taxes.”

But Mr Abbott’s strongest point was the announcement of a proposed pilot scheme to support volunteers such as surf lifesavers, where “uni students will get a credit against their HECS debt”.

‘Campaigning hard’

Both candidates were bombarded with questions over their policies on asylum seekers and both played down the issue.

When questioned about gay marriage, Ms Gillard and Mr Abbott stayed true to their party’s policies, refusing to endorse it.

Mr Abbott answered 27 questions, three more than Ms Gillard.

A broad range of questions were asked but there were none about climate change during the forum.

Both candidates vowed to spend the final days campaigning hard before the election this Saturday.

Paramore take the stage at Soundwave Festival 2010. Source: Alicia Bolton.

Soundwave Festival 2011 will take place in Australia’s capital cities from February 26th until March 7^th and as the only major metal and punk festival in Australia, this is a day not to be missed.

After months of speculation and predictions as to who will front the stage in 2011, the line-up is slowly leaking through the cracks of forums and blogs with a band announced each week.

In its sixth year, the Soundwave 2011 line-up is rumoured to host around 70 bands and so far includes metal legends Iron Maiden and Slash, old school punkers New Found Glory and MXPX and hardcore heroes A Skylit Drive and The Blackout.

Sporting such an impressive line-up, it’s no surprise fans both young and old are anticipating the ticket release on August 26^th from ticketek and other outlets around Australia.

Californian band Trash Talk were recently announced to play on the 2011 bill and bassist Spencer Pollard says they’re ecstatic to visit Australia.

“We all just sat down and thought about if we wanted to go to Soundwave and our first reaction was like ‘hell yeah’,” Pollard said.

Over the years Soundwave has hosted numerous international and local bands including Paramore (US), Rolo Tomassi (UK) and Brisbane boys Too Late Escape.

Rolo Tomassi vocalist, Eva Spence, says Soundwave was a great experience for the band and she was stoked she could tour with loads of her favourite musicians.

“It was just such an incredible experience. Australia is somewhere that seems like light years away and I never thought I’d be able to visit,” Spence said.

For the full line-up and details on tickets and locations head to the Soundwave Website.

Rural Australians will be able to claim Medicare rebates for online consultations if the Gillard government is re-elected. Image: Perry Woodward

Prime Minister Julia Gillard has announced new Medicare rebates for online health services.

Speaking at the ALP’s official Brisbane campaign launch, Ms Gillard said that if re-elected her government will provide $392.3 million to support upgraded tele-health services for Australians living in rural and remote areas.

The initiative, which has the support of the Australian Medical Association, will be implemented by July 1, 2011 and will allow patients in rural areas to receive Medicare rebates for online consultations with specialist doctors from their local GP’s office.

AMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, supports the move, saying the scheme would assist doctors to provided services to patients in remote or rural areas.

“It will allow doctors to overcome the tyranny of distance when providing care and advice for patients in rural and remote Australia.  Some patients will no longer have to travel long hours and incur significant costs to access medical care,” said Dr Pesce.

The Rural Doctor’s Association of Australia welcomed the news.

Former RDAA President, Dr Peter Rischbieth, says improved tele-health technology is an issue the RDAA has been lobbying for.

“It is great to see the Gillard Government announcing measures that will support the further rollout of tele-health technology for rural and remote Australians, and particularly its decision to widen the Medicare rebates for tele-health consults to ensure the time and skills of doctors at both ends of the consult are recognised,” said Dr Rischbieth.

Despite the announcement receiving support from Medical groups, the PM has been criticised for failing to address economic considerations and climate change in Monday’s address.

Opposition leader Tony Abbot told the ABC Ms Gillard had failed to outline anything new to address Australia’s economic situation.

“We saw nothing whatsoever from the Prime Minister in terms of an economic plan, in terms of a coherent attempt to overcome the debt and deficit problem now bedevilling our country.” he said.