Sydney Health Law

Category: Public Health Law

  • Named reporting of HIV: A positive step for public health?

    In Australia, doctors must notify public health authorities of new cases of HIV/AIDs. However, strict confidentiality requirements apply to the testing, treating and notification of HIV, protecting the identity of patients. As part of its review of the New South Wales Public Health Act 2010, the Department of Health is considering whether to remove these…

  • Upcoming Conferences: Governing Food

    Governing Food: The Role of Law, Regulation and Policy in Meeting 21st Century Challenges to the Food Supply Dates: Tuesday 1st November – Thursday 3rd November 2016 Venue: Sydney Law School Sydney Health Law is hosting the Governing Food Conference in November this year, in conjunction with the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre and with sponsorship…

  • Could a sugary drinks tax improve Australian diets?

    The UK tax on soft drink and Jamie Oliver’s call to action  Today Britain announced that from 2017 it would levy a tax on soft drinks containing more than five grams of sugar per 100 millilitres, as part of efforts to contain rising levels of childhood obesity. The announcement prompted Jamie Oliver to post a video…

  • Locked out by the Nanny State? The public health case for Sydney’s lockout laws

    This blog post incorporates a post previously published by Caterina Giorgi on DrinkTank. We’re grateful to Caterina for giving us permission to republish her post. Sydney’s lockout laws have had a polarizing effect. One view is that they’ve killed off Sydney’s once-thriving nightlife, compromised the incomes of those in the hospitality industry, and simply redistributed…

  • Is your summer barbeque under fire? Chewing over the evidence on meat and cancer, and digesting the implications for regulation

    The report We’ve now had a few weeks to chew over the latest report linking food and cancer. Only this time it wasn’t a puff-piece in your Sunday newspaper, but an extremely comprehensive report from IARC, the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. After a systematic review, IARC’s findings on the links…

  • The role of law in noncommunicable disease prevention: an easy-to-digest explanation

    Public health lawyers like me are often challenged on their claim that the law can (and should) play a significant role in the prevention of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). Future Leaders, an Australian philanthropic organisation, has recently published an open-access, clearly written book on NCD prevention called Dancing in the Rain: Living with NCDs, which includes a chapter…

  • The ACT sin bins junk food ads on buses

    The ACT attracted media attention this week for becoming the first Australian jurisdiction to regulate ride-sharing services like Uber. But the ACT’s also been active in an area that’s close to the heart of many public health advocates: regulation of junk food and alcohol advertising. Promotions for these products will be banned on ACTION buses, along…

  • Consider yourself warned: Public health coming to a fast food menu near you

    New York City’s Board of Health last week unanimously agreed to require ‘salt-shaker’ warning symbols on menu items with more than an entire day’s recommended limit of 2300mg of sodium. That’s around one teaspoon of salt. Restaurants with more than 15 outlets nationally will display warnings from 1 December 2015. Industry groups and the National…

  • Our new Nanny State? The Senate inquiry into tobacco, alcohol, and bicycle helmet laws

    Earlier this month, Senator David Leyonhjelm announced aSsenate inquiry into legislative and policy measures introduced to restrict personal choice “for the individual’s own good,” including laws related to tobacco, e-cigarettes, alcohol, marijuana, bicycle helmets, and film classification. Leaving to one side the irony of a government inquiry into government’s unreasonable interference in our lives, many…

  • Patching up America’s broken heart: Could regulatory theory offer a solution to gun violence in the US?

    On Wednesday morning, the US suffered another gun-related tragedy. This time, reporter Alison Parker and camera man Adam Ward from WDBJ-TV, Virginia, were shot dead on air by a disgruntled former colleague. Alison Parker’s father has said that he will not rest until the US introduces stronger gun control laws, and he challenged the media…

  • Local government action: a new pathway for obesity prevention in Australia

    Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Stephen Simpson (Director of the Charles Perkins Centre at the University of Sydney) and Rosemary Calder (health policy Director at the Mitchell Institute for Health and Education Policy at Victoria University), call for community-based action to prevent chronic disease. They point to communities like Broken Hill, which has high…

  • Fanta ad falls flat before the Advertising Standards Board

    Coca-Cola has been forced to remove advertisements for Fanta after the Advertising Standards Board found that the promotions breached the Responsible Children’s Marketing Initiative, a voluntary code on responsible food marketing to children. The rulings came after the Obesity Policy Coalition laid three complaints about the ‘Fanta Tastes Like’ campaign, which included ads during prime…

  • Australia gets a D- in chronic disease prevention

    Writing in The Age earlier this month, Professor Rob Moodie gave the Australian Federal Government a failing grade for its efforts in non-communicable disease prevention. According to Professor Moodie, Australia’s preventive health agenda ‘is in serious trouble’ and ‘there’s a grave risk of it disappearing altogether.’ Professor Moodie’s assessment draws upon a recent report from…

  • How can pacific island countries reduce the crippling burden of non-communicable diseases?

    Pacific island countries and territories (PICTs) are some of the most geographically isolated in the world.  Non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including cardiovascular disease, cancers, tobacco-related diseases and diabetes are rampant in PICTs.  These diseases are partly driven by loss of traditional diets, global trade in harmful products, and by a cluster of inter-related risk factors including tobacco use,…