South Australian eye surgeon Dr James Muecke has vowed to use his platform as Australian of the Year to advocate for measures to tackle preventable blindness caused by diabetes - including a tax on sugary drinks.
Dr Muecke, 56, was named Australian of the Year 2020 at a glittering awards ceremony in Canberra on Saturday night, in recognition of his work preventing blindness in Australia and the developing world.orthopaedic surgeon Munjed Al Muderis, the NSW Australian of the year who is lobbying for action on climate change
"Blindness is just one of many complications of diabetes and, as an eye surgeon, I see the end stages of the disease," Dr Muecke said. Dr Muecke said sugar was "as addictive as nicotine" and that consumers were "constantly bombarded by advertising" that, along with the high level of added sugar in processed foods, made it "very difficult" to maintain a healthy diet.
Dana_Adele 'If poor people can't afford to get diabetes only rich people will come to my practice and then we can talk about our Audis' weird quote from Dr Muecke here
Dana_Adele Doctors usually aren’t great economists.
Dana_Adele Let’s hope he’s successful at that. Many have been trying to get a tax on sugary drinks for years & years. Hooray hooray!
Dana_Adele Sugar is cancer !!
Dana_Adele And Climate Change , one goes with the other , or was Scott from Marketing given a promise not to touch
Dana_Adele Tax yourself.
sarahinthesen8 Dana_Adele ADDED sugar, fat and salt to processed food shouzld be taxed ay the same rate as tobacco, alcohol and petrol.
Dana_Adele And then in 30 years time we’ll need a artificial sweetener tax .....
Dana_Adele No way will LiarFromTheShire listen to this!
Dana_Adele Why is it that as soon as someone becomes Australian of the year they turn into freaks and start talking rubbish.
Dana_Adele Because the tax on alcohol has worked so well to fight alcoholism.
Dana_Adele The good old answer to everything, put a tax on it to fix it, no wonder he got Australian of the year. It won’t change a thing just cost people more money.
Dana_Adele Ugh. Nanny state suggestions as always.
Dana_Adele FFS, how about we let people choose what they want to drink. Me, I'm not a big fan of sugary drinks, but if you want to drink them, have at it. Smoking, same deal. Why can't one of these people be an advocate for minding their own business? just one.
Dana_Adele
Dana_Adele What a monumental waste of the platform.
Dana_Adele Q: What's the difference between doctors and God? A: God doesn't think he's a doctor.
Dana_Adele I'm sure that will work well. Just like the tax on alcohol = no effect. Or the 2000% tax on cigarettes =completely unaffordable. Why is it every single Australian who gets an award has to have a political agenda? Can't they just be grateful and keep their opinions to themself?
sarahinthesen8 Dana_Adele 'For every complex human problem, there is a solution that is neat, simple and wrong.' H. L. Mencken's adage once again fully applicable. Can doctors, nutritionists et al please stop showing their ignorance about obesity, and do some proper, holistic research into it! GoDutch
Dana_Adele Another fukwit
Dana_Adele I spoke to Geoff Brock about a sugar tax and got no where.
Dana_Adele Yay, more taxes from the rich guy
sarahinthesen8 Dana_Adele Lol 😂 🤣 😂 🤣 😂 who and WTF! He's no Australian of the the year.. 😂 🤣 😂 🤣
Dana_Adele It is tricky, educating or taxing ? How else to make excessive sugar a treat rather than a staple. Ditto fast food. Obesity in children is almost a crime. I’d support a warning on all marketing “consider your health when buying food, choose wisely, choose farm fresh”.
JacintaArnold1 Dana_Adele poor thinking
Dana_Adele And guess who the minister for agriculture is? senbmckenzie
Dana_Adele Gird you’re loins James as you will be taking on big boys - cane growers, sugar milling council and the dept of agriculture. Don’t expect too much support from the lnp govt.
Dana_Adele .acn_tweet
While im sure he deserves recognition for his work.. so do more deserving people like Brendan Farrell or volunteer fire fighters.
Dana_Adele I have not had any soft drink or other 'sugary drinks' for 15 years. Did you know that apple juice is one of the worst sugary drinks? People think that manufactured juice is healthy, it's not! I don't think a tax would work, but an education campaign might have more of a chance!
Dana_Adele Sugary drinks are a choice. Type 1 diabetes is often caused by lifestyle choices and obesity. Put big sign on label saying X teaspoons of sugar and leave it at that. The 'tax' will just disappear into this govt's pocket.
Dana_Adele All praise and congratuations to him. Sadly, Australia's diabetes experts have been asking for this for 20 years.
Dana_Adele I am glad this year’s Australian of the year is not another sports person or a one hit wonder, but someone that has worked all his life to the benefit of all Australian, we need provide ongoing support and acknowledge those in the scientific and medical research field.
Dana_Adele Congrats! Why don't you use the platform you now have to inform people about the dangers of soft drinks rather than putting your hand in everyone's pocket.
Dana_Adele How about a tax on people who don't mind their own fuckin business
Dana_Adele I'm sure the punters in Mt Druitt would be against it, but those in Mosman would be like 'whatever just pass me another coke'. Another excuse to tax the poor.
Dana_Adele agree. we should make all drink manufacturers make sugar free as the only choice
Dana_Adele Well deserved as a single recipient award however part of me was hoping they'd give it as a blanket award to every volunteer firefighter fighting the fires in Australia this summer.
Dana_Adele With absolutely no disrespect to my deserving colleague, I would have liked to see the Australian of the Year go to our fireys who have given everything to protect their fellow Australians.
Dana_Adele What about a flour & corn syrup tax. Muffins, bread, biscuits, pasta, rice, crackers, pizza So many carbs. My husband has an insulin pump so we count the carbs in everything. The above are dynamite for elevating blood sugar
Dana_Adele Wow, great super good on you wicked. Any sports grants awarded to your area?
Dana_Adele Advocating this won't win you any friends on the right.. hopefully they don't drag another amazing Aussie through the mud.
Dana_Adele Welp, good luck with that. Lets check in on the success of your campaign around november, shall we?
Dana_Adele I am type one diabetic. I’m athletic, not fat. I have autoimmune problem hence my type 1. I hope you will reply me. I need sugar sometimes to keep me alive. If I get low blood sugar, I need sugar drink ASAP. So I should he taxed higher for my sugar drink to keep me alive ?
Dana_Adele Well deserved. Anyone who works towards alleviating the hell of symptoms associated with Diabetes is worthy. Such a cruel condition that takes and takes and takes. From the mother of a 14 year old Type 1. 🐨👏🏻
Dana_Adele as a Yank, all i can say is BOOOOOOO!
Dana_Adele Well done. Hopefully eye surgeons will make advances in optic nerve repair in the future and do more research on stem cells and their role.
Dana_Adele Very well deserved 👏
Dana_Adele How about mental health
Dana_Adele Oooooh controversial, an educated white middle class male wins the award. You sure that’s appropriate in this day and age?
Dana_Adele Dont we pay enough fuckin taxes already ? And we all support SA enough already
Dana_Adele A tax on computers would make us healthier.
Dana_Adele Australia's Nanny Statist of the Year.
Dana_Adele Why tax it getting people who don't abuse it. Some ppl over use it like anything. Don't punish everyone for sins of the weak
sarahinthesen8 Dana_Adele Taxing sugary drinks would barely scratch the surface of diabetes, obesity, etc. Most of the products on the supermarket shelves are packed full of sugar, salt and all sorts of harmful additives.
Dana_Adele I hate it when fizzy gets in me eye 😆
sarahinthesen8 Dana_Adele How about some tax on non-sugary twin perennial pervasive curse of Australia; Racism and Misogyni as well!!
Dana_Adele That’s it , make the poor , poorer . What a champion .
Dana_Adele Get absolutely fucked
Dana_Adele Congratulations and glad that you have been chosen. Well done you are a kind human being.
Dana_Adele What?! A man?! Is that even allowed these days?
Dana_Adele Opposed to the Abbott government stance 👍🏻
srl2019 Dana_Adele Arsehole
Dana_Adele Sugar tax ? Good, good and good. How long will it take before he bangs on about climate change.
Dana_Adele Why do recipients have to ”use the award “ for a cause? Just enjoy the admiration of your fellow countrymen and women. Using the award hasn’t worked out well for previous honourees.
Dana_Adele Uninspiring
Dana_Adele Just had to be the first to announce SMH beats abc Live broadcast by 4 mins
Dana_Adele Wow
Dana_Adele Whoops. The embargo on the press release expired but they hadn’t announced it yet!
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: SBSNews - 🏆 3. / 89 Read more »
Source: SkyNewsAust - 🏆 7. / 78 Read more »
Source: SkyNewsAust - 🏆 7. / 78 Read more »
Source: abcnews - 🏆 5. / 83 Read more »
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »
Source: abcnews - 🏆 5. / 83 Read more »