A commitment from the Federal Opposition in the Budget reply to set minimum standards for nutrition in aged care is great news for the dairy industry and warrants bi-partisan support, Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) has announced today.
An improvement in nutritional health in Australia, especially in residential aged care, and abroad, is a policy priority for ADF – the national policy and advocacy organisation representing dairy farmers – ahead of the federal election. It is one of three guiding objectives in the ADF’s 2022 Federal Election Policy Statement.
“We’ve been calling on politicians to consider how they can help resolve malnutrition in residential aged care by prescribing minimum nutritional standards for food in aged care,” ADF president Rick Gladigau says.
“Research shows that when aged care residents increase their daily intake of dairy foods from two to 3.5 serves per day the incidence of fractures and falls declines. Fractures are reduced by one-third.”
Although ADF welcomes the commitment to nutrition in residential aged care from the Opposition, it notes the Budget reply was silent on agriculture, including biosecurity, and the value of farming to the nation.
“The Budget reply did not demonstrate the importance of agriculture to Australia’s economy. It overlooked that revenue derived by agriculture is shared across the economy and by all Australians,” Mr Gladigau says.
“By contrast, the Budget from the Government, recognises that farming feeds and clothes Australians.” Importantly, it contained spending on initiatives that address two of ADF’s other policy objectives – more investment in regional development and more funding for innovation to increase sustainability and productivity.
“Policies which drive nutritional health, regional jobs and on-farm productivity and sustainability support dairy’s economic recovery and set the foundations for agriculture to grow to $100 billion by 2030,” Mr Gladigau says.
For further information, contact:
Mark Paterson
Currie
Tel: 0409 411 110