But Mr Andrews does not see the sense in this. When asked about his view, the Premier sided with the commercial face of our global obesity epidemic rather than leading health advocates by saying that a McDonald's inside the Royal Children's Hospital was in the best interests of our community. For a number of reasons, this is dangerously misleading.

First, having a McDonald's embedded in a respected, taxpayer-funded institution like the Royal Children's Hospital does wonders for its brand power. McDonald's spent more than $1billion in 2013 alone on advertising junk food and any parent will tell you how powerful the golden arches are when children see them.

There is good research showing that having a McDonald's next to hospital clinics makes people think its food is healthier than it is and that eating it will support the hospital. On a clinical level, it is counter-productive, too. Shouldn't we be providing the best food possible to ensure a speedy recovery for our sick young patients, rather than having the very foods onsite that are fuelling the growing burden of obesity-related disease? For our government to ignore the power of this dangerous and confusing message is naive and irresponsible.

Second, the public health community does not use the word "crisis" lightly. We are not in the business of grandiose statements. But when one in four Australian kids and two-thirds of Australian adults are overweight or obese, we do have a crisis. Obesity costs us $21 billion a year directly and $35 billion indirectly – a tab that all taxpayers must all pick up. In an age when we have less and less to spend on education, healthcare and public infrastructure, doesn't it make good economic sense to support measures that plug this fiscal hole?

Finally, Mr Andrews argues that he and the health community have no role influencing what parents eat or feed their children. But that is precisely the role the government must take on. McDonald's spends billions of dollars on advertising for a reason: to influence parents and their children and encourage them to eat at its stores. Counteracting this persuasive influence is about the public good.