That’s sugar cane. Here in Mackay they produce over a million tons of sugar per year. “On the tropical coast of Queensland, the city of Mackay center of a prosperous district producing over a quarter of the nation’s sugar output.” Makay wasn’t just built on sugar, it’s part of the culture and a source of pride. “We lived right on the parade route.” “They’d have like big crystals of sugar as part of the float.” “All these floats went down the street, throwing up lollies to everyone, to the kids in particular. So it was a real sort of old-fashioned family fun.” The annual sugar cane cutting competition continues to be a crowd favorite. Kookaburra is a five time national champion. “When they say ‘Kookaburra’ well they know who you’re talking about.” “It was worshipped basically, the sugar industry.” “They’ve got a [expletive] sugar sign on the [expletive] roundabout on the way into Mackay.” So Mackay likes sugar. But health experts say it’s contributing to a national health crisis. Since 1990 the number of obese adults in Australia has tripled. And regional areas like Mackay are the heaviest. “People have the right to choose what they want to choose in terms of what they eat. Government really should not be trying to dictate to people how to live their lives.” That’s George Christensen. He represents this region in the Australian Parliament. “Yes, I’m probably outspoken. Some people say, use the name ‘Maverick.’ [music] I hear the train a comin’. It’s rolling around the bend. Despite its critics, sugar is a natural part of life. In moderation it plays an important role. I’ve launched a campaign to get the British science fiction TV series ‘Doctor Who Down Under.’ What do you reckon Dazza?” [robot sound] “Exterminate.” “The sugar industry has also faced a tax, putting those 40,000 direct and indirect jobs associated with the sugar industry at risk, putting the livelihoods of those 6,000 cane growers ... So this has been my home for nearly all my life. I was born here. I was raised here, and now I represent the area. My grandfather was a cane farmer. This is his farm right behind me. Or was his farm.” “I don’t remember ever being skinny, per se. I’ve always remembered myself as a bigger girl. When I was 14 I chose to undergo the bariatric sleeve gastrectomy. It was either I get this done, or there’s no point in me being here. There really isn’t.” In 2017, a group of more than 30 health care professionals and scientists called the Obesity Policy Coalition made a series of recommendations to government to lower obesity and diabetes rates. “We’ve had a 70 percent increase in children being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes just in the last four years.” Michelle Trute is part of that coalition and heads the health advocacy group Diabetes Queensland. “We have a responsibility to use everything that we have available to us to turn the obesity epidemic around. And one of them is looking at soft drink tax.” “Make no bones about it, I’m opposed to a sugar tax because I think that it demonizes a product that’s a linchpin of this area that I live in. Take the logical outcome then you’ll start doing something else to the sugar industry because you’ve already said, ‘This is a bad product, this is an evil product.’ Um, you know, ‘we need to now control it.’” To be clear, the coalition has proposed a soft-drink tax, not a sugar tax. But Christensen has a point. Sugar has been demonized in the past decade. “It’s just as harmful and deadly as tobacco and alcohol” “A new dietary villain.” “Nine and a half teaspoons.” “Five and a half kilos.” “That’s equal to 75 pounds of sugar a year.” “That’s like eating Michael Cera’s weight in sugar every single year.” But in the 1950s and ‘60s, sugar was a part of Mackay culture and everyday life. And obesity wasn’t. “If you go back to grandma’s day you know you might have had soft drink and cake when you had a birthday party or at Christmas. And even in my generation, soft drink was not in the fridge door every single week.” “I was gangly, and I gotta tell you, nearly every weekend I was cutting the stalk of cane off, and sitting there chewing it.” [music] “Hello sunshine, you’re a natural part of life.” “Sugar. It’s as natural as sunshine.” Unfortunately now we know too much sunshine is also bad for you. Of course, it’s not just soft drinks and sugar making people fat. A lot has changed since then. People are less active. Fast food is everywhere. There are many contributing factors. But from the 1960s to the 1990s soft drink consumption more than doubled in Australia. “My shop’s actually a shop for the local schools. So all the kids come down here to this shop. And yeah, we sell a lot of energy drinks and Coca-Cola to those kids. You know, if you want to buy products from from people like Coca-Cola, and what have you then when they come out with new products they expect you to put it in the fridge and push those, push those products.” Public health advocates argue that choices are heavily influenced by nonstop advertising. And among their recommendations is limiting commercials shown to children during peak TV hours. “So many decisions that have helped people change behaviors has had leadership with governments. So we’ve had smoking. We’ve had seat belts. When it comes to diet and food and things that taste great, sometimes we actually need something there that makes us think twice about it.” “I don’t think the role of government is at all to forbid people from doing ultimately what they want to do. You want to eat McDonald’s every day? That’s your choice. It’s a bad choice, but you’ve made a choice.” “You know I hate selling cigarettes, and I don’t like selling sugary drinks and food either. But, it’s what the people want. And you know, you don’t have a shop if you don’t have Coca-Cola, and you don’t have a shop If you don’t have cigarettes. Unfortunately, that’s the truth.” “Queensland politician George Christensen recently underwent a sleeve gastrectomy in Malaysia. Hi George.” “Hi. How’s it going? Good to chew the fat.” [laughter] “I had been thinking about bariatric surgery for well over a year. But I was too scared to do it. And I also thought people will think that that’s cheating. I should try to do something myself. And you know, when I told that to other people, they sort of said to me, ‘yeah, well, we didn’t want to say anything to you, but you looked pretty bad.’” Weight loss surgeries had more than doubled in the past decade, with some doctors recommending operations on children as young as 11. To date, the Australian government has rejected a soft drink tax, and has yet to implement any of the recommendations, adopting Christensen’s philosophy instead. But defending the right to eat poorly comes at a cost. With an estimated $58 billion dollars in annual health care costs related to obesity and diabetes. “Can’t ever enjoy a big meal again, mate. It’s just really limits what you eat. Yeah, anyway. One of the pleasures of life completely removed.” [laughter] Like Australia, the world is at an inflection point with an obesity crisis. And is desperate for a solution. Can Australia lead the way? Or like most of the world, will they keep eating and ask questions later?