News
The Collection
The Collection is about forward thinking – connecting people, research and action to combat weight stigma and transform society together.
Discover the latest news, research and inspiring stories from our members, and others, who are transforming the way we respond to obesity.
Welcome to the ‘Actions Hub’!
Introducing "The Actions Hub" by The Obesity Collective! Whether you represent yourself, your organization, or your community, there are a range of ways that you can contribute to positive systems changes. These actions align with the three Ambitions of the National...
Response to Inquiry into Diabetes
We have submitted a response to the The House of Representatives Standing Committee on Health, Aged Care and Sport inquiry into diabetes. The focus of our response is on Terms of Reference points 4 and 5 which explore obesity and the effectiveness of action through...
Response to The Conversation: “Should GPs bring up a patient’s weight in consultations about other matters? We asked 5 experts.”
The Conversation posted an article last week, titled "Should GPs bring up a patient’s weight in consultations about other matters? We asked 5 experts." Our stigma expert group drafted a response to this. It is an important topic but one that requires nuance and...
Past Consultation Submissions
The Collective often develops and issues statements and consultation feedback. In our typical process, our core team works on a draft which is then circulated for comments and feedback from our teams of advisers before it is finalised, and submitted or published....
Fueling Healthy Communities: Fuel to Go & Play
Creating supportive and sustainable environments plays a crucial role in promoting healthier eating habits and overall wellbeing. Both the National Obesity Strategy and the National Prevention Strategy emphasize the importance of food environments, and as...
Promoting Healthy Communities: The Family Food Patch Food Truck Initiative
Promoting positive nutrition and overall health helps to establish supportive and healthier environments. The significance of food environments is underscored by both the National Obesity Strategy and the National Prevention Strategy. Thankfully, there exist...
The One Box: Nurturing Healthy Environments through Accessible Nutrition
Creating supportive and healthier environments is vital for promoting positive nutrition and overall health. Both the National Obesity Strategy and the National Prevention Strategy emphasize the importance of food environments, and as advocates, we are continually...
Response to consultation: Measuring What Matters – Australia’s wellbeing framework
We applaud the Australian government for developing the Measuring What Matters wellbeing framework. This is a progressive step towards measuring progress through wellbeing indicators in addition to traditional macroeconomic indicators such a GDP. It represents a real...
Social media – providing our members an advocacy platform
We are inviting our new members to join us on social media for a new campaign, #TOCmember Social media is a powerful tool we can use for social change. We've initiated the #TOCmember campaign because many members have asked us how they can spread the word about the...
Feedback submission – Draft National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy
Stigma and discrimination create significant barriers to high-quality healthcare and can negatively impact the mental and physical health of individuals. The National Stigma and Discrimination Reduction Strategy aims to address this issue in Australia by implementing...
World Obesity Day 2023
Monday 6th March, 1:00pm-2:30pm AEST (Online) To mark World Obesity Day, and due to popular demand, we hosted our fourth annual Rapid Talks series on Monday 6th March 2023. The theme this year was Changing Perspectives: Let’s talk about obesity. Misconceptions...
Prevention and treatment are both essential, neither will work alone
There has been a sustained media focus on obesity over the past few months. This has mostly been a step in the right direction, with increased reporting on the lived experience perspective, the systemic issues and biological drivers associated with obesity. However,...
Clinical Practice Guidelines for the management of Overweight and Obesity
We are thrilled that Australia’s clinical practice guidelines for the management of obesity are being updated! Australia’s previous clinical guidelines were first published in 2010 and were rescinded in 2018, leaving clinicians without guidelines or a framework of...
Trying to change the narrative in the media
At the Collective, we regularly receive media requests, which offer important opportunities to raise awareness of the science and reality of obesity and directly speak about the harms of stigma. Recently there has been a lot of interest in a GLP-1 agonist treatment...
A Centre for Disease Control submission
The Department of Health and Aged Care invited us to participate in a consultation workshop and provide written feedback on the Discussion Paper for the new Australian Centre for Disease Control (CDC). A Centre for Disease Control is a necessary development for...
Collective Engagement for Social Purpose podcast
Tiffany Petre, the Director of the Obesity Collective was a recent guest on the Collective Engagement for Social Purpose podcast series. The episode on the Obesity Collective launched in December and highlights the origins of the Obesity Collective, how the Collective...
Feedback submission – Queensland Obesity Prevention Strategy
Health and Wellbeing Queensland recently released their draft Queensland Obesity Prevention strategy (2023-2032) and Strengthen (2023-2025) Action Plan for public consultation. Health and Wellbeing Queensland and the Queensland government took a leadership role in the...
Weight stigma in the media
There has been a lot of media focused on weight stigma in the last few months, off the back of the Public Health Research and Practice paper on weight stigma, led by our Weight Stigma Expert group. It has been a great opportunity to highlight some of the key messages...
Research Australia report on Obesity
Research Australia has launched the report Australian Obesity Research: Global leadership and local change. The report looks at the challenge, current research for obesity, the high calibre talent in the country and opportunities to create greater community outcomes....
Health and Wellbeing Queensland Symposia 2022
We were grateful to be invited to attend and speak at the Health and Wellbeing Queensland Symposia 2022 in November. It was an opportunity to celebrate the great work of this organisation and the commitment from the Queensland government to invest in the community’s...
Strengthening Medicare Taskforce submission
We recently submitted a letter to the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce, outlining the urgent and critical need for better healthcare pathways, funding, and tools to support clinicians and health consumers with conversations about obesity and health. There is a...