Dietitians Australia is calling for a major national rethink of how nutrition is supported across the country, urging coordinated structural change to better support Australians to achieve and sustain good nutrition.

Dietitians Australia is urging all candidates contesting the South Australian election to pledge their commitment to better equipping the State's Early Childhood Education and Care sector with the tools, knowledge and support needed to guarantee safe and nutritious food for children in care.

Dietitians Australia is welcoming the Australian Government’s commitment to taking a comprehensive approach to addressing food insecurity, following confirmation that the Feeding Australia Strategy will adopt the internationally recognised definition of food security.

Dietitians Australia responded to the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing’s consultation on Improving Safeguards for People with Disability, making 12 recommendations to introduce and strengthen safeguards in relation to nutrition under the pillars of capacity building and empowerment of people with disability, optimising workforce and service delivery, harm prevention and systems integration and coordination.

Dietitians Australia’s response to the Food Regulation Standing Committee’s consultation on the Policy guideline for information requirements for prepackaged food sold online, included strong support for the development of the policy guideline. We made 9 recommendations, among them calling for mandating online labelling equivalent to instore requirements, including nutrition panels, ingredients, allergens, country of origin, alcohol warnings, and any future mandatory arrangements such as HSR.

Dietitians Australia responded to the Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s (FSANZ) preliminary position paper on the Nutrition Information Panel (NIP) Review.

As part of our response to the NDIS Evidence Advisory Committee’s Specific Supports review of smart home (cooking and blending) appliances, Dietitians Australia called for the NDIS’s ongoing endorsement of these appliances as funded supports under the NDIS and to ensure participants have funded access where these appliances are needed.

Dietitians Australia acknowledges today’s announcement to list Wegovy on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) for people living with established cardiovascular disease and obesity.

Dietitians Australia calls on the government to recognise dietitians and nutrition support as a cornerstone of the design and delivery of the Thriving Kids initiative. In this submission, Dietitians Australia make a suite of recommendations to ensure autistic children and children with developmental delays have early and ongoing access to essential nutrition support.

With the new Aged Care Act now officially in effect, nutrition and the expertise of accredited practising dietitians are now deeply enshrined in Australian aged care law for the very first time.