Richard Beddie: ExerciseNZ CEO on the report finding inactivity is costing the public health system $600 million a year

Politicians are being urged to pay more attention to our exercise workforce as a way of easing health system demand. 

ExerciseNZ's proposing all parties consider compulsory registration for exercise professionals, removing the fringe benefit tax from employer-supported exercise, and using exercise professionals to help with ACC rehabilitation.  

CEO Richard Beddie says they also want any future government to make one-hour daily school exercise mandatory. 

He says physical inactivity costs the public health system $600 million a year. 

Beddie told Mike Hosking GLP-1s are helping to address obesity, but they don’t address the underlying issue of inactivity, which is what’s driving all the big health costs and shortening lives. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
New plan from Exercise New Zealand for us this morning.
We're not active enough, of course, so they want an
hour a day in school. Some tax and Center was
in a bigger role for exercise and a sec rehab
so us, you know, getting fat basically cost the health
system six hundred million plus a year two point three
billion in lost productivity. Anyway, Richar Biddy is the Exercise
New Zealand boss and he's back with us. Richard Morning,
good morning. Won't golp ones fix them all?

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, not enough, because the problem is GP one will
help to address obesity, but it doesn't acally address the
underlying issue of inactivity, and so the health cost associated
with inactivity are still massive. And there's actually almost read
hearing with ob city. Obesity is part of the problem,
it's not the main problem. The main problem is actually
in activity, and that's the thing that's driving all the

(00:43):
big health costs. And it's what you know, it actually
it actually shortens life, you know, that's the other thing.
But when we're talking about tax we're talking about the
tax to us, the cost of us as tax payers
six hundred million we take, we've wasted money.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
And we don't have an hour in schools. Would most
schools not argue they get kids out that lunchtime and
run around and do a bit of that, or are
we're just sitting on our phones all day?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well, the only one there is that what we're asking
for is for the current policy to be enforced, because
that's the guideline has And so that's probably what shocked
most useyanders. So forty percent of kids do not meet
the WHO guidelines of sixty minutes a day, and that
member that counts anything. So running around and playing counts
as that. But sadly we have almost half of children

(01:23):
in zeand don't need it, and so we're just saying
it needs to be enforced. And there's really good evidence
that actually if you do that, academic performance goes up.
So this isn't a case of sort of either or
this is a case of let's do the right things,
let's get it right at children's level, and then all
the way through to the tax system.

Speaker 1 (01:39):
Does the ACC not do it? I mean, are they
all about massage and rubdowns and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Well, ACC, particularly if we look at sort of the
traditional rehab model, which is if you go to the
likes of the physiotherapist. They may give you exercises, they
generally will not pay for you to do those exercises
each time because that's too expensive. But we have a
and able workforce like personal trainers that could help work
alongside physios. And to be blunt, we're actually really cost

(02:07):
effective compared with ociotherapists. So we're not saying replace them,
we're saying work alongside them, and it would increase the
efficacy of the intervention in the first place. So this
is all actually, let's use exercise, but it actually saves
us money. It's not about it's costing us money. It's
saving money in the long term.

Speaker 1 (02:22):
Well, I wish you the best with it and I
hope it works. Richard Biddy, who's the Exercise in New
Zealand CEO.

Speaker 2 (02:26):
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