The Built Environment Must Be Central to Tasmania’s 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy
What if our streets, schools, homes, parks, and workplaces could help us feel healthier every single day, without even thinking about it?
That’s the powerful idea behind Tasmania’s 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy, currently under development by the Department of Health.
With health spending now accounting for 34% of Tasmania’s total operating budget, the state is investing nearly $10 million every day into its health system, totaling $14.5 billion over the next four years to meet increasing demand and deliver essential services. This investment underscores the urgency of prioritizing preventive health, particularly through shaping the built environment where more than 70% of health outcomes are determined outside hospitals and clinics.
There is also an additional $880 million over four years specifically allocated to meet growing demand on health services, including elective surgeries and mental health precincts, the time to prioritise prevention is now. This strategy is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to shape the future of health in Tasmania, and industry has a vital role to play.
The Built Environment: A Cornerstone of Preventive Health
The built environment, including homes, public spaces, transport networks, and infrastructure, plays a critical role in supporting physical activity, mental wellbeing, social connection, and resilience. This is especially true in regional areas like Northwest Tasmania, where socioeconomic challenges and limited access to healthy food and physical activity resources contribute to higher rates of obesity and chronic disease.
Tasmania’s 20-Year Preventive Health Strategy aligns with broader frameworks like the UN Sustainable Development Goals and Australia’s National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030. Nationally, Australia has seen positive trends such as a decline in adult daily smoking from 13.8% in 2017-18 to 10.6% in 2022 and increased physical activity participation among adults. However, challenges remain, with obesity rates stable at around 32% of adults and some dietary indicators, like fruit consumption, declining. Tasmania’s strategy aligns with the National Preventive Health Strategy 2021–2030 to address these issues comprehensively.
Walkable neighbourhoods, green spaces, accessible transport, active design in schools and workplaces, safe housing, and vibrant community hubs aren’t just good planning, they’re powerful public health tools. These features support physical activity, mental wellbeing, social connection, and resilience, particularly for those most vulnerable.
In regional areas like Northwest Tasmania there is a higher prevalence of obesity and chronic illness that has been linked to socioeconomic disadvantages and inequitable access to physical activity infrastructure and healthy food options. Designing built environments that address these inequities by improving access to walkable neighborhoods, green spaces, and community facilities is vital.
A Call to the Industry: Your Expertise Is Needed
The Hon Roger Jaensch, Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing, invites urban planners, architects, developers, engineers, designers, and community builders to contribute their expertise to this once-in-a-generation strategy. Whether based in Tasmania or beyond, your insights are vital to creating environments that make the healthy choice the easy choice.
The call is for those who shape the built environment to help design a Tasmania where good health is built in from the ground up. What’s working in your community? Where are the gaps? How can infrastructure better support long-term wellbeing?
This is not just a health strategy or list of programs. It’s a blueprint for systemic change with ongoing health intelligence to monitor progress and adapt interventions for a stronger, more resilient Tasmania economically, socially, and environmentally.
Get Involved: Upcoming Online Forum
Having recently concluded regional forums, the Department of Health is seeking final public consultation. This is an opportunity to shape the Strategy, share practical insights, and ensure the built environment is placed where it belongs - at the heart of the conversation.
- Mon, 14 Jul 2025
- 13:00 - 14:30 (UTC+10:00) Hobart
- Register here
Download the discussion paper: www.health.tas.gov.au/20-year-preventive-health-strategy
Questions or contributions? Email: consultation@health.tas.gov.au
