It is really a big shame that there has not been a concentrated effort, to reduce all forms of violence, not just violence against women. We don't tolerate violence against women, so why should we tolerate violence against men.

Even violence that does not result in death, but acquired brain injury can leave the victim physical and mentally disabled. With the associated consequences.

Rudd has nothing to be congratulated for in this, he's just engaging in some cheap grandstanding. Once we confront inequality, and the fact that him and his state mates have actively fostered a motoring culture at the expense of public transport [and likely more physical activity] then we will actually start achieving something. Hundreds of kilometres of new urban freeways and bypasses nationally and dozens of broken mass transit promises. Its not the well-off who are the sickest these days in case you haven't really noticed, its the poorest who are usually the sickest.

What good is the Ministers form if we fill it in... and then we have to post it to the department?

We are here now.

Its poor government and half-hearted in the very least.

If we want a healthier, stronger nation we have to overcome the spiritual weaknesses in the men.

Modern youth wanders like greedy children occupied with self and all the pleasures.
I read a story some years ago by a lady reporter and she was saying that she really believed that the last of the REAL men were those who fought in WW2.

She was so entirely right.

The men have gone pansy and all the while China and Indonesia build their military forces.

Lets concentrate on strengthening their morality and their spiritual strength (a good,long dose of the Holy Bible) and lets stop worrying about their bodily functions...their prostates and their sex life.

In a few years they will be under greater threat than that.

Gibo, matters of health need a science and evidence-based approach. Apart from the need to eat healthy, increase physical activity, cease smoking and reduce alcohol consumption, evidence also links inequality to poor health outcomes.

We do not need supernatural belief or superstition to make people well, its not proven to work. My family's religious and it doesn't make them kind, generous or merciful (christians claim that they have god's love and god is merciful bla blah etc).

Transsexual.

Supernatural belief works for me.

Im better off as a born again christian than a non-believer.

Longterm unemployed, suicidal and drinking frequently... Jesus saved me right out of that:)

Ive never been morally stronger since I taken on His Grace in personal commitment and adopted His Bible as my stardard.

Good gracious Mr West, you had to work hard to get that bitch swipe in against four wheel drives!

We have a LandCruiser turbo diesel. It has the same footprint on the road as a Falcon sedan and uses less fuel than the most Commodores on the road and certainly much less than the large sedans given to senior public servants as part of their packages or used to ferry politicians.

It is also environmentally responsible to drive a turbo diesel, which is economical and produces far less noxious gases than petrol engines.

We bought the LandCruiser because with three teens, the poorly designed rear seat and tail shaft hump of the 'Aussie' sedans made traveling intolerable for the rear seat passengers. Why don't you clamber into the middle position of the second seat of a Falcon or Commodore and try it for yourself. It is a good bet you wouldn't last ten kms without the most awful cramps. Try the driving seat of a Falcon - which has excruciating and impossible ergonomics for a taller driver. The other reasons for a LandCruiser included recreational pursuits and carrying a family's luggage.

After reading your snipe at four wheel drives - a good example of playing to the latte-sipping chatterati - it came as no surprise that the remainder of what you had to say was just as superficial and populist. Now that is a real shame, but it is probably in keeping with the Labor government's attitude to men.

However you were right to say that (the great majority of) women respect and care for their menfolk. Most women are wondering, as are men, why the policy is restricted to health and why a man like Jeff Kennett wasn't chosen to head it.

Once all side streets were turned into obstacle courses with speed humps and chicanes, 4WDs were the logical result for city driving.

Having said that, I find them annoying because they are very safe vehicles for those who travel in them, and deadly dangerous for those in collisions with them (pedestrians and lower height cars) and those who cant see ahead or through them when turning (Isn't that why they banned super dark window tinting?).

I predict once 4WDs make up at least 4 of every 5 vehicles, monster trucks will make an appearance.

Houellebecq

Ha, ha, great idea, put everyone into a Hyundai Getz so you don't feel inadequate.

What views do you have on the subject article concerning the government's health initiative for men?

'What views do you have on the subject article concerning the government's health initiative for men?'

Yawn. As with all government 'initiatives'.

The issue of 4WDs is much more interesting.

Actually the only note I would make is that I see a patronising tone whenever mens health is discussed.

Houellebecq "Actually the only note I would make is that I see a patronising tone whenever mens health is discussed."

Ah, but this time it will go one better with men being at fault for their own ill-health. They will be admonished to maintain more healthy lifestyles and to an extent that is a good thing. However there would be a scream of outrage if the government's only response to breast cancer and women's health issues was a brochure, 'Go and do better, or change your genes'.

It is a slap in the face for men that the federal government has not appointed an eminent man to head the initiative. There is no doubt whatsoever that men have been socialised not to expect support and to carry their own pain and injury. It is absolutely crucial to have credible, practical male leadership to have any hope of change. Nicola Roxon would have to have been a recent arrival from another planet not to be aware of this. It has been a consistent finding after all.

So where is the Major-General Stretton or the Jeff Kennett to take up the reins of leadership? How 'real' is Kevin Rudd when he doesn't think the task requires more than a questionnaire (doubtless the results and solutions are already to hand) and brochures (the health bureaucrats already knew what was needed) exhorting men to get their act together.

Good!
TOo much commentry about men's health falls into the the convenient trap of "blaming the victim".

Meen need support, not criticism.

Well, there you go, I would have though men would have picked this up and run with it, men's health historically receiving the paucity of funding that it does.

Then again, maybe men have become so used to getting the short end of the stick that they accept it as their lot.

That is a pity because there are many, many women and children who would like their husbands and dads to be around for a fit and healthy old age and even a bit more attention to regular health screening could help with that.

The men are all too busy arguing with the feminists on feminist topics.

It's a strange phenomenon. It may be as you suggest. 'Maybe men have become so used to getting the short end of the stick that they accept it as their lot. '

Or maybe men just don't actually believe anything will ever really be done. It seems to be the consensus, that until the voices of victim feminists are drowned out nobody will ever listen to any initiative directed at improving men's lives.

'That is a pity because there are many, many women and children who would like their husbands and dads to be around for a fit and healthy old age'

Interesting you frame the importance of men's health in relation to how it may affect women and children. Maybe that's the most telling argument here, as I suggested above.

I remember the first time AGW got some traction was when an economist said it might cost us money. Also I remember the Dads groups started getting somewhere with the CSA when they were backed by the disgruntled second wives.

I've just found this article. Interesting that at least there is acknowledgement for the issue - thats a start.

The article seemed to be a smattering of bit's and pieces around mens health (with a swipe at 4WD's tossed in as already noted). Idea's for policy discussion.

I'll run with that and toss in some of my idea's and thoughts.

It might help is to reduce the time many workers need to spend commuting (and free it up for other healthier activities).

How many jobs really need everybody to commute into a CBD location to go to an office tower (where the stairs cannot be used between floors) and talk to clients on the phone. A lot of those jobs could easily be moved to suburban hub's saving a lot of commuting time for employee's, saving expensive city rents for employers and cutting back on much of the transport bottlenecks being experienced in many of our major cities.

Significant improvements on bikeways could make riding to and from work more viable (I can do it in about the same time as the train trip but some sections don't have a bikeway or other options which keeps cyclists away from trucks.

Redirect the public money which goes into professional sport into support for healtier eating and recreational activities with good health outcomes for participants.

Perhaps better funding options for medical procedures to fix injuries which make exercise harder. An example being knee surgery which is not covered by the medicare safety net for medical expenses because it involves being checked into a hospital. People with crook knee's will struggle to maintain a workable exercise reigem.

R0bert

RObert

Much of what is proposed deals with symptoms, not causes. I suggest that a much more fundamental approach is needed. Men, not women (although their comments could be valuable in due course) need to sit down together and look at how society defines masculinity and whether that is something that helps, or hinders, boys and men.

There is a huge area to look at, for example risk taking seems to be a necessary and enjoyable part of being a male, but in that respect our modern western society seems to have regulated most opportunities for boys to be boys (and men to be men) out of existence. That cannot be healthy for men and obviously it isn't when one considers the injury and death of young men from taking risks (say) with cars, when they should be out there testing themselves in the wild.

Anyway, these comments are just jottings and it is for men to complete the canvas. I am just suggesting that patch some gaps and spraying a lacquer over what already exists squanders a superb opportunity for men to dig a little deeper (to mix metaphors) for the benefit of their sons and themselves.

I would like to repeat though that for men to participate in the government's health initiative it is crucial that there be leadership by a well known and respected man.