While the "prevention and management of overweight and obesity" agenda may have appeared to many observers as a new issue in 2003, its arrival was preceded by several years of intensive work. The NHMRC had released Acting on Australia's Weight: Strategic plan for the prevention of overweight and obesity in 1997 [10] , the same year the ABS published the findings from the 1995 National Nutrition Survey, revealing that 45% of men and 29% of women in Australia were overweight, with an additional 18% of men and women classified as obese [11] . Furthermore, overweight and obesity were more common in lower socio-economic groups, in rural populations, in some immigrant groups, and in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) peoples.