Healthy Harold might win a reprieve

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has thrown school children favourite Healthy Harold a lifeline, saying the government will work with Life Education.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard at a Life Education launch

Education Minister Simon Birmingham has thrown school children favourite Healthy Harold a lifeline. (AAP)

Healthy Harold, a favourite with school children across the country, might have escaped the chop.

The puppet giraffe is the face of a program that teaches kids about the dangers of taking drugs and eating unhealthy food.

A federal funding agreement for Life Education Australia which runs the program ends on June 30 and wasn't renewed in the May budget.

"This is quite ... remarkable given the compelling need that exists across our community for strong, sustained and effective preventive health education," the organisation's chief executive David Ballhausen said in a statement.

Life Education said it would have run education programs for about 720,000 students by the end of June.

Labor accused the government of slashing the program without anyone noticing.

But a barrage of Twitter comments appears to have swayed the government into a rethink.

"We support #HealthyHarold & will work with Life Education Australia to ensure the funding & the program continues," Education Minister Simon Birmingham tweeted.


Share
1 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world