Fast food to remain tax free: Plibersek The government has denied planning a "fat tax" to discourage people from eating fast food. FAST food will not attract a "fat tax" and the government will instead rely on education in Australia's battle against obesity. Health Minister Tanya Plibersek on Monday denied a study by the government-funded Australian National Preventive Health Agency was a step toward a takeaway tax. The research project, costing a reported $463,000, will ask the public to give feedback on paying more for fast food, with a "citizen's jury" to debate the issue next week in Brisbane. "We have decided to actively educate and encourage Australians to adopt and maintain a healthy diet rather than to legislate," says a statement issued by Ms Plibersek's office on Monday. Speaking against the introduction of a fat tax, opposition health spokesman Peter Dutton has called for the research to be scrapped to save taxpayer dollars. "Minister Plibersek appears to have also ruled out adding this tax to Labor's catalogue of other imposts on Australian families, so the Australian National Preventive Health Agency should save the hundreds of thousands of dollars this proposal would cost," Mr Dutton said in a statement.