Objective: To examine the awareness and perceptions of local government staff about the social determinants of health (SDoH) and health inequity and use of these ideas to shape policy and practice.Methods: 96 staff at 17 councils in South Australia or New South Wales responded to questions in a pilot online survey concerning: sources of knowledge about, familiarity with the evidence on, attitudes towards, and uses of ideas about the social determinants of health. Eight of 68 SA councils and 16 of 152 NSW councils were randomly selected stratified by state and metropolitan status. Differences between states and metropolitan/non-metropolitan status were explored. Results:The majority of respondents (88.4%) reported some familiarity with ideas about the broad determinants of health and 90% agreed that the impact of policy action on health determinants should be considered in all major government policy and planning initiatives. Research articles, government/professional reports, and professional contacts were rated as important sources of knowledge about the social determinants of health. Conclusion:Resources need to be dedicated to systematic research on practical implementation of interventions on social determinants of health inequities and towards providing staff with more practical information about interventions and tools to evaluate those interventions. Implications:The findings suggest there is support for action addressing the social determinants of health in local government. The findings extend similar research regarding SDoH and government in NZ and Canada to Australian local government.

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Background: Men’s health has been subjected to diverse approaches to research over the past two decades. Much of the literature has focused on specific medical and health issues. Other contributions have focused more broadly on masculinities and its relationship to health. It is arguable that there has not been a lot of attention paid to Australian rural men’s health and even less on their understanding of health as it relates to physical activity and dietary behavior. Objectives: To gain a better understanding of these issues this paper provides rich, descriptive qualitative data from men living on Kangaroo Island, which is 13.5 kilometres off the South Australian mainland and is regarded as a rural and remote area. Methods: Qualitative data is used to develop greater understanding of the men’s attitudes and behaviours as they relate to physical activity and dietary behaviours. The semistructured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 40 men aged between 23–64. Conclusions: The results indicated that the locality in which the men lived provided them with an excellent opportunity to be physically active and eat fresh, locally produced, foods. However, it was identified that many of the men did not have a comprehensive understanding of health and seemingly displayed low levels of health knowledge. As a result for many of these men, their physical health was left to chance. There was little evidence of any planned health promotion to assist them with making improvements to their nutrition and physical activity levels as they aged. Recommendations and population-based strategies are provided to assist men living in remote rural settings to enhance not only their health ultimately their health knowledge. This will positively impact community health.