Australian and New Zealand Ministers have now locked in crucial improvements to the Health Star Rating (HSR) System
https://foodregulation.gov.au/internet/fr/publishing.nsf/Content/forum-communique-2020-July17 This thread summarises several of the key changes and highlights some missed opportunities @healthstarsau

The changed algorithm for calculating health stars will now be stricter on sodium and sugar. This will mean the rating of a number of disretionary foods that are high in sodium and sugar will go down. Several public health groups argued the changes should have gone further though

Fresh and minimally processed fruit and vegetables will now automatically get 5 stars. This will provide increased opportunity to promote consumption of these products and is a win for public health.

Fruit juices (including 100% pure fruit juices) will no longer be able to score 5 stars. This will improve alignment with the Dietary Guidelines and improve trust in the system.

Several other changes will reduce the HSR of discretionary foods, including icy poles and other desserts, and increase the rating of foods recommended by the Dietary Guidelines. It is a shame no changes were made to the way protein content is 'rewarded' in the system.

The part of the system that allowed only the 'energy icon' to be displayed (rather than the actual Health Stars) has now been removed. This will help reduce consumer confusion.

The goverance of the system will be drastically improved - this will improve transparency and government leadership in the next phase of implementation. It will also pave the way for making the system mandatory in the future.

As expected, the system remains voluntary. While targets for uptake have now been set, the target of 50% overall uptake in 3 years' time is likely to be meaningless for an individual food company.

It's critical that the government considers ways to incentivise each company to adopt the HSR system on their full range of eligible products. This is an area where innovation and strong government leadership is needed. The credible threat of mandatory regulation will help.

While there are clear missed opportunities, if one adopts a long-term view of food regulation, these changes to the system are positive, are likely to lead to improvements in Australia and NZ food environments, and should be celebrated.