CANBERRA (Reuters) - With one in four Australian children now tipping the scales at overweight or obese, the Australian government on Tuesday unveiled a package designed to get children off the couch and stop them eating junk food.
The number of fat Australian children has trebled in the past 20 years in a trend reflecting international patterns, with the United States and Britain facing similar obesity problems.
Prime Minister John Howard, an avid walker who is expected to call a close-run election within months, set aside A$116 million ($81 million) over four years to tackle rising childhood obesity that will heavy on the nation's medical bill in years ahead.
"The paradox of this sports-loving nation becoming increasingly less mobile and increasingly more obese is something that today's launch is designed to challenge," Howard said.
The money will fund after-school sporting activities for about 150,000 children and give grants to community organisations linked to schools that encourage healthy eating and shun greasy beefburgers, sugary drinks, and other foods high in fat.
Howard said education authorities would also be required to ensure schools include at least two hours of physical activity a week for primary and junior high school students in order to receive funding from the national government.
Figures show about 60 percent of the 20 million Australians are overweight or obese, over double the rate 20 years ago, with obesity costing health authorities A$1.2 billion in 2000.
This included about 1.5 million Australians aged under 18, putting them at risk of preventable conditions such as type-2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and stroke.
But Howard rejected demands from opposition Labor to ban fast-food advertising during children's television shows, not wanting to irk the powerful media industry as his conservative government seeks a fourth term after over eight years in power.
Such a ban could cost the television networks an estimated A$200 million -- or seven percent of their total revenue base.
"Parents will continue to play the primary role in bringing up their children," said Howard, who has dismissed Labor's proposed advertising ban as a "nanny state" plan.
Labor leader Mark Latham, who has put the centre-left party neck-and-neck with the government in polls this year, backed Howard's obesity plan but again repeated his calls for a ban on junk food advertising during children's programmes.
Latham, 43, who has two young sons, said parents needed as much help as possible when it came to healthy lifestyle choices.
"If we can eliminate the power of advertising we are doing something to help the parents with this issue of childhood obesity," Latham told Australian radio.
Australia's leading medical lobby group, the Australian Medical Association, welcomed the government's package and urged similar moves to combat obesity among older teenagers and adults.
"Obesity is a national emergency that requires a whole of government approach," said AMA President Bill Glasson.