Bronzed-Aussie image at risk

It is the enduring postcard image of Australia - young, fit, bronzed bodies soaking up the endless sun on one of the country's many unspoilt beaches.

The reality however could be starkly different.

A truer picture soon could be of elderly, overweight Aussies struggling through the sand with their walking frames as the nation's waistlines expand and forecasts show one-quarter of the population will be aged over 65 by 2045.

It is a prediction that set alarm bells ringing after the Government's Productivity Commission predicted a fiscal gap of A$2200 billion ($2345 billion) over the next four decades unless Government policy began to address the nation's ageing.

"If you can have children it's a good thing to do," Treasurer Peter Costello said this year when he released the Budget, urging Australian couples to have "one for your husband, one for your wife and one for your country".

"Go home and do your patriotic duty tonight."

Australians doing their duty could also help improve another problem weighing on the nation's economy - the National Health and Medical Research Council estimates about eight million Australians are overweight or obese.

The sports-mad nation, known for its international dominance in rugby, cricket and netball, is now challenging the United States for the title of the world's fattest nation.

Although difficult to estimate, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that overweight and obese people cost the country more than A$1.2 billion in 2000/01.

"The excess calories are piling up and too many Australians are getting bigger in all the wrong places," Australian Medical Association President Bill Glasson said.

"Obesity will take lives and destroy the quality of life for the next generation of Australians if we do not act now. We have to get Aussie kids and adults eating properly ... we have to get everyone off their bums and doing some exercise."

Glasson said statistics showed more than half of Australian adults and nearly one-third of children are overweight or obese.

A study of Australia's general practitioners found one-third of people visiting doctors were overweight and more than a quarter of patients were over 65 in 2003/04, placing an increasing strain on the health system.

The Government has formed an Obesity Taskforce to coordinate a national agenda to tackle the growing problem.

In June, the Government unveiled a plan to tackle obesity by providing children with more after-school sporting activities, requiring schools to give students at least two hours of physical education a week and developing healthy canteen menus.

"Australia is a paradox when it comes to physical activity. There is nothing binds us together as a nation quite like our love of sport. Yet we have alarmingly high levels of obesity," said Prime Minister John Howard.

Howard, a spry 65, sets a cracking pace for the nation and is renowned for his brisk morning walk in which he often leaves others in his wake.

When it comes to tackling the ageing population, Howard has also set another trend the Government would like to see followed - working until they are 65 and not retiring early.

The Productivity Commission has forecast that workforce participation rates will drop to 55.4 per cent by 2044/45 from 2003/04 rates of 63.5 per cent, curbing labour supply growth and gross domestic product growth.

"When the aged pension was introduced back in the 1920s and you get the aged pension at 65 for men, life expectancy was 67, so the aged pension was thought to guarantee you an income for two years," Costello said. "Life expectancy now is about 85 so that is 20 years in retirement ... My message is we should encourage people to stay in the workforce until 65."

- REUTERS