A proposed law aimed at banning junk food advertising to children should be extended to include pay TV and the internet, health groups say.
A bill proposed by the Australian Greens calls for bans on junk food ads on free-to-air television during programs classified as "c" or "p" for children's and preschoolers' viewing.
But Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance chairman Ian Olver said the bill should include children's programs shown on pay TV outside "c" and "p" viewing times, and the internet.
"We recognise that restrictions on unhealthy food advertising to children will not solve the obesity problem but they are an important plank of a comprehensive strategy," he told a Senate committee hearing in Canberra on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, soft drink makers say TV junk food advertising does not make kids fat.
There was no link between obesity and advertising, Australian Beverages Council chief executive Tony Gentile told a Senate committee hearing on Wednesday.
"Why regulate something where there is no proof there is a cause and effect?" he said.
Obesity rates had not fallen when advertising restrictions on junk food had been introduced elsewhere, Mr Gentile said.
