Celebrity Chef Jamie Oliver is urging the Australian government to follow the UK's "bold and brave move" and put a sugar tax on soft drinks as a way to combat childhood obesity and support the people's overall health.  UK Chancellor George Osborne surprised many by unveiling a new spending plan with the sugar tax, which he says will raise an annual 500 Million Pounds - almost a Billion Australian dollars.

"I am not prepared to look back at my time here in this parliament doing this job, and say to my children’s generation, 'I'm sorry, we knew there was a problem with sugary drinks, we knew it caused disease, but we ducked the difficult decisions and we did nothing'," said Mr. Osborne.

The tax on sugary drinks would take effect in two years.  It would apply one rate to beverages that contain more than 5 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters.  A higher rate would apply to Drinks with more than 8 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters.  In addition to Osborne's goal to "put the next generation first", it's hoped that the tax would inspire soft drink companies to cut back on the sugar in their products - although the British Soft Drinks Association already branded the tax "absurd".

Jamie Oliver has long been a proponent of such a tax.  He celebrated by posting a video to his Facebook page in which he urged Australia, Canada, and Germany to join what he calls a "food revolution".

"It's about time your governments got on this," said Mr. Oliver.  "Australia, pull your finger out."

The idea might get support from the Greens, whose leader Richard Di Natale calls it a "really interesting proposal".

"Why can't we have a tax, that we know what it does is discourage unhealthy choices from people, and that money could be reinvested back into the health system?" Mr. Di Natale told the ABC.