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There are many different reasons for being obese. Eating is the most logical one and eating can be an addiction just like smoking. Other reasons might be hormone dis-balance, certain medication and others.
I think the laws in Australia resembles the ones in the Netherlands to a certain levels. Smoking here is prohibited in a lot of locations as well. Public places, governmental buildings, restaurants, cafes, hotels, you name it. Basically your working area needs to be smoke-free. Some restaurants/cafes have a dedicated smoking room. A closed/sealed room with special equipment for removing the smoke. There is talk about also prohibiting smoking outside or at least restrict the areas as well. For example waiting lines for amusementparcs.
Now, there is a lot of debate about the health care. Of course smokers pay taxes and there are a lot of additional taxes on tobacco. Some say that smokers that the additional health care they need is covered by the additional taxes (aka the smokers), others say they cost more than the additional taxes deliver (aka the non-smokers). Both have of course statistical data to prove they are right. Basically you see the same discussion popping up for obese. There it is a little more difficult, as there might (a small percentage though) be a chance that it is caused by medical reasons. Additional taxes will be placed on unhealthy food (soda's and other fat/sugar rich product). However, healthy food is still much more expensive in a way.
Anyway, this will be a very ethical discussions and will cause a lot of debate where there are only losers to be honest. For most people it is very hard to beat an addiction, for others it is much easier. For me, I am relatively happy with our health care system. It is not cheap (we like to complain), but it is good and affordable. I do see issues for the future with the people getting older all the time and the lowering of the birth rate. That will have a negative effect on keeping it affordable.
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