Melbourne, April 7 (IANS): Paedophiles in Australia are being turned away from under-funded government rehabilitation centres and need better rehabilitation programmes, a spokesperson of a leading group against sexual assault said on Tuesday.

Centres Against Sexual Assault spokesperson Carolyn Worth said its affiliates around Victoria state in southeast Australia receive phone calls from past offenders and people seeking help for sexual fantasies about children, but they have to be turned away due to the issues not falling under the centres' jurisdiction, Xinhua news agency reported.

Worth told Fairfax Media that the state must set up rehabilitation programmes for existing paedophiles and those who fear they might commit sexual assault against minors.

Currently, those that seek help are referred to private psychiatrists which are often expensive and not subsidized by the government.

As a result, Worth said, offenders were not following up on seeking help for one of the most prevalent issues currently plaguing society.

"Our response is somewhat inadequate at the moment, which is to say 'If you've got any money we can send you to private (psychiatrists) but if you haven't, then it's more of a problem'," she told Fairfax Media.

"A percentage will go on to offend and you don't want that to start happening. You don't want to increase the number of victims if you're in a position to be able to stop it."

Worth said there was a lack of services available to those who wanted to curb the issue, but could not afford to.

She said that by stopping the problem before if affected other people, the government would save money usually spent on counselling the victims and rehabilitating the perpetrators.

"There needs to be state funding for adult programmes because once you've got an adult who is offending, they will have a lot of victims," Worth said.

"At one level, it is cost-saving to treat them before they get to the point of offending, and then having to provide services for victims to deal with what's happened to them."

Worth said a proactive approach instead of a reactive one was the key to reducing sexual violence in Australia.

A Victorian government spokesperson said on Tuesday that the cabinet was seeking to implement a proactive early identification and prevention scheme, but it would take time.

"It would require consideration and coordination across a number of portfolios, including health, human services, justice and police," the spokesperson said.