Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Chisholm for her question. I know that it is an area that she has been concerned with, being particularly interested in the health of young women in a range of different areas. We believe that binge drinking is a community-wide problem and deserves a community-wide response. We think that young people are particularly at risk and we know that alcopops are used to hook them on drinking when they are young. In fact, research shows that many young people cannot detect the taste of alcohol when it is combined with either sweet mixers or milk, which we know is exactly how these products are used to get young people interested in drinking and hooked for a long time. We are not prepared, as a government, to stand by and just let the increase in alcohol consumption in the community continue.

The Rudd government is taking a range of steps to tackle this problem through the implementation of our $53 million National Binge Drinking Strategy. This is going to involve parents, community organisations, sporting clubs and an advertising and education campaign, which we know and hope will make a significant difference in slowing the growth of alcohol consumption amongst young people.

We have also, as the House is aware, moved to close the previous tax loophole on ready-to-drink products. This was a loophole that was opened up in 2000 by the previous government. It is a loophole that makes no sense because it treats alcopops differently to other spirits and it has led to an explosion in young women in particular drinking these products. I was initially pleased to hear, when we announced this measure, that the Leader of the Opposition was going to support it. On the first day that the measure was announced, the Leader of the Opposition—we welcomed it; he was out of the blocks—said:

The proposed increase in the excise on alcopops is something that will be supported by us …

Only days later the Leader of the Opposition changed his mind and called this an outrageous tax binge on ready mixed drinks. Last night, the Leader of the Opposition confirmed, his U-turn obviously complete, that the Liberals will be opposing this measure in the Senate. Even though he knows 20,000 young women under 15 every week are now drinking to risky levels, the Liberal Party want to stand by and not do anything about it. There has been a lot of discussion in the parliament and elsewhere about this measure over recent days. I think there is an important bit of information that this House should have.

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