Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

There has been an increase in the use of full spirits, but not to the same level as the decrease in the use of alcopops. So, overall, we have seen a reduction—and the other side does not want to acknowledge this—in the use of spirits.

We are being told by the member for Mayo that we should not have a wowser approach. I did not realise trying to address binge drinking was having a wowser approach. We have heard from the member for Mitchell about 75,000 young people on Facebook who are not concerned about the use or abuse of alcohol; they are concerned about paying more for alcohol. That gives me some heart because, if young people are concerned that their favourite drink is going to cost them more, they might be a little bit more hesitant to buy that drink now.

My local youth group has recently launched a ‘Be aware’ campaign. These young people developed their own materials to take out to educate young people, which included graphic footage of young people at parties involved in drug use and alcohol abuse. If young people themselves are developing programs to educate others about the abuse of alcohol, surely we have a responsibility to be doing the same. We have heard from the member for Mitchell that, when it comes to the ads, young people in his electorate say they just turn down the volume. What is their solution? We have heard that they do not support a tax and they do not support ads. They believe that the revenue should be spent on better initiatives and given to groups who deal with this problem. I do not disagree with ensuring that there is adequate funding going to groups who have to deal with the outcomes of binge drinking, and the government is doing that, but there was not one mention from the opposition of spending revenue towards any preventative programs—not one mention of it at all.

This government is tackling this issue with a holistic approach. We are not just introducing a tax on alcopops. We are committing $14.4 million for community-level initiatives to confront the culture of binge drinking in partnership with sporting and community organisations; we are spending $19.1 million to intervene earlier to assist young people and ensure that they assume personal responsibility; we are putting $20 million towards the advertising campaign ‘Don’t turn a night out into a nightmare’, confronting youths with the consequences of binge drinking; and we have $872 million in funding for preventative health, announced at COAG in November 2008, which will include new initiatives to tackle binge drinking. That is what this government is doing to tackle this issue, as opposed to what we are once again hearing from the other side.

The opposition are all in denial. If it is not climate change or the global economic crisis, it is binge drinking. These things are not happening, according to them, but are being overplayed and blown out of proportion. The opposition have a simple approach to just about everything: ‘Let’s sit back and wait and see if everything fixes itself, whether it is the economy, the climate or binge drinking.’ This government is not going to sit back. This government is committed to addressing this problem and to looking after our young people and doing everything we can to educate them and discourage them from being attracted to the types of beverages that are most damaging to young people. I call on those on the other side to support these bills.

See this speech in context