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

I thank the member for Forde for his question. I know that many members on this side of the House are anxiously watching the proceedings in the other chamber. There have been developments today, with both the Greens senators and Senator Xenophon indicating that they will support this measure. But unfortunately we still have the Liberal Party, and particularly the Leader of the Opposition, opposing this bill. Very recently the Liberal Party in the Senate have indicated that they will oppose the alcopops measure. I have to say that this has now come to a point where the Leader of the Opposition has shown an absolute lack of any moral leadership on an issue that is a scourge across the country.

As a result of his failure and the Liberal Party’s failure to show any skerrick of moral leadership on this issue, if this matter is not passed then in just a few short weeks we will have teenage girls and teenage boys again able to buy alcopops for pocket-money prices—again drinking sweet and sugary drinks that are targeted at them. What is more, the Leader of the Opposition’s mates, the distillers, will get a tax break in the next four years of about $1.6 billion-plus. You have to ask yourself: what values does a leader have who opposes a measure like this? What kind of values compel the Leader of the Opposition to give a tax break to multinational alcohol companies that are selling sugary drinks to teenage girls? What sort of moral compass does the Leader of the Opposition have?

I want to read you some of the opinions of health experts who, unlike the Leader of the Opposition, are all too aware of the human cost of alcopops. Let me quote first of all the President of the AMA, Dr Rosanna Capolingua. She says:

We have to look at the alcohol industry and how it targets young people with alco-pops. It builds brand loyalty and the kids connect with a type of drink—they’re hooked in.

Then they go off and have an accident, or they’re king hit while waiting in a queue outside a tavern, or they’re raped or are having unprotected sex.

Those are the words of the President of the AMA. I can quote Geoff Munro, the Director of the Community Alcohol Action Network. Again, he is someone all too aware of the human cost of alcohol abuse—something that the Leader of the Opposition has refused to engage with, preferring instead to buddy up with his mates the distillers. Geoff Munro said:

… RTDs—

that is, alcopops—

are consumed by the riskiest drinkers and pose an immediate threat to the health and wellbeing of teenagers around Australia … Some single cans contain almost three standard drinks, which means young people get drunk quickly. Thousands of teenagers are admitted to hospital after overdosing on alcohol each year. Some suffer permanent brain damage, and some die, yet the industry is increasing the strength of drinks favoured by the youngest binge drinkers.

These people understand the human cost of alcohol abuse, but unfortunately the Leader of the Opposition is not prepared to take any sort of moral stand on this issue. I remind people that the Leader of the Opposition explicitly said that nothing could be done about binge drinking and it was pointless to even try. At the National Press Club last year he said, ‘One should never underestimate the enterprising ingenuity of the Australian drinker.’ Why not just give them a pat on the back and encourage them to drink even more, Leader of the Opposition! He has failed the test of moral leadership on this issue. He had a choice whether to lead public health experts, the police—

See this speech in context