Alan Eggleston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That would require, as Senator Cormann said, a hard decision and a commitment to a socially-effective policy, which is glaringly absent in the planning of the Rudd government. Clearly that social objective is not on the radar of the Rudd government and, instead, this measure is just designed to raise revenue for the high-spending Rudd government.

The AMA has for years supported the concept of the introduction of a volumetric tax on alcohol, as has the Productivity Commission, the Australian Council of Social Service, the National Centre for Research into the Prevention of Drug Abuse, the Salvation Army and the Alcohol Advisory Council of Western Australia. The Rudd government must be aware of the positions of these bodies, of the extent of the damage alcoholism causes on an ongoing basis in the Australian community and of the need for the federal government to develop a strong, broad policy profile to counter these problems. Accordingly, I call upon the Rudd government to demonstrate some leadership in dealing with the problem and the horrendous consequences of alcohol abuse in this country.

While any serious attempt to counter the problem of alcoholism in Australia would include education, law enforcement, industry involvement and rehabilitation services, a very important part of any solution has to be the introduction of a volumetric tax on alcoholic drinks so that there is a cost incentive to encourage drinkers to move to low-alcohol drinks across the board.

Mr Acting Deputy President, I think you will agree it is a dreadful indictment of the record of the Rudd government that, while pretending to be an administration which is concerned about dealing with the social problems of the community in general and Indigenous people in particular, and in spite of the benefits it has been demonstrated a volumetric tax on alcohol would bring, no plan has been announced to introduce a volumetric tax on alcoholic drinks. For this omission the Rudd government must stand condemned for its hypocrisy.