Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes:

(i)

the response from the Department of the Treasury to straightforward questions regarding the amount of revenue collected as a result of the increase in the excise on ‘alcopops’ effective 27 April 2008 and other excise measures [question no. sbt 3, parts (1), (18), (19) and (20)] placed on notice at hearings of the Economics Committee in October 2008, that ‘This information is not publicly available’, and

(ii)

that there has never been any suggestion, nor would it be accepted by the Senate, that answers to questions asked by senators at estimates hearings should be limited to publicly available material;

(b)

considers that this response amounts to a refusal to answer the questions;

(c)

orders that there be laid on the table by 5 February 2009 meaningful answers to parts (1), (18), (19) and (20) of question no. sbt 3, previously placed on notice at hearings of the Economics Committee in October 2008; and

(d)

orders that there be laid on the table by 23 February 2009, meaningful answers to the following additional questions:

(i)

what tax revenue has been collected in each of the following categories of alcohol since 27 April 2008:

(a)

beer,

(b)

cask wine,

(c)

bottled wine,

(d)

cider,

(e)

spirits, and

(f)

other excisable beverages, i.e. ready-to-drink (RTD) beverages (alcopops),

(ii)

for each of the categories in question (d)(i), what volumes of alcohol (measured in litres of alcohol) were either:

(a)

cleared for home consumption, or

(b)

subject to tax under the A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Act 1999,

(iii)

what is the measured price elasticity of RTD beverages, given the data collected since 27 April 2008,

(iv)

is the measured elasticity since 27 April 2008 consistent with the Department of the Treasury modelling underlying the revenue impacts of the tax increase measure published in the 2008-09 Budget,

(v)

what were the Department of the Treasury’s estimates of RTD own-price and cross-price elasticity with other alcohol beverages used to calculate the revenue estimates from different alcohol products included in the Mid-year economic and fiscal outlook 2008-09,

(vi)

what volume growth rates have been assumed by the Department of the Treasury for different alcohol beverages for the financial years included in the Mid-year economic and fiscal outlook 2008-09,

(vii)

what advice was produced by the Department of the Treasury or the Department of Health and Ageing regarding likely substitution effects prior to or following the introduction of the alcopops tax,

(viii)

what evidence has the Government collected regarding reduction in risky or high risk drinking and/or at risk behaviour among:

(a)

all drinkers,

(b)

the following age groups – under 18, 18 to 24, 25 to 40 and over 40,

(c)

men, and

(d)

women, and

(ix)

what evidence has the Government, including the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, collected regarding those alcohol products most likely to be associated with low risk, risky and high risk drinking among different age and gender categories.

Question agreed to.