Michael Johnson (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased and honoured to second this motion. I want to commend my colleague the member for Franklin for moving this motion and recognise his reputation and integrity. Alcohol and licit substance misuse not only is a personal problem but also has enormous consequences for our wider society. Road accidents, criminal behaviour, domestic violence, health care costs, costs to businesses across this country, mental disorders, suicide and, as the member for Franklin mentioned, drownings are the absolutely catastrophic social consequences of the misuse and abuse of alcohol.

Research has estimated the financial cost of alcohol and licit substance abuse in Australia at around $7½ billion a year. To put this into context, the annual Australian budget is $220 billion. Our defence budget, which the new Minister for Defence, Brendan Nelson, has stewardship over, is some $18½ billion. So almost one-third of the expenditure of the defence budget can be said to be the cost of the abuse of alcohol and licit substances—an enormous amount. This is something which all of us must try to address in our own ways and as a parliament.

Between 1992 and 2001, over 30,000 Australians lost their lives from drinking. High-risk alcohol consumption is estimated to cause about 3,000 deaths and 65,000 cases of hospitalisation each year. Alcohol is estimated to be responsible for almost five per cent of the disease burden in this country. Globally, we know that alcohol is estimated to be responsible for some two million deaths per annum. Excessive alcohol consumption is a major factor in 30 per cent of all road deaths, 50 per cent of cases of domestic and sexual violence, 47 per cent of assaults, 70 to 80 per cent of night-time assaults and 10 per cent of suicides. Every year alcohol misuse costs Australian businesses and productivity an enormous amount: $5 billion in alcohol related absenteeism, $1.9 billion in the loss of workplace productivity and more than 10 per cent of preventable injury and death in the workplace.

I refer the parliament to a quote from the Age of 9 January this year. It is interesting and revealing about where the trend in the liquor market in this country is going:

The liquor market is booming. A prosperous economy and buoyed consumer confidence have seen products at the top end of the market making significant gains.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics data shows that our fellow Australians have increased their spending on alcohol substantially in the past decade. The average household spent almost $1,200 a year on alcohol in 2003-04—up from $884 in 1993-94. These figures are worrying. It is important that I draw the attention of the House to that matter. One of my concerns is that consumers have easier access to alcohol than I think is healthy for this country. Woolworths’s annual liquor revenue is absolutely astounding. I understand that it exceeded $3.1 billion in 2005, an amazing figure. After last year’s $1.3 billion acquisition of Australian Leisure and Hospitality, Woolworths was a logical buyer of the Taverner business, which is only going to continue to expand its revenue sources. This is a substantial concern.

I conclude by paying tribute to Alcoholics Anonymous, which is a fine organisation. (Time expired)

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