Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. On the question of binge drinking, we in the government are responding to the evidence that we have been presented with. If you go to the study Alcohol consumption patterns among Australian 15-17 year olds from 2000 to 2004, a research report commissioned by the Department of Health and Ageing in 2005, it says that between 2000 and 2004 the percentage of female drinkers aged 15 to 17 reported that they had consumed RTDs on their last drinking occasion, an increase from 14 per cent to 62 per cent. That is the first point. The second point is this: in addition, between 1999 and 2005 the proportion of teenage girls aged 12 to 17 who chose RTDs as their preferred drink rose from 23 per cent to 48 per cent. That is in the Australian secondary school students’ use of alcohol in 2005 report. What is extraordinary about these two pieces of data is that those opposite actually choose not to act on them. We have looked at this data and said that we have a responsibility to act. It is very difficult not to go around Australia today without being confronted by the nation’s police commissioners in the various states to be told that binge drinking is a huge problem in inner metro Australia, particularly with girls, and that RTDs are part of the challenge. Therefore, we need to act in this way in order to reduce the growth at which they are consuming.

On the question of the overall integrity of budget measures on how these funds are used, the challenge of preventative health care is going to require a large injection of funds on the part of the Commonwealth. Preventative health care under the previous regime represented some 1.7 per cent of the nation’s total health budget. If we are serious about dealing with the problems of alcoholism and the problems of other chronic diseases emerging in the community, we are going to have to invest hugely in this area. That is why this government is committed to a significant new partnership with the states and territories to ensure that we have a proper funding and policy response to the emerging health needs of the community. Our overall strategy on the budget is to make sure that we properly invest these funds in the future while at the same time producing responsible economic outcomes for the country.

In terms of responsible economic outcomes, I would just say this to the Leader of the Opposition: it is important that those opposite decide where they stand. Within a week the Leader of the Opposition said that he fully supported the extra taxes on RTDs, a measure that we are going to introduce, and then he backflipped completely. This is part of a pattern. The Leader of the Opposition one day says that there is no inflation problem—it is a complete charade—and then we are told, of course, that there is a problem because it is now not sufficiently an anti-inflationary budget. We see the same conflicting position emerging between the Leader of the Opposition and the alternative Leader of the Opposition, the member for Wentworth, on the whole question of cuts. Remember that the member for Wentworth says, ‘No, we do not think that there is any economic need to cut it,’ meaning overall—

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