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

I thank the member for Hindmarsh for his question. I am pleased to be able to take this opportunity to address some of the latest information that has been released about the consumption and sale of products that have been the focus of our binge drinking initiatives in the past. This morning and last night, the alcohol industry distributed to media outlets some recent figures on the sale of spirits. I would like to take the House through those figures, because the figures in the newspapers this morning and in the press release that was released today show that the sale of alcopops has now dropped by almost 40 per cent—a measure that the government is very pleased about.

Forty per cent is quite a big decrease on its own, but when you look at the limited amount of data that has been released, what you will find is that in the latest week the most recent figures, from 11 May, actually show a 50 per cent drop. This is a staggering drop in the alcopops industry and something that we believe the distillers have deliberately understated.

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