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

I thank the shadow minister for the question. It is the first time he has shown any real interest in our strategy to tackle binge drinking. What the shadow minister needs to look at, if he really wants to look at the impact of our alcopops measure, is the data for the sales of spirits—when you combine both alcopops and straight spirits—which shows a reduction of 9.3 per cent. The figures for the alcopops measure are very clear. Unfortunately, the shadow minister is determined only to side with the distillers when it comes to this argument. He is not interested in targeting the very products that are marketed to young kids and that are being increasingly consumed and will be consumed at increasing rates over Christmas—something that the shadow minister should be out there urging young people to take care with, not raising these silly points.

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