David Hawker (Wannon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to again highlight the ridiculous tax that is being applied to ready-to-drink alcohol and the way that the government has tried to hide it under its concern for health problems. Frankly, if we are going to deal with the problems of binge drinking—and I believe we certainly should, and I am sure all members would agree with that—this is not the way to go. It is very clear that this is all about a straight-out tax grab, and this has been confirmed in the estimates hearings, where it has been said quite clearly that Treasury did not consult with the health department before the imposition of this $3.1 billion tax hike. In fact, it has been made very clear that Treasury consulted only with the tax office and the Customs office—the tax office to work out how much money to raise and Customs to work out how to actually do it.

It is most unfortunate that, when we should be attacking the problems of binge drinking, the government have tried to slide out of the way and just say, ‘We’re going to grab the money.’ It has obviously not been thought through properly. It is all about raising tax. The fact that the health department was not even consulted shows how short sighted this is. It has already become aware that the budget papers themselves assume there will be an increase in the consumption of alcohol. That is hardly a health measure. Worse than that, of course, is that we have already seen in the early figures a 20 per cent increase in the sale of spirits. Again, that is hardly what one would have thought was the right way to go about attacking this issue. We should be looking at some of the practical things that could be done.

I would like to give an example of what has happened in Warrnambool in my electorate. A trial was started, with the nightclubs limiting access to high alcohol content drinks after one o’clock. This trial was so successful that, after eight weeks, it has now been adopted as a permanent measure. The thrust of it is to try and restrict access to high-alcohol drinks late at night. As well as that, the trial included restricting people going into nightclubs after 1.30. There will be no access, which is quite interesting to contrast with the problems that Melbourne has been facing recently where there has been a suggestion that people should not be allowed to go in after two o’clock. If we are serious about attacking some of the problems of binge drinking then we should look at these sorts of practical measures, which really are the way to get people off this dangerous path. To just put a tax onto one particular part of the alcohol market is nothing more than a tax grab. It is a very shallow and a very phoney way of attacking what is a serious health problem.