Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to have an opportunity to speak in the chamber this afternoon against this opposition motion. I will focus on the excise increase on mixed drinks, which was criticised by the opposition once again in Senator Chapman’s speech. It is a policy which is focused on changing the culture of inappropriate drinking in our country. We know that there have been massive increases in the sales of ready-to-drink products since the loophole was created by the Liberal Party in the year 2000. In the year following the creation of that loophole, sales of RTDs grew by 50.4 per cent—in fact, the sales of RTDs have increased by a huge 254 per cent since 2000, when the loophole was established. We know that young people like drinking alcopops. They say they are sweet and the alcohol is hard to taste. Because they are sweet, ready-to-drinks provide the bridge from soft drink to alcohol, and that is a fact that is clearly understood by RTD manufacturers.

Let us look at what has happened since the 2000 loophole was established. In 1999 six per cent of 12- to 17-year-old boys nominated RTDs as their drink of choice. In 2005 it was 14 per cent. For young women in the same group, 12- to 17-year-olds, it was 23 per cent in 1999. By 2005 that had grown to 48 per cent. These are figures that the opposition need to understand. In the year 2000 about 40 per cent of female drinkers aged between 15 and 17 reported drinking RTDs at their last drinking occasion. By 2004 this had increased to 60 per cent. Twenty thousand girls in Australia aged younger than 15 have a weekly drinking habit. Almost 19 per cent of girls aged 14 to 19 drink at risky or high-risk levels of short-term harm at least monthly and almost 10 per cent drink at the same levels weekly. In the 20- to 29-year-old group, more than 23 per cent drink at the same risky levels monthly and more than 12 per cent do so weekly. We know that the rate of risky and high-risk drinking by teenage girls is higher than the rate for teenage boys. But it is not just girls: about 16 per cent of young men between 14 and 19 drink at risky or high-risk levels every month and nine per cent do so every week.

This week, coalition MPs and senators said that risky drinking is falling. It is true to say that the proportion of teenagers drinking at risky or high-risk levels every week fell between 2004 and 2007 from 10.7 per cent to 9.1 per cent. Obviously the opposition think that that kind of binge drinking level is okay in Australia. They were around when the levels were in fact over 10 per cent. The truth is they did nothing about it in their time in office. They knew of these figures and did absolutely nothing about them. If the people sitting on that side of the chamber think that 10 per cent of our young people drinking at high risk levels is okay then let them wear that. They may be happy that 9.1 per cent of our children continue to drink at risky levels once a week, but I can tell you this government does not agree and is not happy about that fact—and we intend to do something about it.

Senator Chapman talked a lot about his view of the world—and I still cannot get the logic of this—that young people are savvy enough to buy bottles of spirits because they get more bang for their buck that way. He says that is a bad thing because buying bottles of spirits will be more harmful. Leaving aside the fact that this new excise taxes the spirits in alcopops at the same rate that it does spirits in bottles, the logic of his position is that we should lower the excise on alcopops as a harm minimisation measure. He also went on to say—and had no evidence to support his position—that the increase in excise was not going to decrease consumption but, rather, increase it.

I would like to table some of the many, many reports that link increasing price with lowering consumption, particularly for young, price-sensitive children. I table The impact of the Northern Territory’s Living with Alcohol Program 1992-2002: revisiting the evaluation. I also table The prevention of substance use, risk and harm in Australia from the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy, which links increase in price and lowering of consumption, particularly by young people, and a very important study Alcohol in Europe: a public health perspective, which likewise links lowering consumption with increased price. I table them for the use of those sitting opposite so that they can be more informed in their contribution around this debate. It is a shame I do not have further time to speak on this matter. It is something that we take seriously.

We take very seriously the level of inappropriate drinking by young people in this country, and it is something that we intend to tackle. It is not something that will be done with one measure. The measure of increasing excise is just one of a range of measures that we have announced. People will recall that we have announced a $54 million strategy, which has a number of facets and is evidence based. We expect to work with the increase in excise to reduce inappropriate consumption, particularly by young people in this country.