Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. This government does have an interest in ensuring that, with ready-to-drink products, alcopops and the like, we do not allow issues such as binge drinking and the like to come to the fore. To that end, on 23 November 2008, of course, the government’s anti-binge-drinking campaign kicked into action, because what we have is a focus on doing everything that we can to ensure that those people who are using those products understand what is in those products and also doing as much as we can to ensure that people do not binge drink, and to that end we have provided that campaign.

It is important to ensure not only that we do the work such as providing the campaign, the TV advertisements and the like but also that we then take into account the broader issues around binge-drinking strategies. They also include some of the key facts that are in this area. Between 2000 and 2004, the percentage of female drinkers aged between 15 and 17 reporting that they had consumed alcopops at their last drinking occasion increased from 14 per cent to 60 per cent. It is important that we continue to remain focused on ensuring that we do everything we possibly can. Of course, guidelines for Australian—