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

On 26 April 2008 the excise and customs tariff proposals were published to increase the rate of excise and excise equivalent customs duty applying to other excisable beverages not exceeding 10 per cent by volume of alcohol from $39.36 to $66.67 per litre of alcohol content. The measure has resulted from government concerns at the growth in consumption of alcoholic beverages known as alcopops. As senators are aware, this measure reverses a serious mistake made by the Liberal and National parties in 2000. It is backed by research, it is backed by the health experts, it is backed by the evidence—and, can I say, it is backed by the community.

To ensure that products do not enter the market that undermine these changes, the bill will also alter the taxation definition of ‘beer’ in the Excise Tariff Act 1921 and ‘beer’ and ‘wine’ in the Customs Tariff Act 1995. Changes to the definition of wine in A New Tax System (Wine Equalisation Tax) Regulations 2000 will follow as part of these changes.

The increase in the rate applying to alcopops reflects the government’s concern at the growth in alcopops consumption, alongside their appeal to young and underage drinkers and the role that they play in encouraging binge drinking. Many of these drinks are colourful; they are sweet and sugary. They are designed to make the step between soft drinks and alcohol easy. They are L-plate cocktails. Many alcopops, particularly the white spirit based drinks, disguise the taste of alcohol with their sweet flavour. According to the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre taste perceptions study they expose young and inexperienced drinkers to higher than normal risks because they are more likely to make false judgments about the product they are consuming. As Professor Tanya Chikritzhs said to the Senate inquiry last week:

… not all beverages are equal in the amount of harm they are likely to be associated with.

That is why the government is concerned about alcopops over other forms of alcohol and with fixing the loophole that was created by the Liberals back in 2000. The very nature of alcopops makes them more harmful to vulnerable young and underage drinkers, the very people who are targeted through the advertising on Facebook and magazines directed at young people and children. No-one who reads the newspaper or watches television can be unaware of the problems caused by binge drinking. Community leaders, police and health experts alike agree that action needs to be taken. In any given week approximately one in 10 12- to 17-year-olds are binge drinking or drinking at risky levels. Almost 20,000 girls aged 12 to 15 drink daily or weekly. The number of women aged 18 to 24 being admitted to hospitals because of alcohol has doubled in eight years.

Risky drinking is a common cause of violence. Almost 500,000 young people aged 14 to 19 years were physically abused in alcohol related incidents in 2007. In 2004-05, the social cost of alcohol misuse in Australia was estimated to be approximately $15.3 billion. For young people, RTDs are a big part of the binge drinking problem. Between 2000 and 2004, the percentage of female drinkers aged 15 to 17 who consumed alcopops at their last drinking occasion increased from 14 per cent to 62 per cent. For females drinking at high-risk levels in 2004, 78 per cent drank alcopops at their last drinking occasion. That figure had increased from 21 per cent in 2000.