Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

Let us just be reminded here that alcohol is a significant problem in Australia. Minister McLucas said before that alcohol has the second most serious impact on the fabric of our society. The cost of mopping up after excessive alcohol consumption is $15.3 billion. That is what it costs this nation; it is huge. Forty per cent of police work is alcohol related. One in five road deaths is alcohol related. Alcohol is a significant problem, and we should not treat it trivially with a blatant tax grab and then hide behind it, saying that we are really getting on with the job.

It is the eleventh hour, and the government has had over 11 months to deal with this issue. Back in September 2007, Family First put forward three significant proposals: (1) to restrict alcohol advertising and not to link it with sports in the way that we do; (2) to put health warning labels on all alcohol products; and (3) to get the ads out of the hands of the industry and into those of a regulatory body.

A fistful of dollars is not going to solve this problem. It is a genuine issue that we need to change the culture of binge drinking to one of responsible drinking. I drink and most Australians drink, but we have a problem with alcohol in Australia. We need to address this problem rather than hide behind a blatant tax grab. This proposal has come at the eleventh hour and we are squabbling over a few dollars—a fistful of dollars. We have to get serious.

One of the ways of standing up and getting serious about this issue is to de-hook alcohol advertising from sport. I will be very clear about this: there is already an agreed position that alcohol advertising in Australia should be on late at night. Whether you agree or disagree with that, it has already been agreed to. Yet an exemption allows alcohol ads to appear at any time of the day because of sports programming. Wake up! Isn’t that linking alcohol advertising with sport? There is no use in your spending a fistful of dollars on replacing sponsorship of sport when you are going to allow alcohol ads on television any time of the day because of sports. That is a clear link between the two. You would be wasting your money by taking alcohol sponsorship from sport when you are going to keep your foot flat to the floor on the accelerator by allowing alcohol ads to be tied to sports through a special exemption. It is a loophole that should be closed.

The government talks about a loophole—well, there is one. You cannot justify why you would not break the link between alcohol advertising and sport. You cannot justify it publicly. You skirt around the issue. You are not fronting up to the Australian public. You cannot justify it. To say you need more time is an absolute insult to Australian families. Do not treat Australian families so stupidly. They are smarter than you think. At the eleventh hour you are trying to pull a few things together here to sway people. This is about creating a culture of responsible drinking, not some cocktail that you are dreaming up to put together to pass this legislation with a few dollars. Do not pay lip-service to the Australian public. Stand up to the alcohol giants in the industry and de-hook alcohol advertising from sport. Do it now!

Do not hide behind a blatant tax grab and a fistful of dollars—a few dollars to please some of the crossbenchers. Get serious with the Australian public. Do not muck around. You have taken this long to even consider a few things. What a joke; what a basket case. This is just a joke. Before the last election, in September 2007, Family First genuinely went to the Leader of the Opposition, now the Prime Minister, with these issues. He has known about this for a heck of a long time.

Then you wake up after a few sleeps and say: ‘Ah, revenue. Let’s pull the pokie handle on alcopops tax and see how much more money can come in.’ Do not hide behind it. Do not treat the Australian public with such contempt. They are smarter than this. They see through it and you are turning them off. Work with the Australian people. We are smart. We know we have a problem but we are looking for leadership, not cheap shots and pulling tax revenue in the door on one product. Come on, be serious! Be open and frank. Explain now why you will not de-hook alcohol advertising from sport. Explain it. Stand up here and explain it to the Australian public. Today is a broadcast day. Do it now!

Explain why you will not close that crazy loophole that allows alcohol ads to appear at any time of day because of sports programming when you are proposing to say: ‘We understand the problem with alcohol and sports. We’re going to give a few dollars to replace sponsorship.’ It is a good idea but why leave the foot on the accelerator with advertising alcohol at any time of day? You try to apply the brake to alcohol sport sponsorship with your left foot and then you put your right foot on the accelerator flat to the floor with alcohol advertising. Stand up to them. Come on, be serious! Immediately look at implementing a restriction on alcohol advertising so that it is not linked with sport and you can close the loophole now.