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

A well-crafted answer, but it failed to explain to the Australian public why the Australian government will not take steps to de-hook alcohol advertising from sport. That was the question that was put plainly before the minister and it has not been answered. The minister also mentioned tobacco. When we did the tobacco toll we did not raise the tax on the most popular cigarette; we went after the advertising. It seems odd that you like to draw analogies and then all of a sudden they do not work. We did not just take the most popular brand of cigarettes and up the tax on that one and stop there. We knew there would be substitution.

The other thing you said in your speech was that there is no silver bullet. But, gee, you do not want to fire a whole lot of blanks either. I have been consistent on this issue for a long time. Yes, there has been some movement on labelling—and hopefully there are health warning labels on all alcoholic products. That makes sense. That is a tick. Most Australians agree. Getting the ads out of the hands of the alcohol industry and into a regulatory body is another tick. But the third one is the big one. Given that Australia has a serious issue with alcohol and sports, you have got to not fire a blank in that area but fire a bullet that will actually make sure we de-hook alcohol from sport. This is a major issue and for some reason you tap dance around it but will not address it with the Australian people. This is a really important issue. It is a pity it has come down to the eleventh hour. You have had more than 11 months—since September 2007—to take this issue on board and genuinely deal with it. So do not say you do not have time; you have had time. This is a really important issue.