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

At a quarter to one today, we got close to completing this legislation. Then the amendment from Senators Brown and Cormann was moved. I am standing to speak with the knowledge that everyone else has spoken in the debate—I think that is reasonable—and I advise the Senate that the government cannot support the amendment proposed by Senators Brown and Cormann, for one simple reason: we remain committed to passing these bills in their original form. A tax that is good for 12 months is a tax that is good for the future. If the Customs Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009 and the Excise Tariff Amendment (2009 Measures No. 1) Bill 2009 do not pass in their original form, I remind the Senate what the consequences of that will be. The very constructive measures that we have negotiated with the Greens and Senator Xenophon over the previous few days—measures on strengthening the regulation of alcohol-advertising content, mandating safe drinking content in alcohol advertising, funding for community level initiatives and social marketing to tackle binge drinking—will not proceed. There will be a $1.6 billion hole in the budget and a $1.6 billion windfall to the distillers. In just a few weeks, teenagers, particularly young girls, will be back buying alcopops at pocket money prices.

In speaking against this amendment I make one last plea to Senator Fielding, knowing that what I have just described is not his primary aim. It is, however, the inevitable consequence of a decision to vote against the government’s measure. I say this more in sorrow than in anger. If teenagers, particularly teenage girls, can again buy cheap alcopops in just a few weeks time, that is not good for families, it is not good for our hospitals and it is not good for our police. I say to Senator Fielding that, in my view, it is not putting families first. That is a view shared by many of the leaders in public health in Australia. I quote from the press release of 17 March from the Public Health Association of Australia, ‘Senator Fielding urged to support alcopops tax deal’. Professor Mike Daube, the President of the PHAA, says, ‘It would be a tragedy for the community if the tax now failed.’

In a press release of 18 March from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Centre, Associate Professor Anthony Shakeshaft, who gave evidence to the committee inquiry, says, ‘We have argued all along that the government ought to be applauded for taking a proactive stance on this issue; going part of the way to achieving an evidence based response is not the same as going the wrong way.’ I think the point the professor is making is that by not passing this measure we will be going the wrong way. Further, he says, ‘The critical point here is the difficulty of seeing the likely public health benefit of this legislation being overturned if the primary reason is to accommodate a strategy’—that is, banning advertising during sports programs—‘for which there is little research evidence.’ A press release was issued on Tuesday, 17 March, by four well-recognised organisations: the Australian Drug Foundation, the Cancer Council Victoria, the Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre and VicHealth. They encouraged the Senate to pass the alcopops tax and said, ‘This package puts the health interests of young Australians ahead of the profits of the spirits industry.’ Finally, Kidney Health Australia backs alcopops legislation.

As I have said in this place before, I think this is a very sad day for the overall health outcomes for our country. It has undermined the leadership that our government has shown not only to our health sector but also, most importantly, to our community. We are able to say strongly that using alcohol inappropriately damages your health, and from the Prime Minister down we have consistently put that message out to the community. That is part of it. The alcopops tax equalisation was another tranche in a range of measures about which we know there is evidence that they will be successful. This is a sad day for the overall health outcomes for our community, but I am really particularly concerned about what this will do to our teenagers and young people in the future.

Question agreed to.

Original question, as amended, agreed to.