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

Now they want to use it for a double dissolution. I take the interjection from the government. They reckon that I want to use it. That is just a joke. You guys could bring in tomorrow the tax that you are proposing for this measure to continue rather than waiting. When are you going to wait until? June? Why June? Does waiting until June give you the trigger for a double dissolution? Does it? I bet you the answer is yes. You would not bring it in tomorrow, would you? You would not try to test the parliament tomorrow, would you? You would wait until June to deliberately make it a double dissolution trigger. You guys are not honest. You guys have got to be real. Bring it in tomorrow; do not wait until June. Let us have the debate and then let us get on to the real issue: tackling binge drinking.

Back in 2007, Family First also spoke to the then Leader of the Opposition, now Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, about this and raised three issues. The first issue was warning labels on alcohol products, which does not cost the government a cent. But they will not do that; it does not collect any revenue, so they will not do that one. The second issue was getting the ads out of the control of the industry and into an independent body. They will not do that either. The third issue was the big one: restrictions on advertising alcohol, closing that crazy loophole that allows alcohol ads to appear at any time of day because of sports programming. That is linking alcohol with sports. We have a huge issue with alcohol in sport, yet they refused to implement that measure. Again, it cost them nothing. But, no, they are quite happy to hide behind a blatant tax grab and try to con Australia. Well, Australians have woken up to it. They are against it, and they know that you folks are hijacking a decent debate on how to tackle binge drinking. Hijacking the debate and turning binge drinking into a tax problem does no good to anyone. It is not leadership. It does all of Australia a disservice, and the sooner we get beyond this issue the better. I challenge the government to bring in tomorrow the legislation to keep the tax going forward rather than using this issue for political point-scoring or as a trigger for a double dissolution.

You guys are not real. You have to stop hiding behind this tax and start addressing the real issues. A drug educator with Drug and Alcohol Research and Training Australia, Paul Dillon, was right when he said in an article in the Newcastle Herald:

Alcohol and sport are tangled together so tightly in this country that it is extremely difficult to work out where one stops and the other one begins, and that is exactly the way the alcohol companies like it. As a result, there are very few sports now that don’t have a drinking culture.

You have a chance to break that link. Give us a date when you will bring in advertising restrictions that break the link between alcohol and sport. Make the announcement today. But, no, you would rather use the issue for political point-scoring and a double dissolution. Why? Because you are scared? Why not bring it in tomorrow rather than in June? You will not answer that question, will you? Mr Dillon goes on to say in his article:

It is time for this link to be severed—not because alcohol is bad or we should not be drinking but because it sends a mixed and confusing message to the Australian public.

The government have agreed to introduce alcohol warning labels and they agreed to make sure that the ads are not in the control of the advertising industry—but only if the tax stays. Come clean with the Australian public and explain why you will not implement those two measures anyway. Why are you trying to hold onto the tax? It is not working. You are actually hijacking the debate so that we cannot have a decent debate on what measures Australia should put in place to change the culture of alcohol. Turning binge drinking into a tax problem is mischievous. It is hijacking the debate and stopping Australia from moving on to a mature debate about what measures need to be put in place to create a culture of responsible drinking. The issue that this government have not come clean on in coming to parliament is why they will not break the link between alcohol and sport by putting in place tough alcohol-advertising restrictions that dehook alcohol from sport. How many more days, how many more months will it take? How many more cases of alcohol having a huge, devastating impact on sport and leading many of our young Australians astray do we have to read about on the front page of the paper? How much longer can you allow this to happen before you come into this place and say that, by this date, you will put restrictions on alcohol advertising in sport? You have to be real.

Let us hope the money that has been collected does not just go into the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to give them a few extra staff; let us hope the money is used to address binge drinking rather than just filling your coffers. Let us make sure that we actually get the money used wisely—all of it, not just part of it. Let us make sure this government stops hiding behind a blatant tax grab and gets onto the real issue of addressing binge drinking by putting in measures that will really tackle Australia’s drinking problem and create a culture of responsible drinking.