Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the way that Senator Fielding has tried to add two and two to make it equal four, but the Rudd government’s commitment to tackling the scourge of binge drinking in our community is stronger than ever. Yesterday’s budget papers confirm this. They confirm that government action to close the alcopops tax loophole has arrested the rapid growth of consumption of these drinks. It has arrested it. Treasury papers confirm what the government has been saying about the effectiveness of the alcopops measure. In the time since the introduction of the measure, we have seen a massive 35 per cent drop in alcopops sales and an eight per cent drop in total overall spirits sales. Clearly the measure is working. (Time expired)