Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Hurley for her question. I know Senator Hurley has a huge interest in tackling the scourge of binge drinking in our community. After months and months of siding with the distilling industry and going against the government’s plans to tackle the increasing problem of binge drinking, the opposition in the House of Representatives have finally seen the light. I note those on the opposite side here may not have seen the light. But maybe their yelling is really a symptom of the problem they now have. I do congratulate, though, the members of the House of Representatives for their decision yesterday to support the increased tax on premixed alcoholic drinks. But I note that not all of the coalition MPs in the other house agreed with the shadow minister’s memo, because some of them took the opportunity to vote against this important measure to deal with the binge-drinking culture in our community. What we hear now—