Richard Di Natale (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Many people in Australia drink responsibly—they drink occasionally—and for many it brings them pleasure. We know drinking patterns have changed over time. We know there is some social benefit to people consuming alcohol. But that shouldn't disguise the fact that alcohol consumption has an overwhelmingly negative impact on people's health, not just here in Australia but right around the world. It's the third-largest risk factor for disease burden globally and the eighth-highest risk factor for death worldwide. That means that almost four per cent of all deaths have alcohol as a major risk factor.

As somebody who worked as a GP, as a drug and alcohol doctor and then in public health, I know that you can't ignore the obvious consequences of alcohol consumption, particularly alcohol-related harms and alcohol dependence. Every GP in Australia would have experienced patients every day for whom alcohol is their major presenting factor. They may present because of social problems resulting from alcohol dependence. They may present with physical illness. We know there are hundreds of physical illnesses that are linked to alcohol consumption, whether it be cirrhosis of the liver or other metabolic conditions. And of course there's the huge toll of injuries associated with alcohol consumption. It has a major impact on individuals and our community.

And we're learning more and more about FASD—the effect of alcohol on a developing fetus. We heard in some of the contributions about what it can do—its physical manifestations, its impact on young children's ability to learn, particular behaviours, higher rates of incarceration and so on. It has a significant impact on the lives of those individuals, their families and their local communities. It is a debilitating collection of disorders, and they are entirely preventable—entirely preventable. Let me acknowledge and welcome the work of the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education on raising awareness of FASD, but it's now time to ensure we do everything we can to turn things around.

We know that, like for so many other preventable health conditions, Indigenous people suffer disproportionately from the harms of alcohol. We know that ill health due to alcohol dependence and harmful use in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population was 4½ times greater than that experienced by non-Indigenous Australians in 2003. So we know what to do. The evidence is there. It's just a question of whether we're going to follow the evidence about what works.

At the acute end of the spectrum, we've got to make sure that people who need treatment can get it; it's as simple as that. But we also know that, in Australia, half the people who are seeking alcohol and drug treatment can't access it, which is why, of course, the Greens want to see double the commitment to funding AAD treatment at the Commonwealth level, and we want the states to follow suit. We've got to do better when it comes to primary care. We know that brief intervention from a GP, a practice nurse or a maternal child health worker can have a big impact. But we know that, if we're going to really have an impact, prevention is where it's at.

We've got to make sure that we close the loophole that, when it comes to the advertising and promotion of alcohol during children's viewing times, allows young kids to be targeted if they're watching sport. We've got to close that loophole, and that could be closed by the communications minister today. We know that, when logos like VB and XXXX are emblazoned on sports heroes' jumpers, we're sending the wrong message. Price is another factor. We know that, if we addressed the dog's breakfast that is the current taxation of alcohol, particularly the wine equalisation tax, and moved towards a volumetric type tax, it would have a huge impact. There is also labelling, and at the moment the dismal state of labelling is something to be ashamed of. We know availability, zoning and all those sorts of things also have an impact.

One of the reasons we haven't made changes is that this is an area where big, powerful, vested interests dominate the national debate. They lean on government through their lobbyists and through their donations, and, until we address the cancer in our democracy that is the role of these big vested interests, we cannot do what needs to be done to address the scale of this enormous challenge.