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

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Ludwig. Does the government agree that it is an important consumer right to have safety information on products, and, if so, shouldn’t there be health information labels on all alcohol products?

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

I thank the senator for his question. This government does have an interest in ensuring that, with ready-to-drink products, alcopops and the like, we do not allow issues such as binge drinking and the like to come to the fore. To that end, on 23 November 2008, of course, the government’s anti-binge-drinking campaign kicked into action, because what we have is a focus on doing everything that we can to ensure that those people who are using those products understand what is in those products and also doing as much as we can to ensure that people do not binge drink, and to that end we have provided that campaign.

It is important to ensure not only that we do the work such as providing the campaign, the TV advertisements and the like but also that we then take into account the broader issues around binge-drinking strategies. They also include some of the key facts that are in this area. Between 2000 and 2004, the percentage of female drinkers aged between 15 and 17 reporting that they had consumed alcopops at their last drinking occasion increased from 14 per cent to 60 per cent. It is important that we continue to remain focused on ensuring that we do everything we possibly can. Of course, guidelines for Australian—

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

Mr President, I raise a point of order on the issue of relevance. I asked a question about health information labels on alcohol products. He has not mentioned it once.

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ludwig, your time has expired.

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

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. It is on the same issue, but maybe I will try a different way. Is the government aware of research by Professor Sandra Jones at the University of Wollongong which says that effective health message labels on alcohol products can help reduce the level of binge drinking?

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

I am not personally aware of that research, but the research that I can point to, of course, is that of the National Health and Medical Research Council. The NHMRC has a mandate to develop evidence based health advice to support decision making by governments, consumers and health professionals alike, which deals with the broader issue of the Australian alcohol guidelines for low-risk drinking and other alcohol health initiatives. It is important that, when you look at the previous edition of the guidelines in 2001, there are significant changes in the revised draft guidelines. The revised draft guidelines are intended to provide population-level advice to the community to allow people to make informed decisions about their own alcohol consumption based on the latest scientific evidence available at the time of the review. The revised draft guidelines do not represent a safe or no-risk drinking level; neither is there a prescription level of drinking that must be followed in all situations. Of course, for these reasons the draft guidelines take the new approach— (Time expired)

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

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Australian alcohol exported to the US and the UK already has health information labels. Why does the Australian government think health information labels are not important to help Australians drink sensibly?

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

Can I say, with respect, that I reject the premise of the question. The government has been doing a lot of work in this area. There are the health advisory labels on packaged alcohol. On 2 May 2008 the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council requested Food Standards Australia New Zealand to consider mandatory health warnings on packaged alcohol, taking into account the work of the Ministerial Council on Drug Strategy and any other relevant ministerial council, any relevant guidelines in New Zealand and the alcohol guidelines for low-risk drinking, and to consider the broader community and the population-wide context of the misuse of alcohol. This is a government that takes these matters seriously. Not only has it looked at this issue but it has been doing the work in this area. (Time expired)