Stirling Griff (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Scullion, representing the Minister for Health. Last Thursday the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation decided to proceed with mandatory pregnancy warnings on alcohol labels. This happened after seven years of failure by the alcohol industry to voluntarily introduce effective pregnancy warning labels across all products. It also comes just two months after the industry funded DrinkWise was forced to reissue posters in doctors' surgeries, because DrinkWise misrepresented the dangers of drinking while pregnant. I understand from the Foundation of Alcohol Research and Education that government provided DrinkWise with $230,000 over six months to distribute educational resources to rural and regional GPs' waiting rooms. How much money in total has the government provided to DrinkWise over the past two financial years to run public education programs, and was any of that funding provided for the misrepresented posters?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for that question. I can confirm that in the last two years I understand there was a number very close to what you indicated, $233,000 GST inclusive, which was provided in June 2018 to DrinkWise for some specific activities to raise awareness of alcohol related issues. I understand that those funds were specifically directed at developing some video content. I'm unaware of the posters but in terms of the video content you may have seen some of them. Principally, they were going to be integrated with my Red Dust Role Models school education program and the Strong Young Men and Boys Program to raise awareness and educate people on FASD, and to deliver video material across the thousand regional and remote primary care sites. That was going to be supplemented by resources for GPs and staff. Those videos feature prominent Indigenous actors Deborah Mailman and Aaron Pedersen who are delivering the key messages, and those videos are played in the waiting rooms of many of those clinics. They are the funds that we provided. I understand DrinkWise provided themselves, for other FASD activities, some $910,000. I'm not sure over what time that was, but I'm assuming it was over that two year period.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Griff, a supplementary question.

Stirling Griff (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

F () (): Minister, did the department review the educational materials funded by taxpayer money before they were distributed?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm unaware of whether or not they would have reviewed that, but I would have assumed—and I think the reasonable assumption is—that they would be using best practice. I have seen some of the video material that's recently gone out. I think that that is world's best practice. We also fund and we look at—and we have the same assessments across—a whole range of processes. We have the Foundation of Alcohol Research and Education, Women Want to Know and Pregnant Pause—they're all NGOs. We provide the same funds and review the same processes in terms of content.

What I can say is that I understand that we do that in the very same way. And I do understand that, back in 2012, DrinkWise was provided by the previous Labor government point-of-sale educational material in the very same way. (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Griff, a final supplementary question.

Stirling Griff (SA, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Given the industry's failure to provide clear and consistent warning labels and advice on alcohol and pregnancy, does the government intend to give any more money to DrinkWise in future to provide any type of public education on alcohol related harm?

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I certainly hope so. It remains a relatively small part of our investment across the board. As you've indicated, it is really important. What we do know is that in some of the other places which we can make direct comparisons with, like Canada, today, if you buy a bottle of Australian wine in Canada, it has a pregnancy warning on it and has had for some time. But we know from the Canadian experience that we're going to need more than that in vulnerable communities. At the point of contact for vulnerable communities, like health centres, it's very important to provide the right information at the right time to those communities as they come to bear. So we'll continue to upgrade, update and inform ourselves with best practice with regard to the warnings around alcohol during pregnancy and the consequences of FASD.