Speech on Alcopops tax Amendment Legislation
Thursday, 14 May 2009 02:22
Mr Speaker, this piece of legislation seeks to further control use of alcopops.
That’s something I very much support.
I support this amendment with great enthusiasm.
I support it knowing this will not only prevent injury and social disruption, it will also probably save lives.
Whilst these are minor amendments, they are important.
The amendment is important because lives and families are important.
This amendment is about controlling the sale of alcoholic products aimed directly at young people.
These amendments confirm in law the increased rate of taxation for alcopops from $39.36 to $66.67 per litre of alcohol content.
This brings alcopops tax back to the equivalent rate of spirits.
Mr. Speaker, this amendment reverses Liberals’ decision in 2000 to give alcopops a tax break.
I note the various contributions made by a number of members on the other side Mr. Speaker that in various ways criticize these government initiatives.
I note with horror and disgust the attitudes of the Opposition, Mr Speaker.
I think it shows just how out of touch they are with young people.
Alcopops, Mr Speaker, are just insidious.
They disguise the alcohol.
Young, inexperienced drinkers, often have no idea how much they are drinking.
Before they know it, they are in trouble.
Often they are in trouble, then they will get one of their friends in trouble.
Alcopops for many young people are a ticket to trouble.
Mr Speaker, it’s not just me saying this.
Closing the alcopops loophole is supported by community leaders, police and health experts.
In any given week, approximately one in ten 12 to 17 year olds are binge-drinking or drinking at risky levels.
Almost 20,000 girls aged 12-15 drink daily or weekly.
That’s approximately 170,000 young Australians.
I think you could accurately say that alcopops are now the common pathway for many young people to alcohol abuse.
I’d like to go through some local examples of the problems we are currently having in the city in my electorate, Mr Speaker.
I’ll mention just a few recent incidents.
Whilst not all are alcopop incidents, they are incidents involving younger people and alcohol.
This is what lies at the end of the alcopop pathway for young Australians Mr Speaker.
There was the case of a young 23 year old women bashed in central Geelong when she walked with her partner in the early hours of the morning.
She sustained bruises, cuts and severe swelling. Her partner suffered facial fractures and injuries to his head, chest and eyes.
There was another case of a young man who went out celebrating his 22nd birthday. He hit the concrete in Moorabool St in September, 2007, after a king hit from a stranger.
The hit left him unconscious before he underwent emergency surgery and spent four days in intensive care at The Alfred.
Doctors inserted 30 pins into his head injuries. He suffered severe headaches, fatigue and dizziness for months and increased risk of suffering epilepsy.
A few months earlier, another young Geelong man wore a punch outside Geelong's Eureka Hotel and crashed to the footpath.
His skull was split from its base to above his left eye.
He lost one-and-a-half litres of blood from his left ear and suffered a broken nose, fractured eye socket, fractured sternum and neck fractures.
These few incidents are just the tip of the alcohol iceberg in Geelong Mr Speaker. I could speak for two hours just listing the alcohol-related incidents in Geelong in the last few years.
Mr Speaker, alcohol is causing absolute mayhem on the streets of Geelong in the evenings.
Alcopops are the bridge to alcohol for many young people.
I would like to note here, again, the fantastic campaign being undertaken our local regional paper The Geelong Advertiser, in relation to alcohol abuse.
The campaign is called “Just Think”. This locally initiated campaign has now gone national and is being used in regional areas in other parts of Australia.
Mr Speaker, the number of young women aged 18-24 being admitted to hospitals because of alcohol has doubled in eight years.
Is there a relationship here, Mr Speaker? I think there is. It seems to me this roughly correlates to the introduction of alcopops and their rapid take-up.
Mr speaker, I provided some anecdotal evidence on this issue from my own electorate.
But there is more than anecdotal evidence available on this question.
An independent expert report by Collins and Lapsley, commissioned by the Howard Government, found that: and I quote:
"Alcohol excise taxes are capable of being designed explicitly to target the types of alcohol known to be the subject of abuse (for example, high strength beer and alcopops),"
“For example, studies show that young people are more influenced by the price of alcohol so that increasing the tax rate on alcoholic drinks which are specifically targeted at the youth market is likely to be effective."
End of quote.
All the experts agree with us on this issue Mr Speaker. All the independent experts.
The CEO of the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, John Rogerson said, and I quote
‘This tax fixes a problem started with the introduction of the GST and shows that the Government is serious about tackling alcohol problems in our community.’
End of quote.
Mr. Speaker, the alcohol industry is obviously lobbying the Liberal Party to protect their sales, and that is their democratic right.
But our job in this parliament is not to protect the alcohol industry’s business. Our job is to try to keep the community safe, and to implement good social policy.
This amendment is good social policy Mr Speaker.
The facts and all the evidence tells us this.
ATO figures drawn from the first nine months of this measure show that alcopops sales have dropped by 35 per cent compared to the previous year.
This goes beyond the Government’s prediction when the measure was introduced that growth would merely slow.
In fact, alcopops sales have slumped – bringing overall spirits sales with them. Despite a smaller increase in full-strength spirits sales, overall spirits sales have fallen by almost eight per cent.
Mr Speaker, I want to wind up by putting into the hansard an excerpt of a great piece of writing on this subject by Danny Lennon from the Geelong Advertiser.
Danny put the issue more succinctly than I could Mr Speaker.
I put part of this into the record via the main committee previously but was cut short due to time.
I think the work deserves the full excerpt be read Mr Speaker.
The piece is in response to the Geelong Advertiser’s “Think Before You drink” campaign.
The piece is titled, Just Think.
Just think about the instant the head hits the concrete.
Think about the way the skin splits, the blood leaks and the skull breaks.
Think about the reaction of the traumatised brain.
Think about a life abruptly in peril. Think about a life perhaps forever changed. Think about the potential perhaps never realised.
Think about family members, white with shock at the measure of injury suffered by their loved one.
Think about the sense of emergency as the body lies listless on the footpath.
Think about the medical response and how swift and sure it needs to be.
Think about the precious seconds.
Think about that body in freefall before the sickening landing.
Think about the malicious king hit, which sent it flying without warning.
Think about the attacker and the cowardly act.
Think how stupidly insignificant and futile the reason for the flash of rage might have been.
Think about a night which started out in innocence, but became distorted in a wash of alcohol.
Think about all of the drinks which created the flashpoint and changed the attacker from party animal to just animal.
Think about the blurred perception.
Think about the cause.
Think about the effect.
Just think.
Mr Speaker, that’s what I’m asking the Liberals to do. JUST THINK.
The Liberals need to put aide their silly point scoring on this issue and think about the human cost of what they are doing.
What happened when the Liberals’ gave alcopops a tax break?
What happened Mr Speaker, as the industry itself admits, its sales grew by 250% since 2000.
Between 2000 and 2004, the percentage of female drinkers aged 15-17 who had consumed alcopops at their last drinking occasion increased from 14% to 62%.
That’s an increase from 14% to 62%. I say to the Liberals, Just Think.
For females drinking at risky and high risk levels in 2004, 78% drank alcopops on their last drinking occasion. That figure increased threefold since 2000.
I say to the Liberals Just Think about that Mr Speaker.
Think about this amendment, then pass it.
Thank You Mr speaker.
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