ALCOPOPS TAX

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS (15:40): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police representing—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! If you haven't any respect for others answering questions, you might have respect for those on your own side.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Police, representing the Premier, a question about the alcopops tax.

Leave granted.

The Hon. T.J. STEPHENS: It has been widely reported that federal Labor's new tax on alcopops is leading cash-strapped adolescents towards dangerous drugs and binge drinking. My sources are telling me that young people are now guzzling hard liquor in hotel car parks before they enter in order to save money, and I firmly believe that our young people are safer in a licensed venue with security and controlled servings of alcohol instead of out in the car park.

I am also advised that young drinkers are flirting with dangerous illegal party drugs as a cheaper alternative. I am told that a round of alcopops can now cost between $50 and $60, but I am also told that a bag of marijuana or an ecstasy tablet, which are highly dangerous drugs, cost about half this amount. Sadly for our youth, though, it is often a case of simple economics, and this should concern us all greatly. As national President of the ALP, does the Premier concede that it has become apparent that the Rudd Labor alcopops tax is wrong, is dangerous, does nothing to reduce underage drinking or binge drinking and should be abandoned?

The Hon. P. HOLLOWAY (Minister for Police, Minister for Mineral Resources Development, Minister for Urban Development and Planning) (15:41): If you take the honourable member's logic to its final conclusion, you would say that you should have no-cost alcohol and then there would be less drinking. That is how logical it is: if you put a tax on these alcopop drinks, then somehow or other people will drink more. The tax on alcopops is a matter for the federal government.

In relation to alcohol, the attitude of the opposition towards young people's drinking is frankly appalling. We saw the issues previously: that, as far as the Hon. Rob Lucas is concerned and to the extent that he represents Liberal Party views on this matter, we should just have total open slather. The fact is that there is in this country a serious problem of alcohol abuse. It is becoming worse amongst young people. If the opposition refuses to recognise that, it can seek to win cheap votes, and I am sure that it will. That is what the opposition is all about: it is about winning cheap votes; it is about buying votes; it is about whatever it can do. The fact is that Labor governments will act responsibly in the best interests of the community.

If there is a problem with alcohol, then I am sure all levels of Labor government, state and federal, will seek to take a range of measures to address that problem. To take one decision in isolation really proves no point at all. The fact is that a range of policies is needed to deal with the problem that we face at the moment, and anyone who thinks that it does not exist need only go for a walk through the city in the early hours of the morning and see some of the totally inebriated young people. It is not a pretty sight.