Alcohol Tax Speech

“The newly instated Rudd government lifted the excise on ready to drink beverages by seventy percent on April twenty seventh, citing community concern about binge drinking on young people.” This move has been ridiculed by the opposition, come under fire from the Greens and is revolted against by the Facebook generation; the same group of youths who largely voted for Rudd at the election. The facebook youths started several online groups including: “The Aussies against the alcohol tax increase” (AAATI) with nearly thirty thousand young members, "The 70% tax on pre-mixed drinks in Australia is revenue-raising bullshit" with 555 members, and "Tax increase on alcohol will not stop teenagers drinking" with 215 members.

Classmates! Hands up who agrees with these infuriated Facebook members?

*pause*

The Greens recently raised the issue of drugs relevant to the excise in the Senate, “Young women said that they felt victimised by the alcopop excise and feared it would encourage youths to turn to cheaper alternatives such as full bottles of spirits or dabbling in drugs. Eighteen year old Chloe Maxwell says, “You get ecstacy cheaper than some drinks”. As insignificant as this Facebook rebellion may seem, it raises the monumental issue, will this new tax really stop teenage binge drinking?

Opposition leader Brendan Nelson says it won’t, arguing that all the excise will do is worsen the situation. While teenage binge drinking is still an issue in great need of some decisive attention, it has in fact decreased in severity over the last six years. Statistics show that if introduced, this law will cause consumption to continue rising over the next five years by ten percent. This change is starting to sound more like an alcohol tax reap than a good willed health initiative. In an article in The Age on May twenty, seventeen-year-old Lily King stated “It’s like teaching sex education by saying ‘don’t have sex’. That’s how we’re taught about alcohol and the alcopops...